The staggering sum the NHS in the North West has saved thanks to this staffing initiative

The NHS Collaborative Bank (MWL) - the largest initiative of its kind in the UK - has staffed more than 490,000 shift hours, saved £3 million in agency spend and retained £32.7 million in staffing costs within the NHS, it has been announced today.

What is it?

The MWL brings together 25 NHS Trusts to form a shared network of Resident Doctors - around 3,500 - working across the region. These medics can then select the shifts they wish to work using a connected app before safely and compliantly passporting their credentials between hospitals. This enables staff to work at different sites throughout the region without the need for duplication of employment checks or the need to repeat mandatory training. On average, Resident Doctors are onboarded to the bank within around 48 hours of joining.

Led by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and powered by technology from healthcare workforce specialists Patchwork Health, the initiative’s savings come as the NHS faces calls to radically reduce agency spend and boost staff retention amid rising workforce shortages.

For participating Trusts, the collaborative bank provides a ‘staffing safety net’ when they are unable to fill vacant shifts with their own medical workforce or internal bank staff. This helps to alleviate the administrative burden on workforce teams when it comes to sourcing available temporary staff and reduces reliance on external agencies to plug the gaps. Trusts also have access to comprehensive data insights from across the collaborative bank on everything from shift vacancies to pay rates, enabling them to staff shifts more flexibly and strategically in line with evolving demand.

Dr Anas Nader, CEO and Co-Founder of Patchwork Health, said: “Over the past four years, the health service has faced an increasingly complex set of challenges. Services are grappling with intensifying demand and staff shortages continue to rise, piling pressure on workforce teams and sending costs soaring. Since launching the NHS Collaborative Bank (MWL), we've seen the power that innovation holds to tackle these challenges head on.

“Together, our 25 partner Trusts across the North West have harnessed technology to build a more sustainable and flexible approach to staffing, with collaboration at its core. We're incredibly proud of the impact this work has had to date - supporting thousands of clinicians to access flexible working, while saving millions in workforce spend through reduced agency reliance. As the collaborative staff bank continues to grow, we're excited to see this impact expanding, providing a promising blueprint for more collaborative, tech-led workforce planning across the wider NHS.”

Claire Scrafton, Deputy Director of HR & Governance from Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “The continued growth of the collaborative bank with the opportunities to expand the service across the other six regions where we provide Resident Doctors through the lead employer model further supports the national NHS driver for the scaling of people services, removing unwarranted variation and optimising the seamless passporting of our workforce between NHS organisations without the need to duplicate employment checks, statutory and mandatory training.”