Freedom of Information request Staff Bank, Rostering and Clinical Insourcing/Outsourcing

Dear FOI Officer, I am writing to request information from Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or, for public authorities in Scotland, the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002). Scope of this request This request concerns how your organisation operates its internal staff bank — the pool of workers your organisation engages directly to fill temporary shifts — and the rostering and temporary-staffing technology that supports it. It is divided into three parts: 1. Part A — Staff bank management (how the bank itself is run, and by whom) 2. Part B — Rostering and bank technology (the software systems used to roster substantive staff and to book bank shifts, broken down by staff group) 3. Part C — Clinical insourcing and outsourcing (spend on additional clinical capacity used to treat patients and reduce waiting lists) Parts A and B relate to your internal bank and your own technology and supplier arrangements. They do not ask about external recruitment agencies, off-framework agency usage, or individual worker details. I have framed this request to be precise and straightforward to answer, and to fall within the appropriate cost limit. The three tables below are provided to make completion as quick as possible. Part A — Staff bank management This part asks how your internal staff bank is operated. Please answer for each of the following staff groups, where your organisation operates a bank for them: 1. Medical and dental staff bank 2. Agenda for Change staff bank (nursing, midwifery, healthcare assistants, administrative, and similar) 3. Allied Health Professional (AHP) staff bank, if operated as a separate arrangement For each staff group, please confirm: 1. Bank management model — please indicate which one applies: i. Managed service — a third-party supplier operates the staff bank on your behalf (for example NHS Professionals, Bank Partners, or similar) ii. Technology-supported, run in-house — your organisation runs the bank itself, using a third-party booking or bank-management system iii. Fully in-house — the bank is run in-house with no external supplier or third-party technology 2. Bank management supplier name — if a managed service (model i) applies 3. Contract start date of the bank management arrangement 4. Contract end date, and whether you are currently within a contractual extension period 5. Total spend on bank management for that staff group in the most recent full financial year — a single annual figure. I am not requesting unit rates, percentage margins, or commercially sensitive pricing detail. 6. Procurement framework or route used to award the bank management arrangement — for example NHS Workforce Alliance Managed Staff Banks (RM6278), HealthTrust Europe, direct award, or local procurement 7. Re-procurement plans — whether a re-tender of the bank management arrangement is currently planned, and if so, the expected timeline Table A — Staff bank management (please complete) Bank management — field | Medical & dental | Agenda for Change | AHP (if separate) 1. Management model (i / ii / iii) | | | 2. Bank management supplier | | | 3. Contract start date | | | 4. Contract end date | | | 5. Currently in extension period? | | | 6. Bank management spend, last full FY | | | 7. Procurement framework / route | | | 8. Re-tender planned? (incl. timeline) | | | If a staff group's bank is fully in-house (model iii), you need only mark “iii” in row 1 for that group; rows 2–8 can be left blank or marked “n/a”. Part B — Rostering and bank technology This part asks about the software systems your organisation uses to (a) roster substantive staff and (b) advertise and book internal bank shifts. These are often — but not always — supplied by the same vendor (for example RLDatix / Allocate Optima with the BankStaff module, Patchwork, Locum's Nest, or others). Please answer for each staff group separately, even where the same system is used across more than one group. Naming the system against each staff group, rather than giving a single overall answer, is what makes the response useful — a simple “yes, we use a system” is not sufficient to answer this request. For each staff group, please provide: 1. Rostering system name and supplier — the software used to roster substantive staff in that group 2. Bank-booking system name and supplier — the software used to advertise and fill bank shifts in that group (state if it is the same system as the rostering system) 3. Contract end date of each system, and whether you are within an extension period 4. Annual cost in the most recent full financial year — a single annual figure per system 5. Procurement framework or route used to award each technology contract — stated per system, since different systems may sit on different frameworks 6. Re-procurement plans — whether a re-tender of the technology is planned, and the expected timeline Table B — Rostering and bank technology, by staff group (please complete) Technology — field | Medical & dental | Agenda for Change | AHP (if separate) 1. Rostering system + supplier | | | 2. Bank-booking system + supplier (same as rostering?) | | | 3. Contract end date (+ extension?) | | | 4. Annual cost, last full FY | | | 5. Procurement framework / route (per system) | | | 6. Re-tender planned? (incl. timeline) | | | If the same system is used across all staff groups, please still confirm the system name in each column — this confirms coverage rather than leaving it implied. Where rostering and bank-booking are the same system, you may note “as above” in row 2. Part C — Clinical insourcing and outsourcing This part concerns spend on additional clinical capacity used to treat patients and reduce waiting lists. It is separate from the staff bank and rostering arrangements above. For clarity, by these terms I mean: 1. Clinical insourcing — where a third-party organisation (private provider or another NHS body) treats your patients using your own facilities, typically in additional or out-of-hours sessions to reduce waiting lists. 2. Clinical outsourcing — where your patients are sent to a third-party provider (for example a private hospital or another NHS body) to be treated at the third party's own premises. Please confirm, for the most recent full financial year: 1. Total clinical insourcing spend in the most recent full financial year — a single annual figure. 2. Total clinical outsourcing spend in the most recent full financial year — a single annual figure. Table C — Clinical insourcing and outsourcing spend (please complete) Arrangement | Spend (£, last full FY) Total clinical insourcing spend (most recent full FY) | Total clinical outsourcing spend (most recent full FY) | A single total figure for each line is sufficient — I am not requesting a breakdown by specialty, provider, or contract. If you hold no spend under either heading, “nil” or “n/a” is a sufficient answer. Notes to assist your response 1. Spend figures rounded to the nearest £1,000 are entirely sufficient — I am not seeking audit-quality precision. 2. For contract start dates, please give the original start date; for end dates, please give the current contractual end date including any active extension. 3. I am not requesting copies of contracts, tender documents, supplier proposals, unit rates, or any commercially sensitive pricing breakdown — only the single figures and names requested above. 4. Where one supplier covers more than one staff group or function, you may simply note this rather than repeating the detail. 5. If you consider that any element of this request would, when combined with the others, exceed the appropriate cost limit under section 12 FOIA (or the equivalent under FOI(S)A), please contact me before issuing a refusal so the scope can be narrowed. I am content to receive a partial response covering whichever elements fall within the limit — for example, Part A alone if that is more readily available. 6. If any element is unclear, please contact me for clarification under your duty to advise and assist (section 16 FOIA) rather than refusing under section 1(3). 7. I appreciate this information may sit across HR, temporary staffing, procurement, and finance functions. Please feel free to consolidate input from those teams into a single response. Response I look forward to your response within 20 working days, in accordance with section 10 FOIA (or the equivalent timeframe under FOI(S)A 2002). Thank you for your time and assistance. Yours faithfully,