Locum’s Nest launches new e-rostering service with a focus on medics’ wellbeing

Locum’s Nest, DigitalHealth.London Accelerator alumni, aims to free up clinicians’ time and make it easier for organisations to deploy doctors based on patient-need. Locum’s Nest has now launched a new e-rostering service, Locum’s Nest Rota, providing an advanced and quality end-to-end NHS workforce solution to front-line medics. This launch is timely as the Health Secretary recently pledged £7.5million to support digital shift scheduling across 38 NHS Trusts, allowing healthcare professionals to spend more time with patients. Locum’s Nest Rota, now part of a suite of six products, positions the company as a holistic and tailored HR management solution for the NHS.

Traditionally, rostering for medics, which is a very complex profession with dynamic shift patterns, has been organised using either excel spreadsheets or modified e-rosters from other professional groups such as Nurses. The latter can create multiple issues and frictions within a department or a ward as these adapted e-rostering models are not always fit for purpose for medics. 

Co-Founder Dr Ahmed Shahrabani said: “It’s no secret that shift work in the healthcare industry can be extremely tough on the work-life balance of its employees and this usually starts with an unsuitable roster. Systems such as Locum’s Nest Rota that allow rostering to be a collaborative process to balance both patient demands and employee needs can start to address this well-known problem. While training-grade doctors tend to work template rota patterns, we see a future where medical staffing is driven by fluctuating patient demand.

“Locum’s Nest Rota is a breath of fresh air for the NHS and all of our medical colleagues – a roster that empowers medics, providing equal amounts of autonomy, flexibility and protection. A constructive rather than constrictive roster with the vision of empowering healthcare professionals. The NHS has been an integral part of the development of Locum’s Nest Rota.

“The continued support from the NHS Innovation Accelerator and the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator teams have enabled us to collect insightful feedback from frontline clinicians which has been instrumental in addressing their specific needs and requirements when it comes to fair, flexible and collaborative rostering. We expect a mass roll-out across dozens of NHS Trusts over the next few months”

Chairman Allen Swann said: “Having led the growth of Allocate Software from 3 NHS Trusts to well over 175 during my tenure, it brings me great pleasure to see Locum’s Nest replicating Allocate’s success in nurse rostering across medics rostering in the NHS. Having seen Locum’s Nest Rota, I am impressed at the level of detail, governance and above all usability of the medical e-roster and have no doubt that this will become the de facto rostering platform of choice for all NHS clinicians.”

Locum’s Nest is listed in The Telegraph’s “Top 5 ideas to save the NHS” and has recently secured a place on the Financial Times FT1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies.

Locum’s Nest is an almuni of the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator. The DigitalHealth.London Accelerator is a collaborative programme funded by London’s three Academic Health Science Networks – UCL Partners, Imperial College Health Partners, and the Health Innovation Network, MedCity, CW+ and receives match funding from the European Regional Development Fund.