Generational Shift: It’s a Win-Win

It’s time for a generational shift. A win-win for doctors and for care.

While technology can’t change every aspect of a resident doctor’s experience of training and work, it can make a material difference. How rota, rostering and patient safety technology is set up and applied can mean the difference between a poor experience at work or a great one.

Everyone has heard the stories

From residents that report safety incidents and never get feedback, to rotas and work schedules that are shared too late, or overly restrictive rules on annual leave, slow approval and no flexibility or access to self-rostering. These experiences can make the difference between a trainee that thrives and stays in the NHS or one that struggles and opts to work elsewhere. We believe it is incumbent on all of us to help support the next generation of doctors, by shaping how they experience work today. The good news is that across the NHS in all nations and across professional bodies there is an increasing consensus about how some of these poor experiences can be prevented.

At RLD, we believe that we have a part to play

Our plan is to help resident doctors, medical staffing, rostering teams, patient safety teams, bank offices and their respective leaders to fully understand how workforce and patient safety software can be used for good, and of course how to spot when it might be set up and applied to deliver a less then desirable experience. Through our Generational Shift Win-Win Programme we aim to support and train our customers, across all the professions and disciplines above, so they can meet the standards so clearly articulated in recent guidance. The training and support include a full curriculum, a clear assessment against the standards, a community of practice to help shape the future, and supporting tools and events.

We encourage our customers and the resident doctors using our solutions to select the elements of the programme that are most meaningful to them. This short guide is one of the supporting tools. It gives a high-level indication of how the technology can be configured and applied to make a difference, it signposts to deeper supporting resources and highlighted where certain elements help meet the requirements set out in NHS England’s 10 Point Plan. We hope you find it helpful.

Document What Good Looks Like – Set Your Intention

Workplace Wellbeing: Start with Culture

A culture that prioritises a supportive environment and fosters psychological safety is central to workplace wellbeing. By enabling resident doctors to speak up about safety incidents, to raise concerns about workload or about rotas without fear of blame creates the conditions for learning and trust. While thoughtful rotas, flexible rosters and payroll accuracy are vital, wellbeing and patient safety remain deeply linked, and both come from a culture where people are respected, listened to, and empowered to raise issues early. A culture where caring for staff is seen as inseparable from caring for patients or service users.

Workplace Wellbeing: Follow with Flexibility and Control

Resident Doctors need greater influence over how, when, and where they work. This helps them have fulfilling lives, but it also helps care delivery. The outdated view was that flexibility and control negatively impact the availability of staff to deliver a safe service to patients and service users. However, when technology is set up properly this is untrue. In fact, the opposite can be said, flexibility isn’t just about personal needs, it’s about team working and shared responsibility. Often doctors and teams who have control over their working patterns are more motivated, more resilient, and better able to deliver safe, continuous care.

How does this support the 10 Point Plan?

Point 1: Improve workplace wellbeing for our resident doctors

Point 2: Resident doctors should receive work schedules and rota information as per the requirements of the Rota Code of Practice

Use the Software to be Respectful of Resident Doctors Time

There is another dimension of resident doctor’s time that we can take much more care with through thoughtful use of the technology. All too often we ask for repeated information or create complex multi-step processes. We believe our solutions should and can reduce admin and help free up time to care. Here are just a few actions that anyone can employ to make this a reality in their organisation.

Top Actions

• Introduce single sign on
• Accept prior training and ensure ESR is kept updated. Interface ESR data into Optima and use this data to validate mandatory training when rostering

Point 3: No resident doctor will unnecessarily repeat statutory and mandatory training when rotating

Own the Experience of Resident Doctors at a Board Level

The 10-point plan demands that all boards appoint two named leads for resident doctor issues. We think the tech helps take board assurance a step further. Committees of the board and key executives need visibility of lead indicators and outcome measures that help to identify potential issues ahead of them emerging, and that help them get assurance that the right things are happening to support workplace wellbeing. No board wants to find out through a staff survey, or worse.

Top Actions

• Create an Insight dashboard of input measures for example, number of exceptions, number of incidents by resident doctors, number of rota gaps, unused annual leave, refused annual leave, % temporary staff

Point 4: All NHS trust boards must appoint 2 named leads:

• One senior leader responsible for resident doctor issues, and
• One peer representative who is a resident doctor.

Both should report to the board

Ensure Resident Doctors are Never Out of Pocket

While contracts are often complex, pay accuracy should not be. Whether it is ensuring accurate salary or payment for extra duties, or whether it is getting timely and accurate pay from locum work or even getting timely payment of expenses the software can be configured to help.

Top Actions

• eRota generates resident doctor pay accurately in line with the contract
• Exception reporting payment outcomes, WLIs and bank duties managed through MOD enables automated processes to payroll, preventing errors to rate of pay or in transference
• Managing study leave in MOD enables reporting on recently approved study leave
• Upload supporting documents to leave requests feature in testing which support the study process

Point 5: Resident doctors should never experience payroll errors due to rotations

Point 6: Resident doctors should receive reimbursement for course-related expenses within 4 to 6 weeks of submitting their claims – supported by rostering

Make it Easier to Connect Than Not

Connection takes us back to culture. Making it easier for resident doctors to connect rather than not connect is vital. That connection might be to one another, to supervisors, to leadership, to an organisation. It might be to their own information, their own salary when they need it, or to their own career.

Top Actions

• Open up messages and groups in Loop
• DCIQ

Let’s Work Together to Make a Difference

Let us assess how you use the technology today and provide a clear personalised action plan to help drive improvement. This insight draws on RLDatix’s deep expertise in rota, rostering and patient-safety technology and was developed using the 10 Point Plan framework, providing NHS organisations with guidance to improve resident doctor experience, wellbeing and patient safety nationwide.

Let’s create a generational shift together.

From rota design to exception reporting, every action matters. Together, we can make working in the NHS sustainable for resident doctors, and safer for patients.

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