The Provisioning and Systems Access business case developed by Sitekit for Blackpool Teaching Hospital and NHSX (now NHS England) demonstrated potential for 350% ROI over 5 years. The strength and quality of the business case was commended by NHS England and has led Blackpool Teaching Hospital to commission the development of a Provisioning and Systems Access (PASA) solution which will ultimately be used in Blackpool Teaching Hospital and other organisations within the NHS. 

THE CHALLENGE

The NHS was keen to address the potential benefits of modernisation of their staff systems and access provisioning approach but needed to validate the potential benefit of the program by carrying out a formal business case. 

The Enabling Staff Movements program team at NHSX identified that provisioning is a key element in the process of onboarding, however the magnitude of the impact of manual provisioning was unknown. Much anecdotal information was available with staff members in organisations repeatedly recounting how slow it was to get access to systems when they first started work at a new organisation. Line managers also reported that they were spending a lot of time chasing access for their new starters and identity management teams reported that they handle a large volume of calls about setting up new starters' access. 

Blackpool Teaching Hospital has an existing in-house solution built to provision new starters, which is used for some members of staff when they start work. They are keen to upgrade and modernise, especially as they believe there is potential for a good return on investment from creating an enterprise solution. 

Both organisations, along with Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust are keen to secure funding to investigate a solution to the problem but first need to quantify the problem. Sitekit undertakes this work in partnership with the three NHS organisations.  

THE IMPACT

Nationally, it is estimated that 300,000 – 600,000 staff move positions within a single employer every year. Each time a person moves roles, their system and door access requirements change meaning their access needs to be reprovisioned. In a lot of cases, these organisations are provisioning access manually, creating usernames and passwords in software systems, and issuing them to the user.

Furthermore, nationally there are around 400,000 new starters per annum. These staff members start work at a new organisation and require all appropriate systems to be set up so they can be effective. This is a similarly manual task.

As an expert provider of Digital Staff Passport solutions, Sitekit has first-hand knowledge of these movements, especially at peak times such as Post-Graduate doctor rotations, and was able to use this knowledge to inform the business case further. 

THE RESOLUTION

Sitekit worked closely and efficiently with the NHS organisations involved in the project, leveraging our knowledge and expertise in workforce management tools to ensure we delivered a thorough business case that will stand up as the program progresses. 

Sitekit’s business case showed that administration of provisioning for new starters costs Blackpool Teaching Hospital the equivalent of 33 WTE a year. circa £1.1m per annum.  

Our trust-based research itemised and evidenced more than 50 demonstrable benefits that could be achieved by the NHS through the development and implementation of a Provisioning and Systems Access (PASA) solution. These benefits included clinical benefits such as releasing time to care by providing immediate access to systems and doors on arrival in position, reduction in line manager administration, reduction in administrative activity, reduction in duplication, better use of bank staff, and less friction between substantive and temporary staff. 

The Business Case demonstrated how Blackpool Teaching Hospital could practically address their opportunity by providing evidence-based recommendations backed up by outline architectural designs based on Identity and Access Management best practices. 

The Business Case, created by Sitekit was subsequently used by the NHS to create a Case for Change. This enabled Blackpool Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, and NHS England to secure funding for the next round of investment to progress to a POC Stage.