Rotering in modern general practice should combine HR and Payroll
The power of the spreadsheet
Spreadsheets are arguably one of the most effective pieces of software ever invented. Certainly the most ubiquitous, and for very good reason. Spreadsheets are a very powerful and flexible tool. They have literally changed the World! They are also a great place in which to model solutions, because they allow for quick setup of complex relational data models, that sit behind many great ideas for systems and solutions.
In terms of business software and how solutions grow and emerge within an industry, what we usually see is ideas being modelled, proven and initially handled within spreadsheets, followed by a gradual ‘building out’ from the spreadsheet solution, to a more powerful and easier to use, user interface driven solution. The best example of this is probably within Accountancy.
In Primary Care, so far, spreadsheets have been the only thing that can really handle the complexity of Practice rotering. Many practice rota solutions have claimed to be able to replace the spreadsheet but all have failed and, we believe, still do, despite their claims.
Until now. Tempo really does handle the complexity of modern general practice rotering. Tempo is a practice rota solution that has been developed from the ground up, by a team within a practice, in partnership with a tech provider that has a long history of practice rota solutions.
Why is rotering in Primary Care so complex and can it be simplified?
Within practice rotering, there are many dimensions that we must handle at the same time. It just is complex.
GP practice rotering cannot really be simplified BUT it can be ‘standardised’. Standardisation can help a great deal as it reduces the variations of elements you need within a rota week. In many ways standardisation of rotas is more effective within Nurse and HCA Rotas than it is within GP rotas. Practice rotering can also be made an easier task to accomplish with the aid of properly designed software but in order to be effective, that software must be built upon a deep understanding of the concepts of modern general practice rotering. This is what Tempo is.
What are the key dimensions of practice rotering?
Lets list them below for clarity:
- Roles
- Rooms
- Preferences
- Staff work plans
- Service targets / QOF targets
- Holiday
- Sickness
- Overtime
- Tutorials, training and supervision
- Meetings
- Role dependencies
- GP rotas
- Week variations over a year
- Time
What is the difference between our practice rotering solution and others available on the market?
Our user interface has been designed in close consultation with the actual operational staff that use it every day.
Because our rotering solution is created by a partnership between a tech company and a practice, we were able to fully understand the complexity and dynamics of practice rotering and bring them together within a simple interface that mimics established rotering views and rotering methods.
Being able to ditch our spreadsheets was a benchmark we used to drive our development, over 4 years. For our platform to pass the test, we had to witness a manager switching from their spreadsheet to the Tempo interface. If they could not, we had to develop more functionality, more perspectives, more logic and more user interface.
Can you demonstrate this to us?
We would need only 30 mins of your time to demonstrate this. Usually a Teams call is enough.
Get in touch and we will show how you really can say goodbye to spreadsheets!
(there, we used it in our marketing materials)
How else can we benefit from using your rota solution?
Finally being able to ditch the spreadsheets and using a single digital interface like Tempo means that you can achieve the following:
- Rapid, semi-automated and suggestion supported practice rotering
- Dynamic rotering (find out more by getting in touch)
- Accurate monthly payroll reports
- Clinical system integration
- Network connected staff. Line manager – staff workflows for sickness, leave, overtime and rotering
With Tempo, every person in an organisation knows where they are meant to be and at what time, on any day, and what work they will be doing. Everyone knows their leave entitlements and can request leave, report sickness and overtime and communicate with managers via their APP
As well as this, dynamic rotering is the basis of being able to do demand & capacity management.
We built Tempo for this purpose. Our dynamic HR & capacity and Dynamic rotering are the drivers behind Tempo’s capability for demand & capacity management. Simply by onboarding into Tempo, using our supported onboarding program, your practice will quickly be able to begin to do evidence-based demand & capacity management.
Some Q&A about our practice rotering solution
Can it rota multiple staff types?
Yes, all of them and its NWRS complaint (export your staff data to an NWRS structure)
Can it adapt to last minute changes?
Yes, in every aspect and in many scenarios, it can automatically adapt using pre-defined rules for common scenarios
Can it integrate with our clinical system?
Yes, we follow the same concepts and model of GP clinical systems and can extract an initial set of rota designs into Tempo for you to use.
As well as this, for SystmOne users, we can bulk import large rota week designs back into the clinical system rota in a few seconds
Does it help to standardise the rotas?
Yes, Tempo can handle bespoke session design and help to drive standardisation at the same time.
Does Tempo know when people are on leave?
Yes it does. Tempo integrates its state-of-the-art leave and time-off management solution and connects managers and staff together via the staff App. Your staff capacity is always up-to-date when you rota. Seeing your leave entitlements and taking leave is easy. Seeing leave as a staff team is simple and promotes a collaborative approach. Leave rules can be integrated to guide managers and staff and leave can be seen in relation to demand & capacity.
Does Tempo capture overtime in rotas?
Yes, it is very clever at doing this and produces an overtime and payroll report each month, where all staff salaries, adjustments and time based deductions or additions are reported in a simple to use format
