Effective Urgent Staffing Solutions for Workforce Shortages

Staffing in the healthcare sector often requires urgent staffing solutions – access to fully qualified candidates of exceptional quality at extremely short notice.

This is due to myriad reasons, including a need to comply fully with industry regulations, the pressing issue of patient safety, the pressure on other team members when a full complement of staff is not available, coupled with a high personnel turnover in many organisations and general understaffing within the sector.

So – what can your organisation do when faced with healthcare staff shortages? In this article, the healthcare staffing experts at Cucumber Recruitments nursing agency explore this question.

What constitutes an urgent staffing shortage?

An urgent shortage in personnel can be defined as a degree of understaffing whereby patient care and safety is severely threatened, staff wellbeing is put at risk and it will be extremely difficult to maintain compliance with regulations unless the issue is resolved extremely quickly.

Often, problems of this kind are compounded by a need for personnel with highly specialist qualifications or certifications.

If your department, facility or organisation runs into a challenge of this kind, you must have recourse to the best possible solutions.

Cucumber Recruitment has a database of more than 5000 healthcare professionals based UK-wide, many of whom hold advanced qualifications. All background checks are kept meticulously up to date, and the company promotes best practices as standard.

How do staffing shortages impact the quality of care?

Patient care is highly likely to suffer as a result of understaffing within healthcare organisations.

This may occur for numerous reasons – in particular, a shortage of care staff means that existing personnel are required to share the additional workload between them, reducing their capacity to give sufficient attention to every patient and causing delays.

As a result, issues may be missed, wait times may increase and patient concerns may go unanswered for significant periods.

Situations of this kind may also lead to a decline in employee mental health due to stress, overwork and burnout, potentially reducing the capacity of care staff to provide the best possible service. In turn, this could result in an increase in absences – which will exacerbate staffing issues further.

What impact do staffing shortages have on care homes?

Care homes provide services to some of the most vulnerable in society, with programmes of care that rely on staff having the capacity to manage multiple or complex needs and adhere to a strict timetable when administering treatment and medication.

Staff shortages can seriously reduce that capacity, and are highly likely to result in needs failing to be met – sometimes with very severe outcomes.

What are some common causes of staffing shortages?

The NHS and other organisations within the UK’s healthcare sector have reported an increase in understaffing for several years.

So, what is the main cause of urgent staffing shortages?

There are several potential reasons behind this crisis, including a lack of investment in training, insufficient workforce management and planning, concerns about pay and unsocial hours and a drop in staff recruited from the EU due to Brexit.

Of course, these recruitment issues becoming public knowledge are likely to have compounded the problem – with potential candidates unwilling to take up positions in an understaffed industry due to the threat of additional pressure.

What are some effective short-term urgent staffing solutions for addressing workforce shortages?

In an environment where understaffing can lead to immediate risk, the ability to recruit the right specialists at extremely short notice is vital.

One of the most effective urgent staffing solutions is to use a specialist recruitment agency like Cucumber.

Our hiring experts have access to a large roster of highly trained professionals based all across the UK. As soon as an understaffed healthcare organisation reaches out to us, we will be able to start linking them with candidates who have the perfect specialist skills and the right availability for the position in question.

What are the benefits of utilising urgent healthcare staffing agencies to deal with workforce shortages?

The benefits of using urgent healthcare staffing agencies are many. For a start, Cucumber’s clients can rest assured that all of the health and care professionals on our books are highly trained – with all relevant qualifications, background checks and certifications up to date.

Not only does this serve to remove any concerns about suitability for the role and compliance with regulations, but we know that trying to work out how to onboard staff with very little lead time can be very frustrating. Having confirmation that all paperwork is in order is a great way to expedite this process.

We also provide advanced training in-house, so that the skill sets of our candidates are second to none.

Using recruitment agencies also relieves pressure on in-house staff – and, with Cucumber’s fees tailored to each client – you’re likely to save money, too.

Find out more

Contact Cucumber Recruitment today for further information about our services. Our friendly and knowledgeable team will be very happy to assist you.