Navigating temporary workforce management & communication with Siobhan Stainer

Meet Siobhan Stainer!

Communications Officer and recent Service Support Lead for Temporary Staffing at University Hospitals Dorset

For our sixth blog of the series, we sat down with Siobhan Stainer from University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) who brings unique insights from her dual perspective as both Communications Officer and recent Service Support Lead for Temporary Staffing at the Trust. Siobhan shares her experiences of navigating workforce management, driving change, and enhancing communication and engagement within NHS teams.

Q1: Can you tell us about your role and journey within the NHS?

Siobhan: I joined the NHS in 2017 in temporary staffing and worked my way up through various roles. I'm currently a Communications Officer for temporary staffing at UHD and recently completed a six-month secondment as the Service Support Lead. Before communications, up to 2022, I was a Team Lead supporting the temporary staffing bookings team, the core of the service, handling shift management for healthcare workers.

The communications role opened up an appreciation of our workers and how changes impact them. I always felt quite personally connected to our workforce because of myself being from bookings - you know, phone calls, always in contact. It's surprising with such a large workforce how many people you actually know from it!

Q2: What were your main focuses during your recent secondment as Service Support Lead?

Siobhan: The secondment was 6 months while supporting the teams through improvement changes in terms of NHS England target agency usage. But also looking at our services - temporary staffing is very active and reactive, and we were looking at how we can improve that for our own team to make it efficient. My role was mainly working with the temporary staffing team themselves on service improvements, reviewing our workflows, and developing the team on internal services improvements and streamlining. I think we were quite successful in lowering stresses etc. for the team, which overall helps the whole service for the trust.

Q3: What are the biggest challenges you've faced with implementing changes, and how did you navigate them?

Siobhan: There are always two different aspects to consider – internally with the team and then communications-wise in the broader picture. Not all communications will be about positive changes, unfortunately. But the approach remains the same, it needs to be open and honest about those communications, understanding why decisions are made, and giving proper notice and support.

We focus on engaging with our workforce through forums and feedback, allowing them to have input on implementing changes. This approach extends to our internal team as well – being open and honest, and creating space for people to bring their ideas forward.

Q4: Are there any recent projects within the temporary staffing team that you're particularly proud of?

Siobhan: In the last 18 months, we've seen significant improvements in terms of our agency usage, aligning with NHS England and regional targets. We went through quite a change process, both internally and externally, and the results are really starting to show now, especially as we're in winter pressures.

One initiative I'm particularly proud of is an event we created called "Bank CommuniTea." It came from staff survey feedback where bank workers indicated a disconnect between themselves and the Trust. It's an open forum to celebrate bank workers and give them an opportunity to provide feedback in a constructive way.

The event brings different levels of people and workforce together for open conversations. And of course, it's the NHS - we wouldn't thrive without tea and cake supplies! We've had executive attendance and support from the Organisational Development and Wellbeing Teams. We were also so lucky that we got support from local companies who agreed and wanted to celebrate our workers and made some donations towards saying thank you to our workers

We're going through an incredible transformation of our hospitals - we've got buildings physically being built on top of this site right now. So it’s really important to create space for dialogue and connection.

We've run it across two sites, Bournemouth and Poole, and had hundreds of attendees in our second year. We've had thank yous for allowing people to be heard and meeting our team; since COVID, we lost a lot of the face-to-face interaction, so it's been nice to create moments to connect again!

Q5: What keeps you motivated in your role?

Siobhan: I love problem solving and I thrive in challenging environments, and within staffing services, supply and demand changes by the day! But ultimately, it's really the team that keeps me going. I've really enjoyed the team development, getting to know everyone, their perspective, and seeing their experiences and their knowledge come together. We're in a really good spot with our internal teams and it makes all the difference!

Q6: If time and resources were no obstacle, what dream initiative would you implement in the NHS?

Siobhan: I'd focus on IT systems that support our journey to become a more responsive service. The NHS is notorious for having multiple systems, so I'd love to bring in a streamlined, effective solution that covers everything from rostering to payslips in one application. Something similar to Locum's Nest, where medical teams can see everything in one place. This would make communications clearer and processes more efficient for everyone involved.

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Thank you very much to Siobhan for taking the time to share her NHS journey with us. Stay tuned for our next blog!