Health Staff 4 You Health Staff 4 You is a UK based Employment Business supplyin

Question

Health Staff 4 You

Health Staff 4 You is a UK based Employment Business supplying Temporary Workers to the NHS. It operates as a Tier 1: Framework Agency and supplies over 40 NHS Trust nationally with a broad range of nurses, clinicians and allied health professional (AHP’s) across a variety of Bands/Grades.

The core of the Health Staff 4 You’s business is the supply of temporary and emergency nursing staff which it co-ordinates from its Head Office in the North of East England. It has a good reputation nationally and has always performed very well in NHS and audits.

The business has 30 employees working at its Head Office who make up its core team are responsible for managing bookings, worker compliance and finance (including client invoicing and worker payments) and it ‘employs’ another 200 Temporary Workers either directly on PAYE terms or, via their own Personal Service Companies (PSC’s) or Pay Umbrella’s.

The office has modern facilities and the core team work well together and, have good relationships with NHS clients the Temporary Workers however, some of the key IT systems may be outdated.

In the last two years a number of changes have impacted Health Staff 4 You:

An international drop in availability of health staff around the globe has limited recruitment;

Changes in NHS staffing policies over the last two years, relating specifically to the pay and use of temporary staff has led many staff to return to the NHS full-time, retire, move into the private sector or, move overseas;

Changes in Tax Law over the last two years, relating specifically to ‘contractors’ and the use of PSC’s has meant that for many staff Temporary Working is less lucrative; and

Funding shortages in the NHS has led to extended payment periods, some up to 180 days.

These factors, when combined with increasing regulatory pressures and, new employment conditions for all employees, means that the businesses turnover has halved in the last 2 years from £10 million to just over £5 million.

To secure the business the Directors have already cut costs by closing regional offices, scaling back IT spending and making redundancies at the Head Office.

As the business doesn’t seem to be stabilising, even with these efforts, the Directors have come to you seeking advice; what can they do to avoid the closure of the business?

You need to consider:

How is the current environment affecting the health sector in the UK;

What, if any, specific internal actions could the business take;

If and how could the business develop into any related markets; and

If and how could the business pivot into any new or emerging markets.

Explanation / Answer

Q1. How is the current environment affecting the health sector in the UK ?

Ans. Current Scenario seems to be disturbed as many policy changes occured in last 2 years. The main one is the changes in the tax laws due to which PSC's are not able to operate freely and hence the temporary workers are facing continous problems. Another main issue is the change in NHS staffing policies, shortage in NHS funds and not entertaining the temporary workers as they were treated before.

The above mentioned two issues has affected the health sector of U.K very badly as the temporary health staffs are not getting paid properly and timely, which force the temprorary staff to look for alternative jobs even for less pay. Ultimately, these all cummulatively deteriorated the position of health sector and it had a very bad impact on the business of Health 4 You.

Q2. What, if any, specific internal actions could the business take?

Ans. For the starters, Health 4 You should start evaluating the various temporary staff to classify how imprtant they are to the company. The pas records like the succss rate, good behaviour, attendance etc. can allow to conclude which staff the company should not loose at no cost. Although, the compnay is in loss at the moment but somehow it have to assure the company staff that they will be paid timely.

A counseling session can be held between the temporary staff and the management, the staff can be told about the imprtance of them for the U.K public, how much important role they are playing in the society by taking care of the healths of others. Also, changing profession would not help as they are best in health servies and this they should continue. Convince them to be patient and be cooperative so that by that time the managemnt can think of better ideas.

Q3. If and how could the business develop into any related markets ?

Ans. Yes, definitely other related markets can be searched like instead of totally depending on the NHS, some other alternatives should be searched. Like, the local hospitals, clinics could be contacted, whether they need support staff and supply them accordingly. Heath sector is one sector which never actually goes down, so definitely some of the temporary staff can be adjusted to clincs/hospitals as of now as they have good amount of experience in their respective fields.

Also, some subsidized health camps can be aranged where anyone can come up and can get their health checked with medicines in reaonable prices. This way the temporary staff would be getting paid as well as would be engaged.

Q4. If and how could the business pivot into any new or emerging markets?

Ans. No, as the temporary staff associated with Health 4 You have good experience in the Healthcare only so it would not be wise decision to engage them in any other kind of emerging market. Trying opportunities in the related market would be the only best option in the current scenario alongwith trying to improve the relations with NHS in the best possible manner.

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