IT contractors with non-NHS backgrounds now account for over 50% of new hires within the NHS, which, according to Don Tomlinson of specialist NHS IT recruiter max20, is up from only a handful twelve months ago.
“The NHS is becoming more commercialised as a result of the changes introduced by the government in April 2013,” explains Tomlinson. “The result has been both an increased demand for IT professionals and demand for expertise and skills from outside of the NHS.”
Tomlinson acknowledges that some training, senior analyst and governance roles still require previous NHS experience. However, many internal barriers to hiring non-NHS IT contractors have been swept away following the introduction of the new Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Clinical Support Units (CSUs).
New NHS structures are driving up demand for IT professionals
“There is more commercialisation and competitiveness within the NHS and the restrictions on where NHS organisations can operate are relaxing,” continues Tomlinson. “That means an NHS organisation operating in Yorkshire can run services all over England and Wales. That would have been unheard of a few years ago, and NHS organisations need IT contractors who have the skills and mobility to deliver those services.”
Tomlinson highlights that over 200 CCGs have been created and these bodies are now responsible for spending the bulk of the NHS’s money: “CCGs are waking up and saying, ‘we need to upgrade our systems’, so contractors are finding roles working with GPs to put new technologies in.”
The creation of all these new entities has vastly extended the need for all kinds of IT services, and particularly compliance type technology to control access to sensitive data, such as patient records.
For example, the demand for ‘registration authority agents’ has increased sharply, which requires good contract IT technicians experienced in travelling to different sites installing secure software, but not necessarily requiring NHS experience.
NHS restructuring increases IT staff churn
Another factor driving up demand has been the churn in NHS staff. Tomlinson explains: “Many long-serving NHS IT professionals used the restructuring as an opportunity to take early retirement, redundancy or leave the service. But the same levels of frontline service must still be delivered, so many NHS organisations are using IT contractors to plug the gaps.”
The extended reach of NHS service providers is also growing. There are around 20 CSUs, which provide services to CCGs and other NHS organisations; some service entire regions of England and Wales. This has further increased the need for IT professionals based where internal clients are located, and not where the CSU is based, resulting in additional IT contractor demand.
max20’s growth demonstrates the impact of the NHS changes. In the first half of this year alone, Tomlinson’s agency has doubled its new NHS IT contracts from 174 in Q1/Q2 2012 to 398 during the same period in 2013. Renewals have also increased, up to 721 in 2013, from 632 in 2012.
Changing skills requirements opening up NHS IT recruitment
“We’ve seen that CCGs have been hiring quite senior project managers so that they can represent their CCG more effectively when negotiating with the CSUs,” notes Tomlinson. “When the CCGs were formed in April, the vast majority had no IT presence, nor is IT part of their remit.
Many more IT contracts are being generated because there are simply not enough permanent IT staff available
Don Tomlinson, max20
“However, a number of forward thinking CCG’s are saying, ‘we’ve got the money, we’re told we should look to CSUs for IT, but actually we’d like to do this work ourselves’. The result of the new philosophy has been changes in the way that IT services are being procured, and many more IT contracts are being generated because there are simply not enough permanent IT staff available.”
Tomlinson’s view is that, as the new structures bed in, the CSUs will consolidate into fewer larger service providers and NHS IT procurement will open up as the remaining CSUs and emerging IT functions within CCGs battle it out for IT talent.
The importance of NHS framework agencies
Tomlinson urges IT contractors from other sectors who are considering seeking NHS contracts to focus their efforts on targeting approved agency suppliers under the NHS framework for Non-Medical Non Clinical staff.
He explains: “The Government Procurement Service has created a framework for the supply of non-medical and non-clinical staff, such as IT contractors. It includes a roster of 169 recruitment and employment businesses.
“Each of the agencies on the roster must meet tough qualification criteria to gain a place as an approved supplier within the framework. NHS organisations can choose to use non-framework agencies, but these firms won’t be bound by the framework’s requirements.”
NHS clients benefit from having no temp-to-perm fees if contractors hired from framework agencies become permanent employees. And contractors have no restrictive covenants to contend with, which Tomlinson ranks as a huge advantage when contracting for the NHS.
“It is quite common for an IT contractor to be placed by agency A within an NHS client in one department for three months, then to win another contract in a different department for the same NHS client but placed by agency B. In most other sectors, this flexibility would be unheard of and it is a huge benefit for contractors.”
New culture of problem solving and sharing within IT
Tomlinson has noticed some major and positive cultural changes within the NHS, which bode well for future IT contractor demand: “There is more attention to achieving deadlines and there are not as many ‘time servers’ as there were, with a better mix of people having commercial backgrounds and skills.
“Centres of excellence continue to emerge and this ‘new NHS’ is allowing and encouraging experiences to be transported around England and Wales. In the past, the organisation was very regional, but now IT professionals from all over are asking ‘so, how did you do it?’.”
From a contractor’s perspective, this changing culture is very positive, as the NHS is an organisation where skills are highly portable. “Wherever you go, there will be a local NHS organisation that can use your skills,” says Tomlinson.
He concludes: “Newer NHS clients are more commercial and want to sit down and talk about solving problems. Most larger NHS clients now have as many as 20% of people from the commercial sector at a senior level, and that is accelerating the understanding of the benefits that IT contractors can bring to an organisation.”