Alongside partners, we have created a voluntary Staff Portability Agreement that allows for sharing of staff across health and social care organisations in Leeds, enabling the sector to take a collective view of resourcing, and work together as a citywide group to respond to changing demand.
By signing up to the agreement, member organisations can work with diverse partners to enable skilled and experienced staff to work in different settings for a short period of time, when there is a critical service need. So far, 30 partners have signed up, including all three Leeds NHS Trusts, Leeds City Council, the GP Confederation, as well as multiple GP Practices and voluntary organisations.
You may have some questions, and this recorded Q & A session was hosted in the project development. You can watch the video here:
Please see case studies from four of our successful portability agreements:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
For further information about the agreement, you can view / download the Staff Portability presentation via the button below. Also below are links to the two documents to complete to start the Staff Portability process:
Licence to attend letter (Word doc)
Schedule (Word doc)
Download the presentation
Testimonials from colleagues who have successfully used the agreement:
“I have been working in CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) at LCH (Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust) for the last 20 years, but in 2022 I was feeling burnt out and stressed. I wasn’t looking for other opportunities at that time, but I knew that something had to change for my own health and wellbeing.
A short term role at Leeds Children’s Hospital was advertised internally which LTHT (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) had struggled to fill. My manager suggested that we use the Staff Portability Agreement, so that I would remain employed by LCH, but hosted by LTHT. The whole process has been seamless, and the opportunity has been a real breath of fresh air. I still work one day a week with CAMHS and four days at LTHT, so I have the best of both worlds.
Having this opportunity has been transformational and I would highly recommend the Staff Portability Agreement to others.”
Sarah Hewston, CAMHS Mental Health Practitioner, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
“There was incredible support implementing the portability agreement by Leeds Health and Care Academy. The team were very responsive and generous with their time by offering to host a number of lunch and learn sessions for participating parties.
The agreement offered massive value in allowing Respiratory Physiologists (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) to delivery diagnostic Spirometry in Primary Care settings. This has contributed to four Primary Care Networks successfully re-starting Spirometry post COVID-19, and 742 appointments offered (August, 2023) to patients in their locality.”
Lauren Park, Business & Operations Manager (Projects), Leeds GP Confederation.
“The portability agreement has enabled non-LTHT (Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust) staff working in the Transfer of Care Hub team to read/write access to PPM+, this is fantastic as it moves us closer to working collaboratively as one service! The agreement itself was really easy to setup and LHCA (Leeds Health and Care Academy) have been really supportive with the process. We had a few teething issues to embed the training and system access processes into BAU, but otherwise great, we are now exploring doing the same for SystmOne.”
Hayley Lockwood, Project Manager, NHS West Yorkshire ICB.
“The portability agreement was invaluable and enabled the Winter Vaccination programme to utilise staff from two trusts in Leeds. The experienced staff ensured the smooth and efficient running of the clinics, whilst also offering support and guidance to new staff from the bank.
A great example of collaboration across Leeds healthcare organisations, further strengthening the positive relationships that were built during the Covid pandemic.
We had an identified goal/objective, and the portability agreement was easy to implement with fantastic guidance and support received from Leeds Health and Care Academy.”
Sue Peak, Staff Immunisations, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.
If you would like to sign up or find out more about the framework, please contact lhca@nhs.net