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Western Health and Social Care Trust Goes Live with SMART e-Rostering from Kronos in Operating and Intensive Care Departments(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CODICOTE, UK -- Kronos Incorporated today announced that the Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Health), Northern Ireland, has deployed SMART workforce management in its operating department and intensive care departments in Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry. SMART e-Rostering, which is part of a Trust-wide roll-out, now covers specialty and emergency theatres as well as intensive care. SMART e-Rostering is able to manage the complex shift requirements and on-call arrangements of rostering staff working in specialty theatres, while ensuring that Working Time Regulations are met, and optimal skills mixes maintained. News Facts SMART e-Rostering will cover 3,000 nurses and midwives at Western Health and Social Care Trust. Western Health and Social Care Trust has yielded benefits from the SMART implementation with very positive feedback from ward sisters, charge nurses, staff, and management. Staff particularly appreciate the fairness of the system when shifts are allocated, and ward sisters appreciate the monitoring of contract hours used, and the prioritisation facilities ensuring staff take more responsibility for their shifts. Rosters are now generated in half the time it took before, releasing talented staff back to patient care. Other benefits include: Better visibility and management of care and staffing Key Performance Indicators; More efficient monitoring of absence; Full utilisation of available contract hours; More efficient deployment and better utilisation of in-house skills; and Better management of annual leave. The next phase of the implementation will be a rollout of SMART e-Rostering to 2,000 facilities and support workers. Supporting Quotes Brendan McGrath, assistant director for nursing, Western Health and Social Care Trust "Due to highly focused concentration on patient care, complex shifts and on-call arrangements operating and intensive care departments have traditionally been difficult to roster electronically. By working with Kronos, we have been able to develop rosters suitable for these departments using the SMART system. Staff across the department are seeing the benefit of fair and equitable shift allocation that e-Rostering delivers, while the improved management information means that the utilisation of highly qualified staff is optimised." Tristan Spencer, director, SMART, A Kronos Solution "Western Health and Social Care Trust is proof that any hospital department can benefit from workforce management systems such as SMART e-Rostering. However, implementing such systems can be a balancing act to meet both the Trust requirements to install Trust-wide systems for staff optimisation that also meet the complex requirements of individual departments that are more focused on patient care. With strong leadership as we see at Western Health, workforce management systems deliver benefits at every level, from staff and ward managers up to group directors and Trust management." Supporting Resources The National Health Service (NHS) is one of the largest employers in the world, and is the largest in Europe, with more than 1.3 million staff. Established in April 2007, the Western Health and Social Care Trust provides health and social care services to approximately 290,000 residents. A major employer in Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland, the organisation's mission is to deliver high quality patient and client-focused care through well trained staff with high morale. SMART is a workforce management solution widely used by the UK's NHS across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. SMART enables NHS and other health organisations to meet their patient quality care objectives, including the Quality, Innovation, Productivity, and Prevention (QIPP) agenda in England, by optimising staff and ensuring that quality patient care is delivered as efficiently as possible. To learn more about the SMART solution, visit www.smart-rostering.co.uk. Kronos acquired SMART in April 2012. Connect with Kronos via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Subscribe to our workforce management blogs. Take a look at the lighter side of workforce management in our Time Well Spent cartoons. About Kronos Incorporated Kronos is the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. Tens of thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries -- including more than half of the Fortune 1000 -- use Kronos to control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity. Learn more about Kronos industry-specific time and attendance, scheduling, absence management, HR and payroll, hiring, and labor analytics applications at www.kronos.com. Kronos: Workforce Innovation That Works(TM). 2013 Kronos Incorporated. All rights reserved. Kronos is a registered trademark of Kronos Incorporated or a related company. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Contacts Paski Matarazzo SMART, A Kronos Solution +44 (0)1438 822229 [email protected] Andreina West PR Artistry +44 (0) 1491 639500 [email protected] ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. 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