Reducing agency spend and usage at Moorfields Eye Hospital

Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a world-renowned centre for ophthalmic treatment, education, and research, faced significant challenges with high agency staffing costs and reliance. To address this, the Trust partnered with Acacium Group to implement a strategic workforce initiative aimed at reducing agency usage and spend, while maintaining high standards of patient care.

Challenge

The Trust experienced high levels of agency usage across multiple departments, which threatened both budgetary control and workforce stability, and led to unsustainable financial pressures and operational inefficiencies. Key challenges included:

• Excessive reliance on high-cost agency workers
• Limited visibility into workforce trends and spend
• Reactive shift planning and retrospective bookings
• Difficulty transitioning agency staff to internal bank roles

Solution

Acacium Group worked closely with the Moorfields temporary staffing team to deliver a proactive, data-driven strategy. The initiative included:

• Monthly agency reduction steering group meetings
  Cross-functional meetings involving HR, finance, and departmental leads ensured alignment, accountability and continuous progress tracking.
• Strategic workforce options
  Tailored solutions were presented to hiring managers, including:
  • Improved rostering practices: Encouraging forward planning and eliminating retrospective bookings.
  • Agency-to-bank migration: Supporting agency staff to join the internal bank for greater flexibility and cost savings.
  • High-cost agency swaps: Replacing expensive agency workers with more cost-effective alternatives.
• Data-driven decision making
  Detailed analytics on agency demand and spend enabled targeted interventions, helping departments set reduction goals and monitor outcomes effectively.

Impact

The collaboration delivered outstanding results in the 2024/25 financial year:

• £3.6 million reduction in annual agency spend
• 93% decrease in overall agency usage
• £130,000 saved through successful agency-to-bank staff transitions

These achievements demonstrate the value of strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and data-led workforce management in driving sustainable change.

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