Success at a glance
● 2,324 bank workers approved on system
● More than 80% of this number using Patchwork
● Over 50,000 shifts, equating to 430,000 hours, filled
● 98% shift fill
Martyn Capel, Associate Director of Medical Workforce & Resourcing, at Cardiff & Vale University Health Board, shares an overview of our partnership.
Navigating the complexity of workforce demand
Like many organisations across the NHS, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CVUHB) faced the intricate balancing act of managing staffing gaps while maintaining financial control. The reliance on medical agencies is a common systemic pressure, driven not by a lack of desire to use internal staff, but by a lack of visibility and infrastructure.
The organisation identified that the primary obstacle wasn't just the cost of agency cover - it was the visibility of staffing data and the ability to use this to create a meaningful strategy for change.
The goal was to move from reactive filling to proactive workforce management. This meant transitioning temporary staff onto a robust internal bank, fixed term or substantive contracts, while ensuring that, when agency workers were still required, a unified system was in place to seamlessly control the process.
To achieve this, they required technology that offered clear insights, reduced manual workarounds, and, crucially, provide clinicians and staff with an intuitive experience they would actually want to use.
Phase 1: Empowering the internal bank
The key priority was engaging the Health Board’s existing workforce. Patchwork Bank provides clinicians with a straightforward way to view and book additional shifts in one place, while managers gain clearer visibility of emerging demand.
The Board also introduced digital on-call functionality, ensuring that on-call activity is captured accurately within the system rather than being processed through sessional payments or manual escalations, which had previously risked distorting NROC reporting.
The impact: Over 2,300 internal bank workers have registered with the Health Board’s bank, strengthening the internal supply of temporary staff.
Phase 2: Strategic agency management
With a strengthened internal workforce, the next focus was external supply. The introduction of Patchwork Agency Manager (PAM) has provided real-time line of sight across agency activity, including usage, compliance, rates, and fulfilment.
The Health Board also adopted PAM’s structured escalation workflows, supporting more consistent governance around rate increases and enhancing control over spending.
Phase 3: Ongoing optimisation and data accuracy
As the new processes embedded successfully, the Health Board shifted its attention to ensuring that the data driving staffing decisions remained accurate and useful. Divisions began routinely reviewing shifts they had put out for staffing cover, and archiving those no longer needed, ensuring the system reflects true demand rather than residual or historical requests.
Additional features support safe and cost-effective working practices. The enforced breaks functionality, for example, ensures that mandated breaks are consistently recorded, supporting safe staffing while preventing unnecessary cost inflation associated with routinely paying for missed breaks.
This phased approach enabled CVUHB to build a stable internal workforce, strengthen governance around agency use, and ensure accuracy of the data underpinning temporary staffing decisions, all while working in close collaboration with Patchwork’s team.
The impact: Over 50,000 shifts have been worked through the technology; that’s around 430,000 hours of care delivery, and a wealth of strong insights the organisation can use to inform future staffing decisions.
Results and impact
£312,563 saved and a shift in strategy
The results of this phased transformation have been tangible. From June to December 2025, the Health Board recorded £312,563 in agency savings.
Additional results:
● 98% primary bank fill rate achieved.
● >99% of bank shifts paid at base rate.
This is more than a spreadsheet saving; it represents a fundamental operational shift. The Health Board is now actively migrating staff into the internal bank and subsequently into substantive posts, creating a sustainable talent pipeline for the future.
Underpinning this strategy is Patchwork’s temporary staffing product suite, which provides the granular control CVUHB needed to manage both bank and agency effectively and in one place. With features like full shift audit trails, configurable rate cards, and permission-based escalations, the team can now track the entire journey of a shift. This visibility has transformed cost control from a manual challenge into a straightforward, manageable process.
