Swansea planning remedies for ESR

Some staff at the Swansea NHS Trust have had payments affected by problems with the Electronic Staff Record, eleven months after it was installed at the trust.

The trust says it is experiencing "teething problems" with the new system.

According to a report in the Swansea Evening Post nearly 100 health workers in Swansea have faced a longer wait for their wages following the rolling out of the new ESR HR and payroll system. Problems have led to delays in staff in getting paid travel expenses with one off payments having to be made to staff including community nurses.

The trust rolled out the system in October 2006 but is still experiencing ‘significant issues’ with the system, which has left some workers waiting for pay longer than expected.

In trust papers seen by E-Health Insider, Sharon Vickery, HR manager for modernisation says: “The Post ESR go-live environment continues to present both HR and payroll departments with significant issues.”

Vickery adds: “A significant change proposed is the move from weekly payroll to a monthly only payroll. This change remains a crucial precursor to enhancing developments in the ESR system freeing up payroll staff to continue with system enhancements and process review.”

Geraint Evans, director of human resources at the trust said that users had described the system as ‘having the Ferrari in the garage but learning how to drive it.’

Evans told EHI: “What we have is a new ESR system with broad functionality, but like any big system being implemented in an organisation of this size (9,500 staff), it will take a while before we get the full benefits of that functionality – hence the comparison with a Ferrari in the garage which we need to learn how to drive.

“There are teething problems with the system, like any new system, but the decisions around the ESR system were taken nationally because its functionality is what an organisation like the NHS needs, because it is a 24-hour environment employing large numbers of staff.”

He added that ‘unlike some other trusts, Swansea has prioritised assimilating staff onto the correct grades and rates of pay, and then began looking at arrears’ which has contributed to delays and errors.

The trust say they are addressing the problems and will be setting up a user group.

“Recent problems regarding sick absence data and reports have been resolved and further work is being taken forward through the recently established ESR User Group for Payroll and HR across Wales.

“The trust is addressing ESR benefits realisation by linking the project to the Cross-border initiative process (CIP) programme ensuring the widest possible scope for benefits are being considered in the medium and long term.”

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