Scaling HR case management for evolving needs at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
OUH, one of the UK’s largest teaching hospital trusts with over 14,000 employees, needed a flexible system to manage a broad and growing range of ER cases.
Project Highlights
- Supporting a workforce of over 14,000 employees
- Managing 70–130 live HR cases at any one time
- System set up and live within two weeks
- Enhanced reporting and dashboard visibility for divisional oversight
Overview
Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest teaching hospital trusts, employing over 14,000 staff across multiple sites and specialities. To support a consistent and efficient employee relations (ER) process, the Trust’s central ER team, works closely with five HR teams embedded within each of the Trust’s divisions. Together, they manage a wide variety of case types spanning areas such as grievance, conduct and safeguarding.
Situation
OUH’s main priority was to procure a new HR case management solution that could meet the evolving needs of the organisation. A key factor was the freedom to add and track new ER activity such as employment tribunals and organisational change consultations, without additional expenditure. This would ensure greater oversight and transparency when reporting employee relations activity across the Trust.
OUH also needed a platform that had ongoing development and investment with exceptional reporting features to adapt and scale in line with the Trust’s ambitions.
Martyn Leja, Head of Operational Employee Relations at OUH, explained: “It was important that the new system could provide an exceptional user interface, enhanced reporting capabilities, and could easily expand to include new case types. We also wanted a responsive partner to help us with our evolving needs.
We therefore selected Conformity Software’s CaseworkER platform as it is dynamic and could grow with us.”
Customer profile
We’re starting to see average case durations fall. The system helps drive accountability and visibility, which is especially important when reporting to the board on trends, demographics, and outcomes
Solution
Working with Conformity Software, OUH was able to implement CaseworkER and go live within a fortnight. Initially, all new cases were logged in the system, while open cases were manually transferred. Legacy case data was seamlessly migrated with support from Conformity’s implementation team, ensuring continuity and historical visibility.
CaseworkER is used across five divisional HR teams to record and progress cases according to Trust policy, while allowing the central ER team and the HR leadership team to maintain oversight and assurance.
The Trust now manages between 70 and 130 live ER matters in CaseworkER at any one time, recording a broader range of cases, including:
- Disciplinary (conduct)
- Grievances (resolution)
- Bullying and harassment (respect and dignity)
- Employment tribunals
- Maintaining High Professional Standards (MHPS)
- Appeals
- Counter-fraud and safeguarding concerns
- Consultations and organisational change
Martyn notes: “One of the big benefits for us was the flexibility CaseworkER provides especially when it comes to adding and managing a wider range of case types. It’s allowed us to be responsive to requests for new case types and we are also looking to adopt the ‘enquiries’ function to manage, record and respond to requests for ER advice”
Benefits
The implementation of CaseworkER has improved day-to-day operations across the Trust's HR structure. OUH has seen significant operational and strategic benefits from CaseworkER:
- The Trust has been able to log a wider range of ER activity than ever before. This expansion has created a more complete picture of ER activity, helping the organisation better reflect the complexity of workforce issues and futureproof its processes.
- Reports that previously required multiple exports and manual reconciliation can now be produced quickly from one place. Custom reporting features allow the ER team to track progress against each procedural step, with the ER team able to deliver detailed real-time updates to the Trust’s Executive Team on demand.
- The system has been configured to reflect the Trust’s HR hierarchy. Each Divisional Head of Workforce has tailored dashboard access to monitor live caseloads within their division, track outstanding actions, and ensure procedures are being followed consistently.
- The rapid rollout of the system was a key success for the ER team. Conformity Software’s support team ensured the transition from the legacy system was smooth, timely, and low effort for the Trust.
- CaseworkER is helping the Trust to better manage and track performance against its internal service level agreements. This includes monitoring average case resolution times and supporting data-driven changes to HR policies and procedures. The system provides robust reporting functionality which has enabled OUH to identify blockages in processes.
“We’re starting to see average case durations fall. The system helps drive accountability and visibility, which is especially important when reporting to the board on trends, demographics, and outcomes,” Martyn added.
Looking to the future
The ER team is also exploring new functionality, such as custom forms, to further improve how information is captured and shared.
“Our ambition is to have a complete view of both formal and informal activity and creating a culture of transparency and learning through smarter platforms, and CaseworkER is helping us to do that,” concludes Martyn.
By embedding CaseworkER more deeply across the organisation, the Trust aims to build a richer picture of employee relations activity and drive cultural improvements through smarter data and more connected processes.
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