To achieve its objective of a £10million reduction in agency spend by 31 March 2017, a working group of staff across North East London NHS Foundation Trust began monitoring the trust's compliance with price caps and off-framework agreements, and its use of contracted hours, return to work processes and eight-week rostering. Initial analysis of data extracted from HealthRoster and ESR showed that the highest spend on agency staff was within the trust's 11 mental health inpatient wards, equating to 10.66 per cent of all staffing costs. A project team, commissioned to work closely with these units, reported that HealthRoster was not being used effectively. The units were not carrying out eight-week roster approvals, staff contracted hours were not fully utilised and return to work i

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