Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has appointed RLDatix to offer its electronic records platform, Allocate Optima, to all Agenda for Change staff, covering the majority of the trust’s workforce.
As part of the platform, the trust will deploy SafeCare, a staffing tool that aligns workforce levels with patient needs, alongside Loop, a staff communications and engagement app that allows employees to view rosters, manage shifts and communicate more effectively.
Together, these capabilities inform recruiting, staffing, and staff engagement in a single, connected system.
Jo Fanning, chief people officer at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This investment marks an important step forward in the way we support our Agenda for Change staff and deliver safe and effective care to our patients.
“By implementing Allocate Optima, together with SafeCare and Loop, we are strengthening our ability to ensure staffing levels reflect patient needs, while improving the experience of our teams.
“Our Agenda for Change staff are already familiar with the system and have responded very positively, and we are confident that it will support both staff wellbeing and more effective use of our resources.”
Ashford and St Peter’s was an early adopter of electronic registration in the NHS. Following a period of evaluating alternative approaches, including four years with a different provider, the trust has now decided to return to Allocate Optima, building on its previous experience with the system to support its current and future workforce needs.
The trust said the platform will support safer staffing aligned to patient acuity, enable more effective workforce deployment, support staff redeployment, reduce reliance on temporary staff and support flexible working.
It added that the system will also support its broader digital transformation by enabling more consistent, data-driven workforce management and reducing reliance on manual processes.
Implementation is currently underway and is expected to be complete in August 2026.
Paul Sanders, President of the United Kingdom and Ireland in RLDatixadded: “We are proud to support Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to strengthen the way they plan and deploy their workforce.
“By bringing together staffing, acuity-based staffing and staff engagement tools into a single platform, the trust will have greater visibility into demand and the flexibility to respond in real time.
“This is key to reducing reliance on temporary staff, supporting staff wellbeing and ultimately providing safer care for patients.”
