Overview
Established in 1990 avante partnership is a charitable company and one of the largest social care providers in the South East. Through their residential care homes and community support services, avante partnership provide support for more than 4,000 people a year.
avante partnership provide residential care services, including specialist dementia care, respite, rehabilitation and day care, for older people, as well as support for older people living in sheltered accommodation. Community based services provide support for people with a physical or learning disability and also offer support for young people and families. avante partnership are committed to providing quality services and hold ISO 9001 and IIP quality awards.
Testimonial
"Agency usage is a major concern for avante partnership; not only does it impact on our costs but can also have an impact on the quality of care if not carefully managed. The analysis by de Poel showed that we could make substantial savings and introduce better quality control by working with de Poel.
As with any new system there were some teething problems, but the quick and professional response that we received from our account manager ensured that these were resolved.
I am delighted with the management information that we have access to through e-tips® which has enabled us to really focus on problem areas and to improve the accuracy of our monthly accounting. As well as achieving net savings of around 6% we have also seen a real reduction in invoice processing time as we now receive one invoice per week instead of over 100."
Case Study
Client background:
Established in 1990 avante partnership is a charitable company and one of the largest social care providers in the South East. Through their residential care homes and community support services, avante partnership provide support for more than 4,000 people a year.
avante partnership provide residential care services, including specialist dementia care, respite, rehabilitation and day care, for older people, as well as support for older people living in sheltered accommodation. Community based services provide support for people with a physical or learning disability and also offer support for young people and families.
avante partnership are committed to providing quality services and hold ISO 9001 and IIP quality awards.
One of avante partnership’s strategic objectives is to strengthen financial viability in order to be able to further invest in services avanate partnership are users of temporary agency workers covering a wide range of skill sets including senior care assistants, care assistants, team leaders, cooks, kitchen assistants, laundry assistants and domestic assistants. avante partnership were keen to take control and visibility, over agency spend. Following a consultation with de Poel, avante partnership identified a number of key areas for improvement and appointed de Poel to analyse their processes.
Solution:
de Poel’s analysis process highlighted a lack of consistency over agency rates and supplier margins. Agencies were operating under their own terms and conditions, with no clarity on how overtime charges were being calculated.
de Poel quickly established relationships with key agency suppliers, which provided an understanding of business needs from all perspectives. Existing suppliers were invited to agency seminars, where we presented standard service agreements for all agencies.
The service agreements included fixed charge and pay rates, for all skill sets, overtime rules, NI & WTR calculations. The inclusion of key performance indicators provided the ability to measure agency performance, to ensure high quality care was received.
Introducing a system of control ensured temporary agency spend could be accountable and measurable at all times. The majority of existing agencies agreed to join the preferred agency panel, providing continuity of service.
A primary objective for avante partnership was to reduce the burden of administration associated with using temporary agency labour. avante partnership recognised the opportunity for consolidation of invoice reduction through de Poel’s e-tips® system, key features included:
Elimination of transactional costs
Elimination of processing paper-based invoices and timesheets
Integration into avante partnership without any in-house set-up or installation
Easy to operate, supported by help desk, offering ongoing assistance
Web-based, providing effective, instant communication
The reporting facilities generated by e-tips® provide easy access to a range of real-time management information.
Results:
avante partnership approved and implemented the de Poel recommendations and achieved:
- 6-7% cost savings delivered on annual temporary agency spend
- A new preferred agency panel, operating with fixed pay and charge rates
· Introduction of service agreements, with the ability to measure agency performance
- Reduction of multiple invoices to 52 a year
- Elimination of transactional and processing costs
- Invoice accuracy of 99%
- Real time visibility, management information and control over spend
Benefits:
avante partnership now operate their temporary agency workforce with control and visibility across all 19 care homes. Management information provides a concise insight into the use of all skill sets, carers etc by location.
The introduction of service agreements provides a tool in which to measure agency performance which helps to ensure that the high quality of care is maintained.
