How Tech Revolutionised Our Recruitment: Nursing Vacancies Dropped From 13.79% to 1.59%
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading specialist cardiothoracic hospitals, providing advanced heart and lung services, including transplantation, cardiac surgery, and respiratory medicine. As a centre of clinical excellence and innovation, the Trust relies on a highly skilled, multidisciplinary workforce to deliver safe and effective care.
Industry
National Health Service
Main Challenges
High Vacancy Rate
Key Benefit
Reduction in Vacancies
Nursing vacancies dropped from 13.79% to 1.59%
The Challenge
In early 2023, Royal Papworth’s reputation for clinical excellence was under threat from a critical workforce crisis. With a registered nurse vacancy rate of 13.79% and a healthcare support worker (HCSW) vacancy rate soaring to 26.82%, the pressure on services was immense. Our recruitment process was the bottleneck; a cumbersome, manual system that was slow, opaque, and incapable of providing the data needed for strategic action. It created a poor experience for candidates, frustrated hiring managers, and failed to support our commitment to fair/inclusive hiring.
The Solution
A digital transformation was not just an option; it was the only viable solution. We needed to move beyond reactive, paper-based hiring to a proactive, data-rich model. Technology was the key to unlocking efficiency, embedding fairness at scale, and providing a transparent, engaging experience from application to offer.
Following a competitive tender, we partnered with Oleeo, whose configurable platform aligned perfectly with our goals, and share our vision, to have the NHS compete with the best employers in the world.
Operationally, we aimed to:
- Dramatically reduce vacancy rates across all staff groups.
- Consistently meet and beat time-to-hire targets.
- Improve the candidate experience to become an employer of choice.
- Culturally, our ambition was even greater: to embed our Trust’s values of compassion, excellence, and collaboration into our recruitment.
- Develop a future proof platform to ensure we would remain cutting edge.
The Partnership
Whilst Oleeo brought in wealth of knowledge from Private Sector recruitment, RPH helped adapt it to the specifics of NHS recruitment. This ongoing partnership was supported by an Agile approach to product development, with new products being released monthly.
Our outstanding partnership was recently recognised as RPH were Finalist at the 2025 Talent Labs Best Supplier Partnership Award and the HSJ Awards 2025.
‘To feel heard and respected within our partnership has helped us have honest and open dialogue that has continued to help the product evolve and meet our needs.’
Luke Bage, Head of Resourcing,
The Results
The implementation of the Oleeo ATS in June 2023 has had a profound impact:
- Nursing vacancies dropped from 13.79% to 1.59%
- HCSW: Fell from a critical 26.82% to 6.93%
- Overall Trust Vacancy rate: Decreased to 5.60% This has led directly to safer staffing levels, reduced agency costs, and improved team morale
- Time to Hire reduced by 57.2%
- 97.3% of applicants rated their journey as ‘Good to Excellent.’
How has the technology implementation impacted other teams and organisations?
The impact of our recruitment transformation has extended far beyond our Trust, demonstrating a model of best practice that is both scalable and influential.
Internally, the technology has democratised recruitment data. Hiring managers across all departments are now empowered with real-time dashboards, fostering shared ownership and breaking down silos between HR and operations. This success has also catalysed other digital improvements, including the use of Oleeo’s Talent Engagement Engine to tailor onboarding messaging for different roles and staff groups.
Externally, our partnership with Oleeo has been a two-way street, driving improvements that benefit the wider NHS. A prime example is the pre-employment checking process. We worked with Oleeo to co-design a new workflow for processing references, which gave managers greater visibility and accountability. This feature, born from our collaboration, was so successful that it has since been rolled out to other NHS Trusts using the platform, ensuring the lessons learned at Royal Papworth contribute to sector-wide efficiency.
“Moving from a manual system to Oleeo has saved time in the recruitment process stages… Conditional letters are processed at a couple of clicks instead of copying and pasting the details.”
Katie Jenkins
Recruitment Services Manager, Royal Papworth NHS Foundation Trust