We all know how important administration is in healthcare, ensuring that everything gets done and that services are efficient for patients. But, have you ever stopped and wondered why it works? The answer: Human Resource Management. In this article, we discuss the importance of HRM in healthcare, and what other industries could take from it to make their own businesses more efficient.
So, why is HRM important in healthcare? HR managers in healthcare settings are responsible for ensuring that their services are as efficient as possible for all involved; administrative staff, clinical staff, and patients. Without them, it is highly likely that patient services would reduce and decrease in quality.
Read on to learn more about why HRM is so important in healthcare settings.
HRM is so important in healthcare as HR managers in this industry, quite literally, keep organisations running smoothly. Without effective management of workers in healthcare settings, clinics would soon fail.
HRM is there to ensure that there are enough (and the correct) resources on-site at any given time to meet the needs of both the organisation, and its patients. They may not be the ones delegating around the organisation, but work hard behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible, whilst staying on budget.
What’s more, HRM are responsible for ensuring a suitable distribution of clinical vs non-clinical employees within the organisation. Managers need to get the balance right; both teams have their necessities, and one wouldn’t work without the other, but it can be a challenge to get the balance just right so that needs are met effectively.
Further to this, HR are responsible for ethical and compliance matters. HRM must stay on top of industry compliance, making sure that each and every employee meets the requirements of the law, their governing bodies, and organisational requirements. They must also handle ethical matters throughout the organisation. This may relate to medical ethics, or social ethics, as well as any issues between employees and patients.
The key role of HR in healthcare is ensuring a suitable distribution of resources, both human and otherwise, across the organisation in order to meet both organisation and patient needs. Within this falls a number of crucial tasks:
The most important aspect of HRM in healthcare is ensuring that there are enough (human) resources available to run an effective clinic. Secondary to this is ensuring that those employees are fit to work, and can meet the needs of patients. This extends beyond clinical practitioners to administrative, finance, legal, and cleaning staff, as each member of those teams plays an important role in meeting the needs of patients, their families, and other stakeholders.
The role of HRM in healthcare is more important when the challenges that HR face within the healthcare industry are considered.
The healthcare industry faces a shortage of workers, and an aging senior workforce. Nurses, in particular, are in demand. The Nursing Times references an article by The Health Foundation, which states that in order to fully recover from the recent pandemic, and meet growing demand, the government will need to exceed it’s target of 50,000 new nurses by 32024/24.
Recent figures show an increasing trend in both nurse shortages and turnover of medical staff. The Heath Foundation stresses the importance of HRM assessing the costs of these changes in the NHS workforce, as well as their impact on service delivery.
The British Medical Journal has recently highlighted the “emergency levels” that staff burnout in the NHS has reached, and how this poses a serious risk to the functioning of services. HRM play an important role in ensuring that staff are healthy, functioning well and, critically, are not burned out. Whilst this, sometimes, may need work, it is important that HR managers stay on top of the hours that their staff work, and their mental state.
With patient information rapidly shifting to digital records, privacy and compliance with data laws are a new challenge for HR managers in healthcare. Not only do managers need to source appropriate software, but they also need to ensure that all employees that have access to data are trained in data protection, and adhere to it.
Through our experience working in various healthcare settings, we have built an excellent understanding of the healthcare industry as a whole, and can provide outstanding healthcare HR services which recognise the specialist needs of this industry.
Our specialists in NHS employee matters and HR medical services can create a bespoke service tailored to your needs whether that’s ad hoc or a fixed price package. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help you manage your healthcare HRM function. Or, get started with our free HR Health Check to help you analyse your current workforce and it’s needs.
