Case Study: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust improves values-based recruitment with NHS Employers

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - Customer Case Study

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, one of the UK’s largest mental health trusts, needed a better way to recruit bank staff who would reflect its values and deliver high-quality care. Working with NHS Employers, the trust looked to improve its bank recruitment process through values-based recruitment.

NHS Employers supported the trust in implementing a Competency and Values Based Assessment (CVBA) approach, combining informal welcome sessions, written exercises, group discussions, and panels that included service users and clinical staff. The results were strong: the pilot hired 27 bank nurses, a second day added 18 more, and later assessment days recruited 15 bank staff and 23 permanent nurses. The trust also cut no-shows from 58% to 13%, reduced best-case time to hire to two weeks, completed ID checks for 93% of candidates on the day, and cleared 79% of candidates through Occupational Health within 24 hours.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust