The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, managing Rotherham Hospital, first began using Reset in March 2018 but has continually added to the range of Reset services utilised and has recently extended its Reset contract for a further 5-year agreement.

Officially opened 46 years ago in 1978, the hospital has over 530 beds and employs approximately 5,000 staff serving Rotherham and the surrounding South Yorkshire area. 

The hospital has been extensively developed over many years with the last major development being the new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre which was developed in collaboration with the Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group; a state-of-the-art facility providing emergency care and GP out of hours services for the people of Rotherham.

More recently, in July this year, the Trust celebrated the opening of a new CT scanner facility at the Breathing Space Community Diagnostic Centre marking a significant milestone in enhancing the scanning capacity across Rotherham.

Following on, in August, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust was ranked as one of the most improved NHS Trusts in England by the CQC Inpatient Survey 2023. When it comes to health and safety, the Trust is just as committed to the same continual improvement. This was clearly demonstrated earlier this year when they joined an exclusive and elite group of organisations by being honoured with the RoSPA President’s Award.

Reset was implemented 6 years ago, within the Estates and Facilities Department, to deliver ‘control of contractors’ on site and to ensure compliance of both the Trust and its contractors. Since going live with one Reset Access (contractor self-service check-in point) touch screen terminal in 2018, they added Reset Access Mobile Badges to allow contractors to log in with The Reset Cardholder App, via a mobile device in 2022. Then in 2023 they implemented Reset Site Induction to deliver and manage their contractor site inductions and, as part of a 5-year contract extension, they have just taken an additional Reset Access terminal and will utilise the Reset ‘Live Status service’ to provide a large format information screen for the Estates Department office to present, at a glance, live information about the status of the contractors that are on site at any given time.

Rotherham have also made proactive use of the Reset ‘My Recognised Supplier List’. As a niche service, when they needed a new crane service contractor, they found a suitable local company from the Reset Member Company Directory and, verifying the organisation’s status via Reset, they placed a contract with them and had them working on site in a matter of days. As a result, ACDC Cranes Ltd, who had joined Reset at the request of another Reset Mandatory Site, were delighted that Reset could work in this way and create such work opportunities for them. 

Denise Morris, Acting Estates Operational Manager and Reset Contractor Management, said: “Over a number of years we have been improving our contractor management and compliance and Reset plays a key part in that. The support that I get from Reset is second to none, the whole team are responsive and quick to come back with a resolve for any problem. This makes Reset easy to use and gives us the comfort that we know who is on our site and what they are doing, as well as the reassurance that they have been site inducted. After the event, the reporting allows us to quickly interrogate the system to validate invoices and attendances and I have no doubt that this keeps the contractors’ pencil sharp and saves the Trust money as we can ensure that billing is accurate.”

Richard Robinson, Acting Head of Estates, said: “The Trust has grown over the years, and with that so has the constant challenge of looking after it, with more contractors and service providers required to come onto site in order to keep everything working and running smoothly. Effective contractor management is fundamental to safety, not just of the contractors but also our staff, patients and the wider general public. Reset helps us to manage the contractors far more efficiently than our previous methods, whilst at the same time being very cost effective for the Trust and our contractors. Knowing what everyone is doing, when they are attending site and if they are competent to do the task in hand is crucial.” 

Richard continues, “Reset can be summed up in one word, ‘visibility’. At any given time, Reset is providing live information about who is on site, what they are doing and who they are working for, the company status, the individual’s competence and qualifications and even their vehicle details they have driven on to site. I was sceptical of Reset at the start and whether the contractors would engage. But I have since realised that it is our job to make them participate and to drive Reset, not only for our own compliance and safety, but for that of the contractor too. Reset has, and will, play a key part of our health and safety management strategy as we plan ahead. That is why we have just re-committed to Reset by extending the contract. Further to that we know that by doing so, our Reset costs are locked in for the next five years and we can budget for our contractor management provision.”

Gary Duce, Managing Director of Reset said ‘We are delighted that The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust will continue to benefit from the use of Reset and that they have demonstrated their commitment to contractor management and health and safety by extending their contract and adding additional screens and services, Richard and Denise continue to drive Reset in a determined fashion and this site has become a great example of how Reset should be utilised.

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust is located in amongst several other Reset mandatory client sites; Doncaster and Bassetlaw, Mid-Yorkshire, DSFS (Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) and South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trusts making Reset membership very worthwhile for the many contractors that work across this region.