A new partnership between 10 north central London NHS trusts that will deliver more efficient and effective corporate services has officially been launched.

North London Partners Shared Services (NLPSS) has been established in line with the model of partnership working set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, which stated that all parts of England would be served by an integrated care system from April 2021.

One of the expectations for integrated care systems is the creation of a shared platform for corporate and clinical support services, such as payroll, patient administration, recruitment and finance.

The first service to come under the umbrella of NLPSS, which includes the Royal Free London, is transactional recruitment services – covering the checks involved to make employment happen such as professional registration, IDs, references and right to work – which will be provided to eight of the 10 trusts in the partnership that have chosen to transfer this service to NLPSS.

NLPSS managing director Robert Prince said: “This new shared service is a huge achievement for partnership working across north central London.

“Currently corporate services in NHS trusts across north central London are fragmented, lack resilience and have variable quality and cost effectiveness.

“The aim of the partnership is to achieve better quality, more resilient, responsive, user-friendly and efficient corporate services. The pooling of resources also means we can prevent waste and duplication, co-invest in the latest technology, and most crucially for recruitment, reduce the time taken to hire someone, relieving pressure on the frontline.”

The adoption of automated technology will be a key part of NLPSS’ approach, which will free staff from more mundane, repetitive tasks and enable them to focus more on the NHS staff who rely on their support services.

For NHS staff who will use the new shared service, the benefits will be its ‘customer-service’ ethos, with the ability to support NHS colleagues immediately and the opportunity to move seamlessly between north central London organisations with an existing understanding of support services and without unnecessary duplication of employment checks.

The 10 trusts in the NLPSS partnership are:

  • Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust​
  • Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust​
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
  • Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust​
  • Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
  • Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust
  • Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
  • University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Whittington Health NHS Trust.