Staffing Services

For Registered Managers & Commissioners

How Our Staffing Service Works

Healthcare staffing is the supply of vetted clinical and care workers to care homes, supported living services, hospices and NHS teams, so that safe staffing levels hold despite sickness, vacancies and changes in acuity. We carry the recruitment, compliance and payroll load; you keep control of your rota. Every worker who walks into your service should already be checked, trained and ready to start the shift.

It is worth being clear which service you are buying, because the two operate differently. An employment agency introduces a candidate whom you then employ directly, which is the permanent recruitment route. An employment business supplies temporary workers who remain on our books while they work in your service, which is the model for shift-by-shift cover. We do both, but the terms of business, invoicing and liability differ, so we set out which applies in every arrangement.

What we supply, and where

We group our supply into four areas, each with its own training and compliance expectations: nurses and midwifery, covering NMC-registered nurses and midwives; mental health, covering registered mental health nurses and specialist support workers; learning disability, covering learning disability nurses and positive behaviour support staff; and support staff, covering healthcare assistants, senior carers and support workers. Those workers cover nursing and residential homes, supported living, hospices, NHS trusts, private hospitals, community services and domiciliary providers.

Getting the skill mix right matters as much as headcount. A shift covered by the right number of people but the wrong blend of competencies is not safely staffed. A dementia nursing unit needs registered nurses who can manage clinical risk alongside carers experienced in supporting distress; a supported living service may need no nurse at all but highly skilled support workers. We book against the competencies a shift actually requires.

Compliance, and why it protects your rating

Compliance is the single most important thing a staffing partner does, because every worker we send becomes part of your regulated service. If a worker is not properly checked or trained, the risk lands on the provider. Before anyone is placed we complete and can evidence:

• ✓Enhanced DBS, kept current wherever possible via the DBS Update Service.
• ✓Right to work, verified in line with Home Office guidance, including sponsorship status where relevant.
• ✓Professional registration, including a live NMC PIN checked against the register for nurses.
• ✓Mandatory training, mapped to the Care Certificate and the relevant frameworks.
• ✓Occupational health clearance and an up-to-date immunisation record.
• ✓References covering recent employment, with any gaps explained.

This is not box-ticking. In England the Care Quality Commission inspects against the fundamental standards set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and safe recruitment sits squarely within them. Employment agencies and employment businesses are separately governed by the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Protocol Healthcare Services Ltd is REC affiliated and an FSB member. Ask us for a full compliance file for any worker and we will produce the evidence itself, not an assurance that it exists.

How charge rates are built up

We quote per assignment rather than publishing a rate card, because rates depend on role, setting, shift time and notice. What we will always do is itemise. A charge rate is more than the worker's take-home pay: it covers the wage, employer National Insurance, holiday pay and pension, the cost of vetting, mandatory training and revalidation support, and our operating margin, with uplifts for nights, weekends, bank holidays and short-notice bookings. Compare quotes on the fully inclusive figure alongside the fill rate, because an unfilled shift is a cost too, paid in overtime, a stretched skeleton team, or risk.

Temporary, block booking or permanent

Most well-run services settle on a permanent core, an internal bank for predictable absence, and an agency partner for the rest. Temporary cover suits sickness, annual leave, vacancies awaiting recruitment and sudden rises in acuity, and can often start within hours. Block and fixed-term bookings suit a known period of extra need such as an outbreak or a temporary uplift in dependency, giving continuity without a permanent commitment. Permanent placement is a one-off recruitment service: we source, screen and present candidates, and you employ the successful one on your own terms.

Getting started

We learn how your service runs, agree clear terms and rates, and build a pool of workers who fit your setting, so cover feels like an extension of your own team rather than a stream of strangers. Our consultants are contactable seven days a week, Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and weekends from 10am to 9pm, for urgent and short-notice bookings, including cover for evening, night, weekend and bank holiday shifts. Talk to our team about your rota, or read our complete healthcare staffing guide for UK care providers.