When NHS services are stretched thin, every day matters. Waiting three weeks for a new starter’s pre-employment checks to clear causes more than headaches for you and your employee – they can directly affect patient care.
If that’s been the case for years or even decades, it’s easy to think that time period is just the way it has to be. In actual fact, changing their processes lead to NHSBSA reducing their time-to-hire from three weeks to as little as two days.
Relying on manual checks and paper-based processes is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) cause of delays – not to mention errors, unnecessary costs, and overlooked data that could cause someone to get hired illegally.
The good news is: digital verification is no longer freshly emerging, unproven technology. As long as you choose a certified provider, digital pre-employment checks are now seen as the default across onboarding, for very good reasons…
The hidden cost of manual checks
Manual identity and background checks can be time-consuming, error-prone, and costly. Forms get lost, candidates need chasing, ID documents need to be verified in-person. All of these add to an already heavy admin load, and puts more pressure on the staff you’re trying to support by hiring more talent.
According to NHS England’s Long Term Workforce Plan, the health service is currently short of more than 110,000 staff. This is predicted to rise to 260,000 – 360,000 in the next ten years.
Onboarding new hires takes an average of 75 days, meaning vacant roles remain unfilled for weeks. This drives up agency spend, and increases the workflow for existing staff. In the effort to reduce time-to-hire, critical staff vetting steps may be completed incorrectly or missed entirely, risking fines and reputational damage.
Beyond the numbers, it also takes a toll on your people. Delays mean burnt-out teams, stretched rotas, and an overreliance on temporary staff. If this causes staff to leave, you’ll need to go through the onboarding process again to fill their role. Thus, the cycle continues.
Faster onboarding = safer staffing
The link between speed and safety might not be as obvious as the cost and time savings, but it’s crucial. Faster onboarding isn’t achieved by cutting corners, but by removing the inefficiencies that hold compliant candidates back from starting.
In the UK, failing to carry out proper right to work checks can result in fines of up to £45,000 per employee for a first breach. For repeat breaches, fines are up to £60,000 per employee. Fines can be issued even if the breach was a mistake or a misunderstanding. Criminal charges can also be made if the breach is deemed deliberate. Similarly, skipping or mishandling DBS checks can have serious consequences. If a staff member is placed in a role involving vulnerable patients without the appropriate clearance, patients could be at serious risk. The trust or organisation itself would be risking regulatory action and reputational damage.
When staff checks are completed quickly and accurately, you can deploy new hires where they’re needed most, reducing gaps in care and improving patient safety. Digital checks also ensure greater consistency across departments and locations, reducing the risk of compliance breaches.
Automated systems reduce human error, flag missing documentation, and ensure consistent compliance across departments. This means compliant candidates aren’t left waiting due to paperwork bottlenecks, and patients benefit from timely, qualified care. Speed, when paired with precision, becomes a powerful tool for safety.
Saving time and money through digital pre-employment checks
Manual compliance processes don’t just eat up your employee’s time – but budgets too. Every extra day spent onboarding new hires can involve significant costs in temporary staffing and administrative time.
By switching to digital checks, your teams can see dramatic efficiency gains. For instance, NHSBSA saved £1.3 million in recruiters’ time in one year by switching away from manual checks.
Some of these cost savings are directly linked to time savings. That said, not all digital providers can deliver the same results. For example, an average of 80% of DBS checks with other providers are completed within two days. 60% are completed within one day going direct with DBS. However, with Amiqus, 82% are completed within an hour, and 95% are completed within one day – making it 58% faster to go with Amiqus.
These time savings directly translate into cost savings and faster deployment of new staff, easing pressure across the system on both staff and budgets.
What digital-first really looks like
True digital onboarding goes beyond uploading documents online, or moving from paper forms to email chains. Digital onboarding means connecting every stage of verification, be it identity, right to work work, or DBS checks. All in one secure platform.
With Amiqus, NHS trusts can:
- Verify identity documents on global talent from 195+ countries.
- Run DBS and Disclosure Scotland checks in as little as a few minutes.
- Connect seamlessly with NHS ESR to streamline workforce data management.
- Confirm professional qualifications and registrations.
- Automatically screen candidates against sanctions, PEP, and adverse media lists.
- Record all activity in a single, auditable log for compliance reporting.
The result is a smoother process for teams and candidates alike – one that shortens hiring cycles and improves candidate experience while meeting strict NHS Digital and UK Trust Framework standards.
Building a digital-ready workforce
Digital transformation in the NHS is about sustainability just as much as it is efficiency. The NHS’s ambition to centralise and modernise onboarding depends on tools that can scale across trusts and integrate seamlessly with systems like ESR and ServiceNow.
Outside of the NHS, healthcare providers still face similar pressures. Compliance expectations are rising, and patients increasingly value organisations that can prove robust safeguarding and data protection processes.
A digital-first approach to checks sets you up to meet today’s regulations, as well as preparing your organisation up for the future, enabling safer, smarter staffing decisions, and a more resilient workforce.
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Manual onboarding may feel safe and easy if it’s the process you’ve known for a long time. In reality, it’s quite the opposite. By replacing less secure, paper-based checks with one digital workflow, your teams can protect patients, support staff, and build a safer, more efficient system for everyone.
Amiqus is trusted by NHSBSA and leading healthcare organisations across the UK to deliver fast, compliant digital pre-employment checks. Teams move quicker, stay secure, and focus on what matters most: providing outstanding care.
See how Amiqus helps the NHS move faster: book a personalised demo today.
