A post left vacant for three months only gets noticed when the payer points it out.
The funded posts are set out in the agreement; actual staffing is in the duty roster and in payroll. The two are only brought together when controlling pulls an extract for the negotiation. Until then the ward runs with a gap, and nobody records for how long.
38.0funded full-time equivalentsThat is the number the agreement sets for nursing.
34.5actually filledAveraged over the quarter, the duty roster shows fewer full-time equivalents than agreed.
2systemsAgreement and payroll are maintained separately and rarely checked against each other.
1reconciliation a yearIt happens once, shortly before the negotiation date.
The gap of 3.5 full-time equivalents shows up in the reconciliation every month instead of once before the negotiation, and revenue losses fall by 45%.
The 45% reduction in revenue losses is this agent's headline figure. The number of posts, the staffing level and the number of reconciliations describe a typical year in a hospital; they are not measured values.