uPaged is a nursing workforce ecosystem that connects the widest possible talent pool of nurses – from nursing agencies, permanent hospital nurses and casuals, to independent nurses – so that healthcare organisations can fill casual nursing shifts from one single source.
The first of its kind in Australia, uPaged was born of an idea by intensive care registered nurse, Zara Lord, that there had to be a better way to match the right nurse, with the right shift, at the right price.
uPaged adds considerable value to the supply chain. The technology showcases each nurse’s unique skills and experience, matching fully-vetted, employment-ready nurses to available shifts, so that hospital booking managers can select from nurses perfectly suited to their needs to facilitate safe patient care.
By centralising a fragmented supply chain, the technology replaces an inefficient, labour-intensive and costly process of staffing meetings, phone calls, and text messages between multiple nursing agencies and hospitals for the supply of agency nurses. The platform consolidates suppliers, timesheets, reports and can analyse data for greater predictive analysis of demand. At the same time, preferred provider arrangements are honoured, financial biases are removed, and nurses can secure higher rates of pay.
uPaged is based in Sydney, surrounded by others in the startup community. Currently a team of 8, uPaged expects to treble in size over the next few years.
As a multi-sided marketplace for Australia’s largest healthcare workforce, nurses are one of the most compliance-heavy employees – with multiple annual and 5-yearly competencies, licences and certifications, mandatory trainings and immunisations, and more – that need to be systematically and routinely checked to ensure the highest standards of practice are retained in healthcare.
Founder, Zara Lord explains: As a process-driven organisation, it resonated with uPaged to pursue ISO accreditation to apply the same rigour that we apply to vetting nurses, to our business and operational processes. It aligned with our values to minimise risks wherever possible; to maintain a trajectory of continuous improvement, and ultimately deliver better value for our customers.
uPaged also wanted to compete on a level playing field with more established businesses, and remove one of the barriers to entry we’ve come across in supplying to national healthcare providers. Working alongside the largely unregulated recruitment sector, we wanted to raise the bar on standards, and ISO accreditation demonstrates our commitment to remaining a cut above the rest.
We loved working in a truly collaborative way that meant that our culture, language and operating style is accurately reflected in our systems and processes.
We were told it’s unusual that we got our accreditation with only two minor findings, which we’ve already rectified, so we’re feeling really resilient as an organisation and fully prepared for our next audit in a year.
The icing on the cake has been the positive feedback we’ve received from customers and suppliers, saying how delighted they are to see what we’ve achieved in securing accreditation.
You can learn more about uPaged on their website – upaged.com.au
Zara Lord, uPage Founder CEO
