Industries
Why hospital staff leave and how to understand why
Nurses, doctors, technicians and support staff leave hospitals for different reasons. How to run a respectful exit conversation, spot patterns and act.
7 min readRead article
Healthcare · ENT clinics
HR for ENT Clinics: Surgeons, Audiometry and Day-Care Teams
An ENT clinic mixes consultations, endoscopy, hearing tests and day-care surgery. Here is how to run the people side of it.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsAn ENT clinic treats ear, nose and throat conditions through consultations, endoscopy, hearing and balance tests and, in many places, day-care procedures such as sinus, tonsil and ear surgery. The team includes ENT surgeons, audiometry and speech staff, endoscopy and theatre nurses, a front desk and a billing and insurance desk. Paediatric patients form a large part of the work, which affects how staff must communicate and how the waiting area is run. Surgery days and consulting days look very different, so staff move between roles on a weekly pattern. Surgeons often operate across several hospitals, which stretches their time and the clinic's control. See also HR for healthcare.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in ent clinics, you may see
- Surgeons are shared across hospitals
- Day-care days are uneven
- Children need a different handling skill
- Endoscope and instrument care is informal
- Billing for procedures is complicated
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in ent clinics
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- ENT surgeons and consultants
- Audiologists and audiometrists
- Endoscopy and theatre nurses
- Anaesthetic and recovery staff (visiting or employed)
- Speech and swallowing therapists
- Front desk and billing staff
- Clinic managers
Where HR strains in ent clinics
Surgeons are shared across hospitals
Operating lists shift when a surgeon is called elsewhere, and the clinic's team is left idle or rushed.
Day-care days are uneven
Theatre days need many hands and consulting days need few, so staff hours swing from week to week.
Children need a different handling skill
Staff are not trained in dealing with frightened children and anxious parents, and complaints follow.
Endoscope and instrument care is informal
Cleaning and tracking of delicate instruments depends on one or two trained people.
Billing for procedures is complicated
Packages and insurance approvals sit with a few staff, and delays slow the schedule.
HR topics for ent clinics
Start with the topics that matter most here: Employee Administration; Learning and Development; Organisation Design. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for healthcare, not in general.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a ent clinics business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Agree surgeon schedules in writing
Fixed days and hours at the clinic, a notice rule for changes and a plan for backup.
What this coversHide
Agree surgeon schedules in writing
Fixed days and hours at the clinic, a notice rule for changes and a plan for backup.
What this coversHideFixed days and hours at the clinic, a notice rule for changes and a plan for backup. See role design and job descriptions.
Plan staffing by day type
A roster that separates consulting and theatre days, with a pool that moves between them.
What this coversHide
Plan staffing by day type
A roster that separates consulting and theatre days, with a pool that moves between them.
What this coversHideA roster that separates consulting and theatre days, with a pool that moves between them. The attendance, shift and leave process supports it.
Train for working with children
A short practical session for all patient-facing staff, covering explanation, patience and parent communication.
What this coversHide
Train for working with children
A short practical session for all patient-facing staff, covering explanation, patience and parent communication.
What this coversHideA short practical session for all patient-facing staff, covering explanation, patience and parent communication.
Document instrument care
A written routine for cleaning, checking and tracking instruments, with a trained backup.
What this coversHide
Document instrument care
A written routine for cleaning, checking and tracking instruments, with a trained backup.
What this coversHideA written routine for cleaning, checking and tracking instruments, with a trained backup.
Train a second person on procedure billing
A written flow and a trained alternate so approvals do not stall when one person is absent.
What this coversHide
Train a second person on procedure billing
A written flow and a trained alternate so approvals do not stall when one person is absent.
What this coversHideA written flow and a trained alternate so approvals do not stall when one person is absent.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- List how many operating lists changed at short notice last quarter.
- Check who is trained to clean and track endoscopes.
- Write down your day-care staffing for a typical theatre day and consulting day.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the registration and employment obligations that apply to your clinic.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Attendance, shift and leave
Rosters that match theatre and consulting days.
- Learning and development
Practical training for staff who handle children and anxious parents.
- Role design and job descriptions
Roles that make clear who does what in theatre, endoscopy and recovery.
- Employee information management
A credential record for surgeons, nurses and technicians with renewal dates.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our hospital HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the hospital, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in healthcare, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Process
One employee, three versions of the record: fixing employee information management
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead article
HR Process
The training calendar nobody attends: fixing the learning and development process
A calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
7 min readRead article
HR Management
Everyone reports to the founder: when and how to redesign the structure
A flat structure works until the founder becomes the only route to a decision. How to tell when you have passed that point, and how to redesign without a reorganisation.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Agree fixed sessions, notice for changes and a backup plan in writing, and review attendance against the agreement.
Build a roster per day type, with a pool that can move between consulting and theatre.
Simple, practical communication with children and parents, and a calm waiting area, taught to everyone who meets them.
A named, trained person with a written routine and a backup. Confirm any rules with a qualified professional.
Yes. Rosters, credentials and pay are as complex as in a hospital with far fewer people to manage them.
Together we would look at how many operating lists changed at short notice, who is trained to clean and track endoscopes, and how you staff a typical theatre day against a consulting day. A reasonable first piece of work is written surgeon schedules and a staffing plan by day type. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
More on HR for healthcare
All 29 business types in healthcare · Find another business type