National Driver shortage

HGV drivers

It has been widely covered in the UK press that there is a shortage of HGV drivers available across the country.

As a business, Alliance Healthcare and all subsidiary companies have a strong network of HGV drivers. One third of our workforce have achieved long service awards, with more than ten years’ experience, and tremendous loyalty to the business. This gives us confidence that we are in a safe place with regard to employment in this sector and our role in supporting the UK patient.

Van drivers

With our daily driver population we are experiencing two main issues: COVID absence rates due to isolations and a recruitment shortage across the country. With one of these complications in isolation our service levels would be maintained, however with both at once, it does cause some difficulties.

You may have recently experienced some missing deliveries on occasion from certain service centres for which we apologise and hope this has not significantly impacted supply to your patients. Please be assured that where this has occurred, we have endeavoured to, and will continue to let you know as soon as possible and provide information through the myahprtal.

How we are mitigating the situation

On a day by day basis, teams across operations are working hard to ensure that these challenges impact service as little as possible. This includes dynamic route changing, prioritisation and altering staffing. There is also an ongoing recruitment drive to encourage drivers to join our business. We encourage you all to refer any individuals to us if they could be suitable for a role.

Committed to supporting our customers and patients

Despite these current challenges, maintaining a stable service to customers remains our priority and we thank you for your continued support. The UK patient is at the heart of everything we do and we appreciate your continued dedication.

We will continue to keep you updated on the situation as it evolves.