In 2021 following member feedback, the Staff Social Club Committee agreed that we would begin looking into system changes and developments which includes group booking and ballot allocation.
Group booking will allow members to apply in groups for events via a nominated lead booker. This function will be utilised for events such as our Pub Quiz and Christmas Party. The aim to make the allocation process more fair for teams and groups, ensuring members applying together are allocated places together. Currently under the present system structure, part of a group could be allocated and part of a group could be missing out, due to the first come first served allocation rule. It will also eliminate the use of manual group applications forms and therefore streamline and simplify the application process.
Ballot allocation will mean we have the option for ticket allocation to be done at random, rather than solely first come first served as it is currently. Once developed, we will ensure there is a member survey to determine when/how this function is utilised and for which events, so you decide. We hope that this will make the allocation for popular events more fair for members who work out of hours, in patient facing roles such as wards and theatres or in posts where computer access is not always readily available.
Work initially began in 2023 with our system management provider (SIS) to make the necessary changes to our system however there were unfortunately unavoidable delay due to operational pressures, limited resources and staffing changes. Alongside this, other projects were deemed by the Committee to take priority, such as the fee change and lottery structure – implemented in 2024.
Throughout 2025 we have been working hard with SIS to make some progress on these long awaited updates. The system updates will now be split into two separate phases. The first phase that will roll out to members will be group booking, once this has been successfully live tested with actual events and real applications, and we are satisfied it is working as it should and members are satisfied, we will then look to test and roll out phase two, balloting.
We are currently in the offline testing phase for group booking, work is progressing and we are making positive steps, it is our goal to launch this feature in 2026.
This page will be updated with progress of the project and members will be informed prior to any changes being implemented.