Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is to introduce smartcard technology this year to allow staff to make cashless payments in its restaurants.

When hospital personnel charge up their cards online or using physical machines linked to the trust’s payroll system, the amount will be deducted from their salaries when they are paid.

This deduction from the gross salary means employees will save on tax and national insurance, while the NHS Trust will save on national insurance contributions and an overall reduction in its salary bill.

‘A cashless catering system has proved successful in the private sector as well as at some universities,’ said Nottingham’s deputy finance director Richard Lang.

‘Benefits of the system include convenience for staff as they do not have to carry change, increased speed of transactions and reduced queues.’

The Trust will also benefit from a reduction in cash collection, increased security because there will be less cash on its premises, and a full audit trail of transactions.

‘The Trust has shortlisted six organisations and we may choose to integrate the card with the staff ID and access control cards,’ said Lang.

‘The plan is to begin a phased implementation across our two sites beginning with the City campus in autumn. The facility could also be extended to patients and visitors to the hospital,’ he said.

Butler Group analyst Sarah Burnett says funding smartcards direct from salaries is a different approach to cashless payments, but one that makes sense from a business point of view.

‘For staff, there is the benefit of not having to carry cash every day as they put credit on the card direct from their payroll,’ she said. ‘But it also offers added security to the hospital as it does not have to transport money.’

Burnett says using smartcards to make cashless payments has been popular at private firms, but is rarely linked to payroll.

‘Linking the card to applications such as staff ID and access control could also allow for the sharing of infrastructure, simplified administration and cost savings,’ she said.