How are we doing this?
We work in partnership with primary care trusts, hospital trusts, mental health trusts and the Northern Deanery, as well as external bodies such as the workforce review team, sector skills councils and the Department of Health to get the right NHS workforce for today and tomorrow.
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To achieve this we are:
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Developing and using workforce intelligence
We (the SHA) have a role in developing and using local intelligence to highlight workforce risks in the short, medium and long term. By working in partnership with other organisations across the region we work to avoid workforce problems to ensure that there are the right numbers of appropriately trained staff available to deliver high quality services.
A good example of where this work is crucial is the Health Care Scientists (HSC) workforce. HCSs play a crucial role in delivering care and shortages often halt the patient pathway. At present the HCS workforce is older with many approaching retirement age. This poses issues for the short medium and long term right across the region, and it is through assessing and understanding this risk that we can start to make plans for the future.
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Modeling our vision of future workforce implications
There are now workforce clusters in place to gather a complete overview of the workforce needs in their areas. They are being encouraged not to think about workforce planning in isolation but about meeting the needs of future services by looking at workforce considerations in relation to service and financial plans.
The clusters are responsible for developing workforce plans which give a holistic view of their workforce needs. These plans must feed into the SHA to inform the creation of a regional plan.
The workforce team at the SHA is responsible for developing a coherent approach for local workforce development and by coordinating access to workforce planning training and contributing experience from their team we are able to advise and help the regional NHS model and plan how their decisions will impact on future patient care.
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Establishing planning systems through workforce clusters and NHS organisations
We also have a key role to play in workforce planning and availability by working closely with the newly formed workforce clusters. There are four clusters which are based around the four commissioning PCT areas. Each cluster is made up of representation from their local PCTs, NHS and Foundation Trusts and local higher and further education providers. The clusters are encouraged to have as wide a membership as possible including potential service providers, public, private and voluntary sectors.
This year the SHA is trying to help build capacity and capability for workforce planners across the region by coordinating workforce planning training through National Workforce Projects and the Workforce Review Team.
