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6 Making It Happen: Key Actions
The National Workforce Planning Framework 2005 sets in train a cycle of workforce planning to be undertaken at national, regional and Board level and on an iterative basis from year to year. A number of actions now need to take place to make that happen - locally, regionally and nationally. Some of them have specific time frames; others will be on-going. All will be monitored for progress and reported on in subsequent workforce plans at national, regional and Board level.
6.1 National level actions
1 SEHD will ensure that the workforce planning implications of the Executive's response to Building a Health Service Fit for the Future are taken forward with regional workforce leads, NHS Boards and stakeholders such as staff organisations.
2 The National Workforce Unit will oversee development of a more robust evidence base for the primary care workforce and further develop capacity for workforce planning in this area. Specifically, we will:
improve the collection of data on the whole primary care workforce including all staff employed by GP practices, community health service staff, community pharmacists and other independent contractors such as dentists and dental practice teams;
secure better intelligence on the contribution and work patterns of sessional GPs; and
align workforce planning for primary care with the Executive's response to Building a Health Service Fit for the Future.
3 The National Workforce Unit will continue to build and improve capacity and capability for workforce planning in NHS Scotland, including roll-out of the Scottish Workforce Information Standard System ( SWISS) 54 this Autumn, promotion of a UK-wide competency framework for workforce planning, and an audit of training arrangements for workforce planning in NHS Scotland to identify any gaps that need to be addressed.
4 The National Workforce Unit will issue guidance this summer for the preparation of regional and NHS Board workforce plans. It will also work with NHS Boards and regions to develop models and toolkits for workforce planning.
5 The National Workforce Unit will produce a National Workforce Plan for December 2006 informed by regional and NHS Board workforce plans and reporting on progress against these actions.
6 SEHD will determine specialist medical training numbers (including GP Registrar numbers), reflecting future consultant and GP requirements and the implementation of MMC.
7 SEHD will address the workforce planning implications of the development of new and extended roles in the workforce, specifically taking into account recently published frameworks for developing roles in nursing and among AHPs. This work will take into account evidence captured from regional and NHS Board workforce plans on new roles.
8 The National Workforce Unit, working in conjunction with the Scottish Forum for Healthcare Science, will:
develop understanding of the smaller sub-specialties among the healthcare scientist workforce, working to safeguard future capacity in these cohorts;
ensure that effective planning is in place for meeting projected demand from regions and NHS Boards for the larger sub-specialties.
9 SEHD will performance manage delivery of NHS Boards' recruitment plans for their consultant workforce and will continue to support Boards, where necessary, in recruiting to hard-to-fill posts and redesigning posts to ease recruitment and retention pressures.
10 SEHD will develop a better national evidence base to inform policies and strategies, some of which will be necessary at national level, to help improve retention of staff across NHS Scotland. This will specifically include efforts to help improve the retention of doctors-in-training and ensure a healthy supply of future consultants and GPs.
11 SEHD will explore developments and practice in workforce planning for the whole healthcare workforce (both clinical and non-clinical) taking place outwith Scotland and will disseminate innovative approaches and solutions that will add value in NHS Scotland, and where appropriate, other areas of the public sector.
6.2 NHS Scotland actions
12 Each NHS Board andworkforce region will produce a workforce plan according to the timetable outlined in this report and in line with guidance issued by SEHD.
13 NHS Boards and regions should apply solutions to future staffing pressures identified through their workforce planning, including action on education and staff development and on recruitment and retention.
14 NHS Boards and regions should develop capacity by investing in dedicated workforce planning expertise, supported by the UK Competency Framework for workforce planning.
15 NHS Boards and regions should ensure that workforce planning is effectively integrated with arrangements for service planning (and redesign) and financial planning and that it links appropriately with arrangements for planning education and development of staff. The integration between these elements should be demonstrated in NHS Boards' and Regions' workforce plans.
16 NHS Boards should have effective local functionality for their workforce information requirements, and commit fully to input and maintain workforce data for SWISS. This will establish for the first time an authoritative, up-to-date and accurate workforce dataset in all NHS Boards across NHS Scotland. This information should include real-time workforce data on such aspects as vacancies, specific pressure points in the workforce, turnover, stability and recruitment rates, regularly monitored by the senior management team (this may require interim arrangements by NHS Boards prior to the full development of SWISS).
17 NHS Boards must, as a basic management requirement, actively monitor vacancies in all staff groups and take action on long-term vacancies, for example through redesign of posts and/or services. This is a key priority which will be actively performance managed by SEHD.
18 NHS Boards should ensure that work on improving absence rates and increasing productivity levels is factored into their workforce planning, along with other actions aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness of services, on the basis of a realistic assessment of the net effect on workforce capacity.
19 NHS Boards should continue to contribute to meeting the Partnership Agreement commitments for consultants, dentists, nurses and allied health professionals. Specifically NHS Boards should deliver on the agreed recruitment targets for consultant expansion. In doing this, NHS Boards should make use of regional workforce development and regional service redesign arrangements.
20 NHS Boards should continue to plan and prepare for the full implementation of the Working Time Regulations in 2009, taking action where necessary, for example, by using solutions such as 'Hospital at Night' and working at regional level.
6.3 Conclusion
Much has happened over the past year in taking forward workforce planning for the healthcare workforce in Scotland. There is still much to do. The NHS's key asset is its staff and it is vital that we use effective strategic workforce planning, fully integrated with service planning, to secure the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time.
This workforce planning framework will enable NHS Scotland to anticipate movements in the workforce and respond nimbly and flexibly to the complex and inevitably unpredictable changes in workforce supply and demand. In so doing it will play a vital role in providing a modern workforce for a modern NHS.
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