< Previous | Contents | Next >

Report of the Joint Future Group

CHAPTER 6 HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES

6.1 We have identified a mix of organisational, structural and practical measures to rebalance care and to improve joint working. But we acknowledge that people, not just structures, create and support change. We need to help staff across agencies overcome barriers to change. We commissioned a helpful presentation from Human Resources/Personnel Managers from local authority and health settings.

6.2 As services move closer to the user and at the same time social care and health services become more joined up, added importance attaches to breaking down traditional cultures, the more rigid employment practices, differing terms and conditions, etc. in both health and social care. This calls for strong leadership locally and greater emphasis on joint training and development, within a partnership framework which gives staff appropriate security through involvement and support, and at the same time enables them to address change positively. We recognise that a more structured approach to human resources issues generally will pay dividends in terms of improved joint working, determining joint visions and reducing divisions between staff groups and between their employers.

6.3 The presentation identified, amongst other things, a number of recommendations which could form the agenda for a national network group on human resource issues across the community care spectrum, as follows:

• joint service provision requires to be more systematically supported by organisational development programmes, which help form strategic alliances and partnerships;
• the competencies required for leaders in the NHS and local authorities require to be integrated, based on personal development planning;
• a more structured approach to secondments of senior staff between health and social work would increase understanding of differing cultures and working arrangements;
• discussion with education providers is needed to ensure that professional training reflects the need for joint provision of services centred around individuals and based on effective teamworking;
• joint training requires a systematic approach and commitment at a strategic level to support joint community care plans;
• a staffing framework should be agreed by the NHS, local authorities, the trade unions, and the voluntary and private sectors ;
• opportunities should be sought to achieve where possible alignment of the varying terms and conditions and pension arrangements;
• regulatory bodies need to be sufficiently flexible to accept dual registration or to accept transfer between regulatory bodies, and recognise the continuing professional development requirements of other bodies.

6.4 We endorsed these vital issues but recognised that addressing them was both outside our direct remit and our tight timetable. We resolved therefore to refer them to the NHS Human Resources Directorate in the Health Department. It, in turn, is setting up a network group, comprising a wide range of trade union, professional and management interests across health and social care to take forward these issues, within the wider modernisation/partnership agenda more generally.

6.5 Our recommendations throughout our report hinge on the quality, training and flexibility of, particularly, front line staff. Selecting, training and retaining staff to deliver the desired outcomes in a changing environment will undoubtedly be one of the challenges for the future. Joint training - of managers, professionals and front line unqualified staff - has to be a prerequisite.

6.6 Although we did not make a formal recommendation on human resources issues, that does not diminish the importance we attach to them. As this chapter makes clear, human resources will be central to the progressive development of community care. People’s ability to move from one employment field to another, across agencies and across sectors, and to have joint training with colleagues are important examples of our vision for the future. But a more systematic and holistic approach to the range of human resources issues is required to achieve that.

< Previous | Contents | Next >