Inquiry on health and social care workforce planning
Questions to consider in preparing evidence
1 Is workforce planning undertaken by the right agencies and in such a way that takes into account other key factors such as finance, service planning and training capacity? Should it be more or less centralised?
LHBs are small organisations and thus struggle to do workforce planning as individual organisations and benefit most from working with Trusts, the National Leadership & Innovation Agency for Healthcare [workforce development unit] and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Workforce Planning Group. It would be helpful if this work could be regionalised rather than centralised.
Currently there is a degree of confusion re workforce development/planning as there are numerous groups working on this, which also adds to duplication for all organisations.
In addition we are all working on and developing our Designed to Work plans.
2 Is the information available to workforce planners of sufficient quantity and quality to ensure effective planning?
In many areas of service this answer to this question is yes. However, there are difficulties in working with some primary care contractors as there is no mandate for primary care to supply this information.
3 Is workforce planning undertaken with sufficient regard to future patterns of demand for services?
This aspect of workforce planning is developing in our area and commissioners and providers are taking in to account future service demands as we develop our locality service redesign plans. In Monmouthshire this work is inter-linked with the Clinical Futures Programme. We are mindful of the ageing population in all our development plans and the ageing profile of our workforce.
4 Are all stakeholders included in the process e.g. from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors?
Not all stakeholders are involved in these processes and some of the reason for non-involvement is due to lack of skills and knowledge in this area of workforce development. See earlier comment re primary care contractors. We do not have robust links with local education and colleges re the changing requirements of the health service workforce in order to deliver its service development plans.
5 To what extent do the current arrangements support or hinder effective joint working between health and social care and across the statutory, voluntary and private sectors?
Lack of knowledge, skills and experience between organisations hinders joint working. Legislation and regulations sometimes distract and disable organisations from developing joint working patterns. For example, developing a Section 31 Agreement takes a considerable amount of time and resources to implement. In addition requirements between HIW and CSSIW have occasionally caused additional problems as it is not clear who should regulate a certain service activity, this causes duplication of processes.
6 What are the arrangements for workforce planning in areas with cross border patterns of service use (e.g health services in North Wales)?
We have no arrangements for workforce planning across our Monmouthshire borders with England.
7 To what extent do the current workforce planning arrangements affect the use of agency staff and what is the impact of this on budgets?
There is no impact on the LHB the use of agency staff is minimal..
Trusts are affected by this.
8 Are the current arrangements addressing the need for Welsh speaking and Black and Minority Ethnic staff?
Yes, we have robust policies and procedures in place to support these arrangements.
9 To what extent is workforce planning anticipating changing patterns of service commissioning and provision and the changing or blurring or professional roles?
With the developments around service re-design, the modernisation agenda and the Clinical Futures programme in Gwent, the organisations and certain professional groups recognise the changing roles and blurring of professional boundaries. For example, work has begun to explore the possibility of integrated teams in the towns across Monmouthshire managed by either a health or social service manager; also the opportunities for developing the roles of health and social care workers are being examined.
The changes in service commissioning will be a focus for the Regional Commissioning Support unit to develop with commissioners.
10 Does workforce planning take sufficient account of the need for trained and effective managers?
No, we think there is an assumed level of knowledge for managers but in reality the knowledge is variable and gained from a variety of experiences and exposure to different circumstances rather than training.
11 To what extent have the European Working Time Directive and the increasingly international labour market had an impact on, and been acknowledged in, workforce planning?
In Monmouthshire LHB we have not experienced problems with EWTD and the international labour market impacting on workforce planning. In the main, Monmouthshire’s population remains quite static. However, as commissioners we are mindful of the impact of EWTD in secondary care around the hours Doctors can work and we have worked with our main provider to address this issue recognising the possibility of greater demand in primary care; this has been taken in to account during the development of the first draft Level 1 plans for primary and community services across Monmouthshire.
