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Scoping your future workforce
Imagine a system which offers a way for healthcare managers to identify their ideal workforce, the skills they need to deliver new and emerging services and structure future training and development needs. Does it sound too good to be true? Not according to Christina Pond, executive director of standards and qualifications at Skills for Health.
With the fast pace of change in healthcare services, driven by an ageing population, management of long term conditions, patient centred care and greater need to improve productivity, healthcare leaders need to stay one step ahead when scoping out their future workforce. It’s vital to identify exactly what skills, knowledge and experience are required for new and existing roles to support new services.
This might seem a big challenge. However, there is a tried and tested way forward, which is increasingly becoming the standard for healthcare organisations. A structured competence-based approach can provide such a system, which means new roles are designed to a consistent standard across the sector – whether NHS, independent or voluntary based - making it easier for individuals to move from one post to another.
Competences look at what needs to happen in the workplace, and describes the skills and knowledge required to carry out a particular task or function effectively. They can also be used to identify any requirements for training or qualifications.
Acquiring, maintaining and extending skills is essential to career development and progression, whether this is through work based learning, in-house programmes, formal qualifications or self-appraisal.
As an example, the Sector Skills Council (SSC) Skills for Health has developed a set of eight competences around patient education to support the shift towards greater patient choice and self-management of long-term conditions. These competences sit within a database of over 2000 competences which can be used in a “pick and mix” approach to develop new and extended roles
This is part of a wider programme in which the sector skills council is developing a comprehensive range of national workforce competences (NWCs) and national occupational standards (NOS) designed to underpin accredited and non-accredited education and training programmes. They can be used to structure teams’ and individuals’ learning and development around service user needs and all are linked to the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework
Managers can learn how to match different competences to a specific job profile, and Skills for Health offers a range of electronic tools to help them use competences to design roles and services, plan training and forecast future skills needs.
Competences in practice
South Birmingham PCT decided to evaluate and clarify the community support nurse (CSN) function within the School Health team, originally created in 2003 to work with vulnerable children, particularly non-attendees and those living in hard to reach communities and their families.
The PCT wanted to reassess how the role was working across the education and health sectors and underpin it with competences that could be transferred to other roles within community nursing services.
The first step was for a steering group of representatives from the PCT, local schools, health bodies and allied agencies to identify the skills in the existing CSN workforce and what additional skills were required. They could then pinpoint gaps between current and required role profiles.
A total of 18 competences from the Skills for Health database were matched to the required CSN profile, to ensure future role holders have the necessary skills. The CSN job description was redefined using this suite of competences plus input from people already in the role, and a Knowledge and Skills Framework post outline was developed.
As a result, managers have been able to develop a structured competence-based training package to give both current and future CSNs, their managers and potential patients, a much clearer idea of what is required of them. The development programme will support CSNs personally and in their professional and career development, as well as helping their clinical mentors and supervisors adopt a consistent approach.
Feedback from the Whittington Hospital trust in London has also been very positive, where competences were used to design a job profile for a therapy assistant role on care of elderly and stroke wards. Healthcare leads have appreciated the flexibility of a competence based approach to role design, with the work leading to development of a training programme, which has been mainly vocational with gradual skill acquisition.
The next step will be for the two post holders to be enrolled onto a Health NVQ level 3 programme through a local provider. The project has enabled more flexibility within teams so patients can be seen more quickly and frequently.
Feedback from other healthcare organisations is also very positive. Many agree that a competence based approach is helping to support workforce development respond to changing healthcare needs and agendas.
Christina Pond
T: 0117-922-1155
E: [email protected]
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