House of Commons - Health

Select Committee on Health Fourth Report

Annex: What is workforce planning?

The terms 'workforce planning' and 'workforce development' refer to a wide range of different activities and there is no single accepted definition for either. At its most fundamental level, workforce planning is the process by which an organisation or industry decides upon the kind of workforce that it requires and will require in the future and then draws up and implements plans for creating such a workforce. In the context of the UK health service, this process is extremely complex. This annex describes some of the main activities involved in health service workforce planning and the key organisations responsible for them.

Key workforce planning activities

The main activities that make up health service workforce planning include:

The provision of data and information on a range of subjects including staff numbers, training requirements and demographic, technological and policy developments;
Analysis of future supply and demand, looking at how many and what type of staff are likely to be required in the future and how many and what type of staff are likely to be available;
The creation of workforce plans which set out how future supply and demand will be matched, covering for example the number and type of staff to be recruited, the amount and nature of training to be commissioned and the amount and type of workforce development activity which will take place;
Decisions about the level of funding which will be available to support workforce planning and development activities and how it will be distributed;
The commissioning of education and training, including undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational training across a range of professional and occupational groups;
A wide range of workforce development activities, including the introduction of new and extended clinical roles, redistribution of staff responsibilities, increasing productivity and efficiency; and
Negotiation of contracts, including service contracts and employment contracts.

Key organisations in workforce planning

There are a large number of organisations, at national and local level, involved in health service workforce planning activities. There have also been a number of changes in organisational responsibilities since the Committee's last report in 1999. The key organisations are shown in the table below:

Organisation
Main workforce planning responsibilities

Department of Health Oversight of workforce planning system; monitoring of SHAs; development of new policies; distribution of education funding; commissioning of undergraduate medical education.

Strategic Health Authorities Commissioning of non-medical education and training; creation of regional workforce plans(from 2004); oversight of local workforce planning (from 2002).

Workforce Development Confederations Commissioning of non-medical education and training; creation of regional workforce plans (until 2004).

Primary Care Trusts Creation of local workforce plans; provision of workforce information; provision of primary care training placements (from 2001).

Provider organisations (NHS trusts, Foundation trusts and non-NHS providers) Creation of local workforce plans; provision of workforce information; provision of training placements.

NHS Employers Negotiation of national workforce contracts (from 2004).

NHS Workforce Review Team National level analysis of future workforce requirements and publication of annual recommendations.

National Workforce Projects Coordination of response to specific workforce challenges; development of workforce planning capacity (from 2005)

NHS Modernisation Agency Collecting best practice on workforce development; oversight of introduction of new clinical roles (until 2005).

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement Helping organisations to improve workforce productivity (from 2005).

Skills for Health Sector Skills Council for health (from 2002); creation of competence frameworks.

Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board Organisation of postgraduate medical training at national level (from 2005).

Postgraduate medical deaneries Organisation of postgraduate medical training at regional level.

Higher and further education providers Provision of undergraduate and vocational training courses.

Royal Colleges, trades unions and other membership organisations Provision of workforce information; negotiation of workforce contracts.

Healthcare regulators Registration of healthcare staff.



© Parliamentary copyright 2007	Prepared 22 March 2007