Department of Health and Social Care
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New organisation to help transform NHS and social care workforce planning

New organisation to help transform NHS and social care workforce planning

News Release issued by the COI News Distribution Service on 29 March 2010

A new organisation is being set up to help NHS and social care bodies plan their workforce around delivering more productive and people centred care, Health Minister Ann Keen announced today.

The Centre for Workforce Intelligence will help the NHS and social care system plan their workforces around shifting resources to the frontline, removing bureaucracy and moving care from hospitals into homes and the community.

The commitment to form the Centre was made after a review into the future of the NHS workforce in 2008, ‘A High Quality Workforce’, highlighted the need for an organisation to provide leadership on the quality of workforce planning across the health and social care system.

The Centre will:

· Promote best practice in workforce planning in NHS and social care services that make care more efficient and people centred.

· Provide research and expert advice to NHS and social care planners, clinicians and commissioners.

· Ensure that everyone involved in workforce planning contributes to the collection of, and uses, high quality data, analysis and modelling.

· Look out for labour market issues that are likely to have an impact on care pathways.

Peter Sharp, Director of Learning & Wellbeing at consulting and business service group, Mouchel, has been appointed as the Chief Executive for the Centre and it will be Chaired by Dame Carol Black.

Health Minister Ann Keen said:

“Planning and developing the workforce is essential to delivering care of the highest standard.

“As a nurse, I know that having the right numbers of doctors, nurses and social care workers means they can respond to the needs of their community and ensure that patients get high-quality and people-centred care.

“To make this happen we need to strengthen workforce planning at all levels of the NHS and social care system.

“The new Centre for Workforce Intelligence will provide an authoritative resource on workforce planning for national and local organisations promoting best practice, looking out for potential staffing issues and providing high quality data.”

Centre for Workforce Intelligence Chief Executive Peter Sharp said:

“The Centre for Workforce Intelligence will work in partnership with the many stakeholders to establish the Centre as the primary source of workforce intelligence for health and social care.

“The Centre will provide objective, robust and rigorous workforce intelligence to support the delivery of high quality services.

“We will enable leaders, senior managers and clinicians to use this intelligence to develop the workforce in the short, medium and long-term.

The Centre for Workforce Intelligence will be run by Mouchel, which specialises in transforming public services, working in partnership with the University of Manchester.

The centre will have a remit to work closely with SHAs, the Sector Skills Council, the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, the Professional Advisory Boards and NICE.

To clarify the national operating system for workforce planning and education commissioning we have also today published ‘Planning and Developing the NHS Workforce: A National Framework’.

Notes to Editors

· For media enquiries please contact the DH newsdesk on 020 7210 5221.

· The Centre for Workforce Intelligence is central to our strategy for strengthening the workforce planning system, as outlined in A High Quality Workforce. It will take a lead role in identifying workforce solutions to the quality and productivity challenge, and will provide leadership on the quality of workforce planning across the healthcare system.

. The Department of Health conducted the procurement process for the Centre for Workforce Intelligence in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2008.Ten expressions of interest were received in August, with four bidders invited to tender in September. All four bids included partnerships with leading universities and other workforce intelligence bodies. The four bids were evaluated by a panel reflecting key workforce stakeholders. A rigorous evaluation process included: individual assessment of the tenders; presentations from the four bidders; questioning and cross examination of the bidders; scrutiny of their tender pricing approach; and collective review and moderation of evaluation scores.

· For a copy of ‘Planning and Developing the NHS Workforce: A National Framework’ visit : www.dh.gov.uk/en/Managingyourorganisation /Workforce/index.htm

· The framework document is designed for SHA Boards to review their own regional system to ensure that it is robust, supports the quality and productivity agenda and fits effectively with the national operating system.

Contacts:

Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk

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