Response from the City and County of Swansea

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?

It has proved very difficult to engage with health in relation to workforce planning. The restructuring proposals for the NHS in Swansea obviously are causing a great deal of uncertainty, yet will have a direct impact on the demand for social care.Improved alignment of service planning and budgets/ finance would assist in workforce planning Local planning is preferable  as each locality differs in terms of the composition of services and workforce. However it would be helpful if WAG policies and guidance included an estimate of the workforce capacity needed to  implement new initiatives, and data on numbers of staff in the different capacities to allow for benchmarking.Overall capacity for the task of workforce planning is insufficient for the task

2. Is the information available to workforce planners of sufficient quantity and quality to ensure effective planning?

No. This is partly a capacity issue- collecting information is time consuming and often has to be done manually

3. Is workforce planning undertaken with sufficient regard to future patterns of demand for services?

This is factored in to the workforce plan, but realistically even when we know that demand will increase by XX due to demographic changes, if the budget is not available the workforce cannot be employed

4. Are all stakeholders included in the process e.g. from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors?

Yes, although holding the interest of the independent sector has proved difficult. We are trying a new approach linked to  a qualification award ceremony to engage them this year

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?

See 1 above. It is also difficult to manage joint projects where  different pay and terms and conditions apply. The NHS has had A4C, job evaluation in the LA is still outstanding.

6. What are the arrangements for work force planning in areas with cross border patterns of service use (e.g. health services in North Wales)?

N/A

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?

Workforce  planning attempts to reduce reliance on agency staff. Obviously, the retention and recruitment of some categories of staff is a national problem and in the short term Agencies may be the only option

8. Are the current arrangement addressing the need for Welsh speaking and Black and Minority Ethnic staff?

This level of sophistication is not achievable in the current round of workforce planning. At a crude level, these needs are factored in but data is unreliable especially from the Independent sector. We know that their workforce has a much greater proportion of BME staff ( between 12 and 19% on returns) and are beginning to address this .

9.  To what extent is workforce planning anticipating changing patterns of service commissioning and provision and the changing or blurring of professional roles?

The need to do this is acknowledged. Again current capacity is not sufficient or sophisticated enough to do this .

9. Does workforce planning take sufficient account of the need for trained and effective managers?

The emphasis has undoubtedly been on the numbers and qualification targets of front line staff. It is now recognised that retention is in large part down to the quality of managers and this is being addressed.

10. 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?

The EWTD is acknowledged and has had an effect in residential (24 hour) settings in relation to sleeping shifts etc, although more publicly has been in relation to NHS services. The international labour market is recognised and recruitment of overseas Social workers has taken place. Again, the planning is not sophisticated enough to address this other than to recognise the increasing numbers of BME care staff in the independent sector and  identify with providers  what training needs this generates and how to meet these.