Health systems workforce planning
The NHSE Chief Data and Analytics Office and People Directorate commissioned CF to provide a technical solution and sustainable process to understand workforce supply and demand on an ongoing basis as part of developing a long-term workforce strategy for the NHS.
Our ambition was to provide a consistent and scalable workforce modelling tool that allowed NHSE to develop a data-driven workforce strategy, with policy options that are quantitatively analyzed.
Our approach
We established a new tool and process for projecting and evaluating workforce requirements. It brought together previously disparate modelling into a single codebase that was integrated and completely understood by data analysts and executives alike at NHS England.
The tool models workforce supply and demand projections across 7 NHSE regions, 52 professions, 5 organisation types, 8 points of delivery and 55 specialties.
Users of the tool can use seven levers to test the expected impact of initiatives, such as upskilling or increasing international recruitment, on the projections. The tool combines data from 29 datasets including historical healthcare activity, electronic staff records, costing data and population projections.
What was the impact?
Our approach allowed strategy teams to identify priority areas for developing policy, areas of uncertainty requiring monitoring, and has informed discussions on cost and return on investment of strategy decisions.
The tool is playing a key role in the development of the Long-Term Workforce Plan, with outputs helping to maximise the financial benefits associated with the plan by providing consistent, trusted quantifiable evidence to support discussions on costs and return on investment decisions.
The project was material in achieving a comprehensive funding settlement for the NHS equivalent to £741.2m using a robust and evidence-based approach.
Client Testimonial
““CF brought a sense of urgency and drive to this program that was highly valued given the time pressure that we were under. They assimilated themselves seamlessly with us from week 1. CF worked as a close partnership with me and my team, to ensure that they could understand requirements and add value. They brought a number of expert skillsets to complement my team, including the technical and analytical skills needed for the complex datasets, and a clinical lens which provided additional credibility to the outputs.”
NHSE Strategy Team Director
NHSE
