The Policy section of this website contains key current national and regional health and social care plans which, collectively, set out to tackle skills challenges through policies around:

• Employment & Welfare Reform
• Education
• Economic
• Public Services
• Health and Social Care

A more detailed schedule of policies and policy implementation related documents can be found in section 2 of the Resource Guide.

The following Health and Social Care policies address the need both to be more productive but also more responsive to changing demand for health and social care care.

HEALTH 

The Darzi Report - High Quality Care for All (June 2008)

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Consolidates previous health policy and creates a vision of new services needed to respond to changing demography.

The Darzi Workforce Report - High Quality Care for All (June 2008)

Sets out the workforce implications of the Darzi review.

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NHS Pay Modernisation in England: Agenda for Change (2009)

The National Audit Office presented "NHS Pay Modernisation in England: Agenda for Change", in which it said that the Department of Health has not sufficiently encouraged Trusts to develop new ways of working to secure the full benefits.  Click here

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report recognises the achievement of transferring about 1.1 million staff to the pay system between December 2004 and December 2006, but states that service wide changes in ways of working have yet to be realised.  Click here

High Quality Care for All: Our Journey So Far (June 2009)

This document summarises developments since the publication of High Quality Care for All in June 2008 including the Quality Framework, NHS Constitution and the establishment of 5 Academic Health Science Centres. 

Click here to download the report.

NHS 2010-2015: from good to great.  Preventative, people-centred, productive (December 2009)

This is the plan for the NHS for the next five years emphasising personalisation and prevention to deliver high quality care. 

Click here to download the report.

NHS Operating Framework 2010/11 (December 2009)

The NHS Operating Framework 2010/11 sets out NHS priorities for the next financial year (the first year of the 5 year plan).  The national priorities remain the same and the framework focusses on 4 issues: quality, sharing risk, system characteristics and integration.  Workforce is one of the key areas and information on the related “system levers and enablers”, e.g. pay, education and training, and associated actions, e.g. introduction of a tariff for education with phased implementation from April 2011, can be found on pages 36 – 38.  To access - click here.  For a summary of the key points go to the NHS Confederation website.

Health - Regional

Towards the best, together (2008)

NHS East of England takes the Darzi review forward into regional implemention plans.

For the latest information go to the NHS East of England website

East of England SSA Implementation Plan for 2009-10

This action plan, agreed between employers and partner organisations in the East of England, sets out the action plan for 2009-10.

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SOCIAL CARE

Putting People First (December 2007)

This document follows Options for Excellence and puts forward a vision of a new adult social care workforce.  It was followed by “Putting People First - Working to Make It Happen” Interim Statement in June 2008 which was superceded by the Working to Put People First workforce strategy published in April 2009 (see below).

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The Case for Change - Why England needs a new care and support system (May 2008)

The Government wants to engage with the public and key stakeholders about how the existing system can meet the challenges of the future.

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Working to Put People First: The Strategy for Adult Social Care Workforce in England (April 2009)

Identifies 6 key workforce priorities: leadership, recruitment and retention, workforce remodelling and commissioning, workforce development, joint and integrated working between social and healthcare and other services and regulation.

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Shaping the Future of Care Together (2009)

The Big Care Debate consultation on this Green Paper ended on 13 November 2009.  A White Paper is expected, probably in March 2010.