NEWS

NHS Pay Review 2010/11 – submissions. The 3 year pay settlement for Agenda for Change staff covers 2008/09 through to 2010/11 and amounts to 7.99% over that period (2.5% in 2010/11).

• NHS Employers have made a submission to the NHS Pay Review Body supporting the final year of the agreement.
• The DH submission in respect to the the review also supports the agreement as it stands.  See the 2010 Review. 
• For the written evidence of the UK Health Departments to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration for 2010/11: see the submission.
• The Chancellor announced in October a pay freeze for 750,000 senior public servants, including NHS managers and GPs: see Liam Burne's letter.
• The DH submission to the Senior Salaries Review Body can be found at:  SSRB 2010 Review.

DEVELOPING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE

Satisfying roles with career and development prospects are essential if the health sector is to retain its staff and maximise their potential.

The concept of High Performance Working (HPW) concerns managing an organisation to stimulate increased employee engagement to achieve higher levels of performance through more effective skills utilisation. The UKCES report – High Performance Working: A Synthesis of Key Literature (August 2009) - looks at the evidence base for HPW and can be accessed on the UKCES website.

In July 2009, the NHS Staff Council produced a new Improving Working Lives (IWL) framework, maintaining the original standards and taking into account recent changes in the NHS and Government initiatives / legislation. It also contains examples of good practice - see:  NHS Employers IWL.

The Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning has now published its report - National Institute of Adult Continuing Education – Learning Through Life (September 2009). It found the current system to be too complex and too skewed towards the young and sets out a vision over the next 10 to 15 years with entitlements to learn in the “four stage of life”.

Support for people with mental health conditions to stay in work. Based on the early successes from Government led pilots (run in liaison with MIND), it is intended to extend the support on offer, with an expectation of national roll out. Amongst the measures announced is a national strategy on mental health and employment which will be published in Autumn 2009. For further information, see the Jobcentre Plus website at Access to Work. For information on work being done in this area by NHS Employers, click here.

CAREER FRAMEWORK & SECTOR QUALIFICATIONS STRATEGY

Skills for Health have developed these to provide overall frameworks for career and education ladders:

• Career Framework is linked to the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) and can be used in service reviews etc.
  
  
• Sector Qualifications Strategy – sets down the requirements for vocational qualifications within the sector.
  
  
• Embedding a Culture of Learning in the Workplace.  Dr P Blakeman from Skills for Health has produced this report on embedding learning within the workplace and developing partnerships in designing Higher Education using competences. To access the report, click here.
  
  
• Foundation Degrees. The Institute of Lifelong Learning at University of Leicester has published a report on foundation degrees, the role of employers and factors of success. Blueprint for Success is a follow on project working with employers from priority sectors. See further:

 - Institute of Lifelong Learning Foundation Degree Report
 - Blueprint for Success

THE SKILLS ESCALATOR

This is built upon the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). A range of projects describe innovative ways of supporting the escalator concept. For further information, go to the Skills for Health website.

An independent review of KSF has been commissioned by NHS Employers on behalf of the NHS Staff Council. The report is due early 2010. For details see:  NHS Employers KSF Independent Review.

GOOD HR PRACTICE

The Department of Health has issued a range of guidance giving its support to good HR practice as a mainstay of good retention for the East of England SSA publication 'A good practice guide to workforce development and productivity (October 2007)' which contains a summary of DH guidance. See also the DH web page: Human resources and training.

FURTHER INFORMATION

To access information on:

• Apprenticeships and the opportunities on offer
• Management and Leadership
• Funding training and development
• Skills for Life

USEFUL WEBSITES

The UK TalentMap was launched on 7 July 2009.  It is an on-line web based search tool for linking employers, brokers and educators providing information on talent and skills from a selected number of websites, e.g. government, business sites, education sites etc, using a series of criteria. The high level structure is as follows:

• Develop your people
• Find new people
• Improve performance
• Engage with education
• Support your industry

 For further information, see:   http://www.talentmap.ukces.org.uk/UKTalentMap/home.do

RESOURCE GUIDE

To access further information on recruitment and retention, see section 5 of the Resource Guide.