NHS Midlands and Lancashire (ML) are excited to announce that we’ve secured five places for members of our People Consultancy Team and Transformation Unit to enhance their expertise in Strategic Workforce Planning expertise over the next year. This programme, funded by NHS England and accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), covers six crucial stages of workforce planning, emphasising evidence-based practices tailored to the current landscape of the health and care sector.

Since the introduction of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan last year, the demand for support in workforce planning has surged. There’s a clear necessity for improved insight to guide the plan’s three pillars: Recruit, Retain, and Reform. Strategic workforce planning is pivotal in effectively recruiting and retaining the right workforce skills and capacity, enabling organisations to respond quickly and efficiently to service demands and effectively to service needs and develop new working methods that drive efficiencies.

With our team’s extensive experience in workforce planning and transformation, we regularly assist clients with various challenges, including operational planning submissions, capacity and demand forecasting, skills mix assessments, temporary staffing evaluations, workforce analytics, and recruitment planning. The skills and insights acquired through this program will not only give the highest level of quality assurance to the work we provide to our clients but also enable the integration of the latest approaches and will bolster our capacity in important aspects of work for the sector.