| 30 September 2024
‘Workforces are everyone’s greatest problem, but not their greatest priority’
On 25 and 26 September, Skills for Health Client Director Laura Schell, and Senior Consultant Theresa Gatfield joined senior workforce leaders at The Strategic Workforce Forum 2024. The event provided the opportunity for those working across the healthcare sector to look ahead at the opportunities that continue to prioritise patient safety, through effective, efficient and valued workforces.
As the sector skills council for health, Skills for Health have been at the forefront of workforce development across the healthcare sector for more than 20 years. Our participation in the Strategic Workforce Forum 2024 provided the opportunity to continue our conversation on how we can work together with the sector to achieve integrated workforce planning, support the NHS with their aims of train, retain and reform, and discuss appropriate approaches and solutions to meet these demands and needs.
The Strategic Workforce Forum served as a crucial platform for discussion, collaboration, and innovation. It brought together leaders from various sectors, including government, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and private enterprises, to address the most significant workforce challenges. The forum focused on several key areas:
- Workforce Planning: The importance of strategic workforce planning and how it could help healthcare organisations better anticipate and meet future demands.
- Recruit, train, retain: Healthcare needs to focus on attracting quality staff, who can be supported and trained by an experienced workforce.
- Technology integration: Emerging technologies and innovation needs to be integrated to enhance workforces to focus on delivering patient care.
- Diversity and Inclusion: A diverse and inclusive workforce is essential, for fostering an inclusive environment in healthcare settings.
A particular highlight was The King’s Fund CEO Sarah Woonough’s talk on ‘A mission led new government’ which explored what this means for health and care. Within this talk, Sarah highlighted 3 areas of focus that need to be addressed and prioritised.
- Analogue to digital – increasing digitalisation opportunities and innovation across health and care at a progressive, sustainable pace that continues to enable staff to deliver best outcomes for patients
- Hospitals to communities – moving towards a model that delivers local, community-based patient centred care where appropriate
- Treatment to prevention – focussing on prevention rather than acute, taking a public health, systematic approach to health and care.
Sarah also highlighted key findings from The Darzi Report, which provides a diagnosis of the current state of the NHS, highlighting issues such as productivity drops, lack of investment, and the impact of COVID19. The Darzi Report also emphasises the need to address health inequalities and improve public satisfaction with the NHS.
Our participation in the Strategic Workforce Forum 2024 was not just about showcasing our work; it was about learning from others, collaborating on solutions, and driving forward the collective goal of improving the healthcare workforce. We were excited to engage with other leaders, share our expertise, and bring back valuable insights that would inform our future initiatives. Together, we aimed to shape the future of the healthcare workforce and ensure that we were all prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead.
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