The workforce supply project at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Our learning from the project

“The project has highlighted the valuable contribution of AHP staff and the increased pressures on this workforce, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now recognised that dedicated resources are needed to support the recovery of the AHP workforce. The project provided us with an opportunity to take an in depth look at our workforce data and start cleansing it; in addition to this we also looked at standardising job titles as we recognised there was variation. We also looked at whether all AHP staff were coded correctly as per the national occupation codes in Electronic Staff Records (ESR).

“We are now working towards producing a paper that clearly identifies these new standardisations, which will be shared with service leads, our HR department and our data teams. This is to ensure that when data is drawn, it provides a true picture of what the AHP workforce looks like. Being involved in the project has also increased recognition that recruitment is vital, however retaining our existing staff is where we need to focus, especially amongst our newly qualified staff, band 6’s and our unregistered AHP support staff.”

The difference at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals following the project and how it helps the organisation

“Following the establishment of the project, we have a much closer working relationship and are collaborating more with our nursing and midwifery colleagues. For instance, we are looking at drawing up a joint strategy for our healthcare support workers. Working collaboratively has also meant that we are reporting into the same trust wide workforce groups. This is one step closer to ensuring that AHP workforce information is articulated in the most effective way in the organisation.

“In addition, prior to the project we had reviewed the trust’s preceptorship programme for newly qualified staff and found there were limited numbers of Allied Health Professions who were aware of the programme or engaging with it. Now, there is commitment from all AHP services for their newly qualified staff to undertake the programme and many have already started it. This has been such a positive change. As a future piece of work we are looking at how we then make our preceptorship programme even more suitable for AHPs, including AHPs delivering some of the sessions on the programme.

“We also now have a return to practice (RtP) draft policy ready and mechanisms in place to support AHPs who want to return to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register. We have a first point of contact, a process for accessing the funding and then supporting returnees when they join the trust for a placement.

“We have also developed an 18-month strategic workforce plan, which is the first of its kind for AHPs at the Trust. This plan was developed with wide staff engagement using a variety of methods and by analysis of available quantitative and qualitative workforce data e.g. exit interviews. The plan focuses on the trust’s priorities, while keeping an eye on the system, regional and national drivers e.g. recovery of elective and outpatient services. This is also the first attempt to do this in a collaborative way by including all eight AHP professions we have within the organisation. One of the main priorities of the trust is maintaining patient flow and the plan talks about upskilling staff who are a vital part of the patient pathway. We know that demand on the NHS is increasing due our population and having the right number of AHPs within the trust will support in reducing admissions, preventing long-term conditions, and providing high quality health care to our patients.”

The impact the project had at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals and the value of HEE’s input

“This project has raised the profile of AHPs within the trust. It has strengthened our relationships with wider teams such as clinical education; apprenticeships, organisational development, recruitment and finance teams etc, whose expertise and support we have drawn on at different stages of the project. For example, we have had conversations with our finance team, to understand what our placement tariff might be and how we can utilise it going forward.

“We have worked closely with our workforce data and intelligence team to understand how to easily access workforce data. They have provided us with training on how to use the trust’s data dashboard, helping us to triangulate this with the narrative from AHP service managers. This has also highlighted what may be missing in terms of AHP data and work is now underway to address these gaps.  The Data team are also supporting us through the process of cleansing our ESR data.. Once we have come up with our standardised coding list, job titles and roles the team will support us to ensure that it is correct and usable across the trust.

“We have spoken to our recruitment team about international recruitment and have recently been part of a collaborative bid in the northwest to recruit AHPs through this pathway. The project has really opened the doors for us to have those conversations. We have worked closely with the Cheshire and Merseyside AHP faculty during the project, participating in some of the action learning sets to support all project leads and attending the best practice webinars. These sessions were valuable because we were able to learn from one another in a collaborative space to achieve a common goal. I also started a peer support group for the project leads in the area with support from the faculty and this has been a great mechanism to share ideas.

“Having dedicated funding from HEE was crucial as it was a jump start to enable important conversations. The support and endorsement HEE gave the project weight within the trust and really made people take notice. HEE created a shared learning experience by bringing us together not just as a system but also as a region. HEE conducted regular northwest wide meetings, which were great as you could hear what somebody in Greater Manchester or Lancashire might be doing. Aside from the national project team support, our northwest regional team were also really accessible.”

Personal impact of the project

“For me personally working in this role has allowed me to look at how our trusts systems, processes, policies and ideas translate at an organisational level. I have been able to ‘see’ our workforce with a different filter, build communication links and collaborate with our clinical workforce to operationalise some of their ideas. I was able to utilise a lot of my project management skills in this role as it required us to be highly organised and deliver in a timely manner. Following the pandemic, this role opened my eyes to how much our workforce was impacted in terms of morale and wellbeing. It was great that I then had the opportunity to listen to our staff and find those tangible solutions to problems.”