NATIONAL PRIMARY CARE WORKFORCE SURVEY ADVISORY GROUP REPORT ON 2013 SURVEY - WEB ONLY

Conclusions

66. Effective workforce planning ensures that those involved in the delivery of health and social care have the necessary information, capability, capacity and skills to plan for current and future workforce requirements. The availability of reliable data is integral to effective workforce planning.

67. Although the response rate to the In Hours element of the 2013 Survey (64%) was marginally less than the target rate (67%), the work undertaken by ISD Scotland and Glasgow LMC ensured that the responses received represented, as far as possible, a proportionate sample of Scotland's GP practices. The results provide valuable data which can be used by workforce planners to inform and support future workforce plans.

68. Turning to OOH, the first experience of developing a survey for this aspect of service and the complexity of the issue have limited the estimates and conclusions which can be drawn from the OOH data collected by means of the 2013 Survey. However, the data collected has allowed reliable estimates to be generated in respect of the demographic profile of GPs supporting each NHS Board's service and inform an understanding of any relationship between average weekly hours committed and the GP's age, gender and designation.

69. The rest of the data collected, although not considered robust enough for the purposes of Official Statistics, is recognised to be of considerable value to the primary care sector. Plans have therefore been made to publish this data in an Experimental Report following publication of the Official Statistics Report.

70. The Survey forms, guidance notes, results and supplementary statistics are all available on the ISD Scotland website at http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/GPs-and-Other-Practice-Workforce/primary-care-workforce-survey-2013.asp .

71. The National Primary Care Workforce Survey Advisory Group supports the introduction of a regular cycle of Surveys and recognises that further development and expansion of the Survey is required in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the primary care workforce, work which requires input from a range of stakeholders. Collaboration at all stages of the Survey exercise will be fundamental to the success and value of future Surveys. The Group hopes that the recommendations in this report help the planning, development, promotion and launch of future exercises.