NHS Board Projected Staff In Post Changes In 2012/13

4. Methodology

The data provided by NHS boards were analysed and interrogated in order to be satisfied that any changes within each staff group were consistent with the narrative provided in Local Delivery Plans (LDPs), Workforce Plans (if available) and the narrative within the projection template returns. Consultation was sought from NHS Boards where discrepancies occurred and further information was provided.

Workforce planning is a statutory requirement and was established in NHSScotland (NHSS) in 2005 with the inception of HDL (2005) 52 "National Workforce Planning Framework 2005 Guidance", which provided Boards with a base for establishing workforce planning as a key element of the wider planning systems within NHSS. The "Six Steps Methodology to Integrated Workforce Planning" is the high-level approach used by the workforce planning community across NHS Scotland. The six steps comprise:

• Defining the plan
• Service change
• Defining the required workforce
• Workforce capability
• Action plan
• Implementation and monitoring

All NHS Boards are expected to discuss their workforce projections with their local Area Partnership Forums (APF). However, given the timetable for the publication of this data it is appreciated that some Boards will not yet have completed these discussions. It is expected that all Area Partnership Forum discussions on workforce projections will be completed by early October.