Investing in the Workforce

The NHS workforce is its most important resource and vital to delivering the high-quality care expected by patients.

Long-term illness and vacancies increase pressure on the staff and the wider service, so we plan to remedy these issues by recruiting more permanent staff and also focussing on staff retention, training and development.

The focus will fall on the following three priority areas:

 

  1. Resourcing – We aim to achieve optimal staffing levels throughout our services. We will focus on the recruitment and retention of permanent staff, reducing the reliance on agency staff and the continued growth of allied health professionals. There will also be a specific focus on community nursing in international recruitment, providing student nurses for all partner provider Staff Banks and education and training in care homes/domiciliary care.
  2. Healthy Careers – An academy will be created to integrate learning, education and careers between health and care, this will be done in partnership with Surrey County Council. We will develop and support care workers to enable them to support residents in their homes and help them to live well.
    In addition, we are engaging with universities and other higher education centres to develop allied health professionals in Advanced Clinical Practice and Clinical Practice pathways. Regional careers webinars to support allied health professionals, opportunities for apprenticeships and the opportunity for continued professional development will also be put in place.
    We are working towards retaining our Vaccination Workforce as far as possible by supporting them to seek established roles within our system. In addition, we are guiding career development options and arranging for their participation at career fairs.
  3. Development – We are continuing plans with Surrey County Council to become an Anchor Network – a network of care that aims to build knowledge, skills and expertise to maximise the NHS’s social, economic and environmental impact.

We will be tapping into under-utilised markets, such as young people and less engaged groups, develop a Surrey Heartlands awareness and recruitment campaign creating new roles and development opportunities to aid staff retention and will develop a clear Surrey Heartlands employer brand. We will further extend collaboration between system partners to develop an Integrated Care System People Strategy and create a new People Committee, to develop system values and leadership development.