Responding to workforce challenges across health and social care
Our United Surrey Talent Strategy
At Surrey Heartlands we welcome today’s publication of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan and its commitment to building a resilient workforce across the NHS over the next ten years.
We are also going further to ensure social care and voluntary sectors are strengthened to reflect the fact we need to be a united team, so residents are looked after holistically.
That’s why we’ve already come together as wider partners – including health, social care, the wider care and voluntary/community sector and education – to try something new. Together, we have co-designed an innovative new United Surrey Talent strategy which aims to unite the talent and skills we have across all our organisations to create more fulfilling careers for our workforce.
Michael Pantlin, Chief People and Digital Officer across the health and care partnership explains more:
At the heart of this strategy is a ‘united team’ approach, which aims to share talent and expertise across partners and sectors.
Through this new strategy we are taking the opportunity to do things differently, to grow our own talent and create a unique cross-partner employment offer. In short, we can help everyone by clubbing together and sharing resources, creating meaningful careers for our people and providing patients with the high-quality care and skilled workforce they need.
To support the strategy, a £6 million investment fund has been established (via investment from the local NHS and Surrey County Council), providing valuable funding for new projects via a bidding process, open to all partners.
Since the strategy was launched last July, we have been making positive progress, with 30 ‘pioneer programmes’ already underway across the full range of priorities set out in the strategy. These include:
- helping more pharmacists become independent prescribers to help alleviate the pressure on GPs
- significant expansion in training places, supported by our new Clinical Tutor role which will ensure learners are fully supported, whether in their under-graduate training or advanced clinical practice
- growing apprenticeships from 60 to over 350 already
- developing accredited expertise for staff at all levels in looking after those with frailty
- introducing the role of nursing associates in out of hospital settings
- providing enhanced training to care staff to help them look after those with dementia
- development of local recruitment hubs in Guildford and Waverley and North West Surrey (to serve all local health and care organisations in the geography and give candidates direct access to an array of career opportunities)
- establishing a Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Academy to improve access to all learning, development and career opportunities for staff across the county
- a programme to increase recruitment of volunteers (which has reduced significantly since the pandemic) to support vulnerable families
- working with a local charity to increase access to work in the NHS for those with a learning disability or autism
- developing an international Allied Health Professional (including therapists) recruitment programme to help reduce vacancy rates.
- development of a Care Certificate Accreditation training scheme and ‘Bootcamp’ to widen access to work for those considering a care role and provide an accredited and externally validated qualification.
In conclusion, Michael added:
Our people have great ideas and have already begun to drive the implementation of the national long term workforce plan. This innovative approach is already starting to pay real dividends for both staff and residents.
United Surrey Talent strategy Developing and uniting our workforce in Surrey