June 24, 2022

Wakefield People Plan

Three seniors enjoying tea and cake in the care home. There is a caregiver laughing with them.

In Wakefield District, we understand that our workforce is our greatest asset. That’s why our People Plan takes a co-ordinated, collaborative approach to ensure we are safe, healthy, resilient, compassionate and flexible. It provides a programme of support and development that’s relevant to everyone working in health and social care across Wakefield.

Now, more than ever before, we need to rethink familiar approaches to how we shape and plan our workforce. This is about considering the needs of everyone, including our practitioners but also the people being supported, their carers, volunteers, and everyone in our neighbourhoods. We want a workforce that mirrors the communities we serve and where we are attractive as a local employer.

In order to integrate our workforce across the partner organisations, we need to view ourselves as a whole entity, one collective workforce, with principles, planning and development activities that are accessible and span the whole network. Our People Plan has been developed by the people management network across the partnership, taking account of national and local policies and the workforce issues we have all identified. It also closely relates to the themes of the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and the national NHS People Plan.

This year is a significant turning point in our health and care system, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to be dynamic in order to adapt and evolve. The changes that will come into effect from 1 July 2022 with the implementation of the Health and Care Bill provides greater scope for the flexibility that is needed to recover our healthcare services and support the health and wellbeing of our staff. Our aim is to ensure Wakefield has a confident, motivated workforce who have the right skills, values & behaviours and are engaged and supported to deliver the vision of Wakefield ICP, for person centred co-ordinated care. There are a number of strategic priorities and challenges which need to be addressed to ensure our staff, volunteers and unpaid carers are well equipped to respond to the changing needs of our local population.

The People Plan has five key priorities, which we will look at in more detail over the next few months:

  • Looking after our people
  • Engaging and growing systems leadership
  • Redesign – new roles, we ways of working and delivering care
  • Growing our workforce and developing out people
  • Population health workforce planning

Further information about Wakefield’s health and care workforce can be found on the Workforce Hub.

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