If you are going to make a plan…
… first plan the plan.
It’s called meta-planning… developing a framework for creating and implementing an effective plan.
Seven steps;
1. Clarity of purpose.
Objectives and goal orientation. In English; why are we making a plan? What are we trying to do?
2. Alignment with objectives.
Focus, make sure the jigsaw of components of the plan come together to deliver the big picture.
3. Strategic thinking.
I’m not a great fan… I prefer tactics and techniques. Looking at the options, the risks, things to take advantage of. Better to create scenarios. Breathe life into the planning process.
4. Timelines.
Think way-markers. Time sensitive deliverables. If we don’t do that by this time… we can’t do the next bit.
5. Resources.
Obvious… the money, plus people, technology, capacity.
6. Collaboration and communication.
Who do you have to work with to make the plan work. Most important, tell people affected by the plan… keep them onside.
7. Flexibility.
Back to the scenarios… Plan B. Contingencies. Agility and nimbleness to create workarounds.
I expect you’ll know all this. Why does it matter? Because…
… over the weekend, workforce planning became something of a bidding war.
Labour have been banging on about doubling the number of doctors in training and increasing nurse numbers… predicated on changes to the tax regime.
If the speculation in the £walled Sunday Times is to be believed, the Tories are joining in with their bid for increasing the workforce numbers, a fifteen year plan and a billion quid.
Neither Party seems to be asking the first ‘plan the plan question’… what are we trying to achieve?
If it is just to add to the numbers in the workforce… forget it.
We know the biggest problem the NHS has right now (in addition to the numbers in absolute terms) are the people leaving.
The RCN tell us;
‘… between 2018 and 2022, nearly 43,000 people, aged 21 to 50, left the NMC register… with an increase of a further 9% in 2020-21…’
There’s no point recruiting ‘em if we can’t keep ‘em.
Last year, 3,229 doctors resigned from the NHS. Double what it was a decade ago.
The number of doctors leaving has accelerated rapidly since the pandemic – last year almost 13,000 doctors in the UK gave up their licence.
The Times claims HMT has committed to funding training places for the next five years.
They’re not stupid.
They know it will take the best part of three years for Uni’s to organise doubling the number of places and all the implications that has for tutors, lecturers, accommodation and facilities plus, the impact on placements and supervisors across the NHS.
The real costs rack-up with the recurring wage bill, pension contributions and employment costs over the next ten of the fifteen.
That means there are ten years in the Tory plan with no funding commitment. Labour’s non-dom-plans will fizzle out as the rich and smart head for the Isle of Man.
As the Times points out;
‘… in an effort to stabilise the public finances after the disastrous Liz Truss mini-budget, [the Chancellor] opted to delay £30 billion worth of public spending cuts until after 2025.
This means [HMG] could be forced to decide on deeper cuts to provide the NHS with the extra cash it needs…’
Workforce, the willingness and the availability of suitably qualified people to join the NHS, is not a given.
Nursing degree applications in England have fallen by 13,000 since 2016. Applications to study nursing for 23/4 have fallen by almost 20%.
Labour and HMG look to me like they have a one-step-plan based on resources. They are overlooking four, very important; ‘inters’…
The interconnectedness of learning and training. They are not the same.
The interdependence of workforce and retention. The improvements that are needed to make the NHS a go-to employer.
The interaction between a larger workforce and the revenue demands it will create as NHS performance accelerates.
The interim issues that are likely to persist over the next, certainly, three, maybe ten years, as the NHS muddles through.
Press releases from politicians are not plans and plans are not plans…
… until you’ve planned them.
News and Comment from Roy Lilley
Contact Roy – please use this e-address roy.lilley@nhsmanagers.net
Reproduced at thetrainingnet.com by kind permission of Roy Lilley.
