Publication Of An Integrated Workforce Planning Strategy For The Health Services, Ireland

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 06 Nov 2009 - 11:00 PST

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The Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive, today 6th November 2009, published the Integrated Workforce Planning Strategy for the Health Services. The strategy has been designed and developed to ensure integration of workforce planning activity with the broader objectives of financial and service planning in the Irish healthcare and social care system.

As a significant proportion of health funding is spend on staff costs, it is necessary to ensure that it is spent efficiently and delivers on key health goals. This strategy is particularly relevant in the current economic climate as it ensures a credible check that workforce demands are achievable and can be met within current financial or human resources or through dedicated funding.

It supports the development of health service human resources including initiatives already underway such as improved Consultant/NCHD ratios, Nurse Prescribing and SKILL development for support staff. It also provides health service planners with the tools to assess other sources of supply through redeployment, retraining or changed skill mix.

This strategy sets out to enhance existing workforce planning analysis in the Irish health service for a wide range of health care occupations. For example, the Strategy follows the publication in June of the report by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) and FÁS - A Quantitative Tool for Workforce Planning in Healthcare. That report contained workforce planning analysis for selected healthcare occupations and provided a valuable evidence base for workforce planning decisions resulting from policy and demographic changes.

Read An Integrated Workforce Planning Strategy for the Health Services

Source
Department of Health and Children, Ireland