Quality, Safety and Workforce

We asked a series of questions which looked to understand what our members see as the key opportunities and threats in regards to quality and safety in their organisations, along with how they’re trying to address these challenges.

Feedback on opportunities relating to quality and safety are quite different, with only the data agenda being similar to last year. New for this year are initiatives such as PSIRF and LFPSE, and promotion of an open and just culture.

Overwhelmingly, respondents see that workforce recruitment is the biggest challenge, mirroring findings from previous years. Concerns around CQC’s reforms have increased, which reflects the uncertainty that providers are experiencing. The whole data agenda appears for the first time.

Respondents feel that there are four main ways to resolve these workforce challenges – growing their own through apprenticeships, training, and development; creating new innovative roles or changing skillsets; increase training; and changes to contract/benefit packages. This mirrors the last few years results on the whole, though with a greater focus on the need to create new roles.

With an increase in independent healthcare providers looking to upskill and adapt the existing workforce, we also see that 88% of respondents expect training to increase in the next five years.

Clinical apprenticeships still remain a core activity to independent healthcare providers, with 80% of respondents saying they will maintain existing programmes or increase these in the next 12 months.