South West Regional Maternity Workshop

5th June 2007

The first of the Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team workforce planning capability workshop was held at the Southgate Hotel in Exeter on Tuesday 5th June with 55 delegates representing all regions in the South West SHA.

The aim of this workforce planning development event was to develop the workforce planning capacity and capability within maternity services and help organisations to develop integrated plans for the implementation of Maternity Matters. The day was a mix of presentations and interactive workshops designed to help the delegates become familiar with the the Workforce Projects Team workforce planning approach.

The morning opened with a welcome and introduction followed by a presentation highlighting issues identified at the recent CSIP launch event and SHA benchmarking against the actions identified in Maternity Matters by Val Beale LSA midwifery officer, South West and a presentation around the local demographic profile from Tony Overd, workforce information manager, NHS South West. Two more presentations followed the national context of maternity workforce from the Workforce Review Team and Skills and competencies of the maternity workforce from Skills for Health both delivered by Bryan Kessie from the Workforce Projects Team.

Before lunch and during the afternoon session, delegates were introduced to the Workforce Projects Team and the tools and resources available to support Maternity Matters. Stuart Taylor from the Workforce Projects Team introduced the six step guide to workforce planning and the delegates completed a number of high level exercises around defining the maternity workforce plan, how maternity services can be developed to meet the future needs, what workforce do we need to deliver the service and what are the characteristics of the workforce? These interactive sessions proved popular and there was lots of discussion around local challenges and issues.

The aim of these sessions was to give an awareness of the workforce planning approach rather than providing an answer to the workforce issues in each locality. These sessions promoted use of effective workforce planning using the six steps and allows the delegates to experience the workforce planning process which they may use back in their localities to develop action plans to meet Maternity Matters.