North Regional Maternity Workshop

21st June 2007

The third of the Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team workforce planning capability workshops was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Leeds on Thursday 21st June with 105 delegates representing organisations from the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber SHA regions.

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 by Ian Wragg, workforce modernisation manager, NHS Yorkshire and the Humber followed by a presentation highlighting issues identified at the recent CSIP launch event and what problems we need to solve by Mike Burgess, assistant director of workforce strategy and developments, NHS North West. This was followed by an overview of workforce demographics and health inequalities by Hilary Bellwood, workforce development manager, North East workforce team. A panel discussion from the three speakers followed. Bryan Kessie from the Workforce Projects Team introduced the delegates to the Workforce Projects Team six step guide to workforce planning.

During the afternoon session, delegates completed a number of high level exercises within their locality groups introduced by Stuart Taylor from Workforce Projects Team around defining the maternity workforce plan, how maternity services can be developed to meet the future needs, what the workforce do we need to deliver the service and what are the characteristics of the workforce? The interactive sessions proved popular amongst some teams and there was lots of discussion around local challenges and issues. Rather than providing an answer 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 in their localities to develop action plans to meet Maternity Matters. Bryan Kessie then discussed the final steps of the six step guide around action planning and review. Bryan summarised the workshop content and next steps for the delegates were discussed.