Editorial - Winter 2007

Welcome to the latest edition of Calling Time and the first edition of the New Year.

Throughout 2006 a lot of progress was made as we set up the latest cohort of WTD 2009 pilot sites across the country. In 2007 there will be a lot of best practice emerging from the 20 trusts and health economies involved which we feel will truly benefit the NHS.

One of the key reasons for this is that the pilot sites truly reflect what is going on across the NHS at the moment. Although readiness for the 48 hour week is at the core of each of the projects, they are looking at much bigger issues. These include new ways or working, reconfiguring services, how we structure emergency care, working across the full 24 hour day and how we work across communities using acute and secondary care facilities in new ways.

This demonstrates how WTD is at the heart of so much that is going on within the service at the moment. There are many trusts taking on the challenges that the pilots are undertaking so the learning that emerges over the coming months will be useful to everyone across the service.

Most importantly, the pilots are looking at how we make these changes and comply with the health and safety law whilst retaining the very highest standards of patient care. This has to be at the core of the changes that are made to the way we work and the pilots will showcase how this can be achieved – or highlight the challenges that need to be overcome if you are looking at these areas of work.

Alongside the pilot work we have been delighted to see that some of the other key pieces of work that are being put in place have been taken up with great enthusiasm by the service. The iBleep software solution to help support junior doctors working in teams by using personal digital assistants has generated a lot of interest and through the year we will be providing more support and sharing other solutions that may help support your own trust become ready for 2009.

Keep checking the healthcare workforce portal and make sure you’re signed up to the WTD mailing list to receive regular updates on all the information that is available to support you and your organisation.

Sue Dean, director,
Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team
sue.dean@skillsforhealth.org.uk