Introduction

Welcome to the latest issue of Calling Time, which introduces you to the three new Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team WTD pilot sites.

In the latest cohort of pilots, Skills for Health - Workforce Projects Team received bids from several organisations to become pilot sites, testing solutions on achieving WTD 2009 compliance within different settings and using different solutions. The three new sites look at possible solutions within a rural setting, in paediatrics and the testing of a shift pattern.

Rural pilot

WTD 2009 can be a challenge for organisations based within a rural setting. The pilot will recognise that 2009 compliance in this setting will require a radical approach and seek a coordinated response to managing demand and maximising capacity without the need for significant increases in the number of doctors.

The pilot will aim to demonstrate managed clinical networks consisting of services working together; operating in a formal way with jointly established and agreed policies, protocols and pathways of care. The solution will aim to demonstrate clear clinical governance arrangements and ensure the patient receives high quality care in the most appropriate place.

Milton Keynes General NHS Trust was selected for this pilot - the project is expected to be complete by August 2008.

Paediatric pilot

It is nationally acknowledged that paediatric services face particular problems in achieving WTD compliance because of their inability to participate in the cross-cover arrangements that underpin the Hospital at Night strategy.

Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust was selected as the organisation to take forward the pilot project and is expected to be complete by August 2008.

3 x 9 Hour shift pattern

In 2009, all NHS trusts will be required to reduce junior doctors' work hours from a maximum of 56 to a maximum of 48 hours per week. The UK Multidisciplinary Working Group proposed a theoretically optimised rota that is built around 9-hour shifts. This rota was derived from industrial models of shift-work and performance, adapted to meet the needs of junior doctors.

University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust in Coventry is piloting the study on its acute medical rota.