The Department of Health’s consultation, Liberating the NHS: developing the healthcare workforce, sets out proposals to change the way the healthcare sector plans, trains and develops its workforce. It sets out significant changes to the way the system is organised and offers employers the driving seat in planning and delivering the workforce of the future. A change from a top-down system to one of local accountability offers many opportunities. A change of this magnitude needs careful consideration to ensure that the system and transition are well planned and implemented effectively.
NHS Employers has taken every opportunity to shape thinking during the pre-consultation phase, including engagement events and meetings to raise awareness of what the key issues for employers are. We now have an excellent opportunity to express our views and use our collective voice to shape the future of education and training commissioning.
We highlighted five high-level questions for employers when the DH consultation was first published. This discussion paper expands on these original questions and seeks the representative views from your organisation.