Press release: NHS Employers announces push to implement KSF across the NHS
10 Oct 2007
NHS Employers, the NHS trade unions and the Department of Health today launch a new drive to ensure that the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) is fully embedded across the NHS and that trusts are realising its benefits.
The KSF is fundamental to the training and career development of around 1 million staff in the NHS. Launched as part of the Agenda for Change deal, use of the KSF has varied across the country meaning that not all staff and organisations have had the opportunity to benefit from the framework.
The new push will result in a range of initiatives across the health service to help trusts learn how to make the most of the KSF. From 18 October to 6 December there will be KSF events in each SHA. Two new briefings and a DVD for staff and employers are also being launched at NHS Employers annual conference and exhibition today.
Alastair Henderson, Deputy Director of NHS Employers said:
"The KSF is an important tool both to help organisations deliver their objectives and to support staff in their development. We have produced these materials in partnership to engage senior leaders in the NHS and to gain their support at board level. We hope that the materials can be used by NHS organisations to help raise the profile of the KSF and to use it effectively. The message is that implementing the KSF need not be a burden - keep it simple and you will get results."
Ann Keen, Parliamentary-Under-Secretary for Health Services, said:
"We need to support all staff and organisations to ensure that the KSF is effectively implemented and embedded within the culture of the NHS. Organisations which have already implemented the KSF have started to realise its benefits for individuals and the organisation alike. We need to work in partnership to ensure that, through enabling staff to learn at work, they continue to deliver excellent patient care."
Mike Jackson, Senior National Officer, UNISON added:
"The KSF is one of the best ways the NHS has of demonstrating commitment to its staff. There is solid evidence to show that where organisations invest in their staff, they experience higher retention rates, fewer problems with recruitment and improved staff morale.
"Organisations which have not yet implemented the KSF are missing out on the opportunity to make an investment in their staff, and to make their workforce feel more valued."
Sharon Holder, National Officer Public Services Section, GMB, explained:
"The KSF element of the Agenda for Change agreement introduced - certainly for the groups of staff which I represent, the lowest paid staff in the NHS - the most significant move towards training and development that has ever taken place for that group of staff since the creation of the NHS in 1948."
Notes for editors
All NHS trusts will receive the following:
- The KSF - An essential guide for staff
- The KSF - An essential guide for NHS boards
- A DVD - entitled 'embedding the KSF'. The DVD includes a ministerial introduction from Ann Keen and features staff from a range of NHS organisations from across the country talking about their experience of using the KSF including:
- NHS Blood and Transplant Service
- Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust
- Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust
- Rotherham Primary Care Trust
- Members of the staff council
Download The Essential guide for NHS boards (PDF)
Downlaod The Essential guide for NHS staff (PDF)
About the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework:
The KSF is an organisational tool for describing the knowledge and skills staff need to apply at work in order to deliver high quality services. it:
- includes an annual system of review and development for staff
- provides a single agreed system of pay progression and as such is an integral and mandatory strand of Agenda for Change
- was developed in partnership by management and staff representatives and enjoys the active support of staff side partners
- applies to all staff employed in the NHS across the UK on Agenda for Change terms and conditions and meets equal pay requirements.
Some of the key benefits of the KSF:
- The KSF directly links staff activity, competence and development to employment costs, which leads to improved patient care and organisational efficiency
- It enables NHS organisations to use their training budgets cost effectively
- By Investing time and effort in staff and their development, both staff morale and recruitment and retention are improved and staff turnover is reduced.
- The KSF helps to address employment and HR legislation, the Age Discrimination Act and equality and diversity requirements.
- It helps organisations to understand what specific learning and development is required to meet both service and patient needs.
- IIt focuses managers on the continued development of staff.
- The KSF uses a common transferable language to describe the knowledge and skills required to deliver services.
- IIt helps to build the skill mix of the workforce to drive improvements in patient care.
- The KSF designs jobs around patient needs and matches staff skills and knowledge to those jobs, thus improving overall productivity and job satisfaction.
- IIt improves and informs workforce planning and ensures the right people are in the right posts and are effectively applying the necessary knowledge and skills.
Further information on the KSF
Contact details
The press office provides a comprehensive service to keep journalists informed about the work of NHS Employers.
If you have a media enquiry, please contact the press office team:
- Emma Robinson 0207 074 3307 or emma.robinson@nhsemployers.org
- For out of hours media enquiries, please contact the duty press officer on 07880 500726.
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