Nursing and midwifery profile review update - August 2024
The consultation for profiles band 4, 5 and 6 ended on 30 June. JEG is grateful for all who responded and will be working its way through the feedback over the coming weeks.
JEG will be consulting on revised profiles for bands 7 and above later in the Autumn.
The NHS Staff Council joint chairs have taken the decision that the revised profiles will only be published once the review of the full suite has been completed. This is likely to be early 2025.
However, they are keen to remind employers that the need to ensure roles are banded correctly is an ongoing requirement regardless of reviews to profiles and encourage employers to work with staff to ensure their job descriptions are up to date and accurately reflect the requirements of their role. Where this leads to job description revisions, roles will need to be re-banded using the NHS Job Evaluation Handbook’s changed jobs process (chapter 3 of the handbook).
The advice from the NHS Staff Council on job descriptions is, and always has been, that:
- having up-to-date, agreed job descriptions is good HR practice, their main purpose being to ensure that employees and their line managers have a common understanding of what is required of the jobholder; the required information is generally set out in the form of a list of job duties
- having person specifications available for all posts is good HR practice, as it facilitates the recruitment process
- up-to-date, agreed job descriptions and person specifications will facilitate matching and make it more accurate and efficient
- job descriptions should not follow the national JE profile format, as profiles are not job descriptions and do not fulfil the main purpose of a job description
- information required for matching, which is not usually included in job descriptions or person specifications (for example, in relation to the effort and environment factors) can be collected by other means, for instance, by short questionnaire
- job evaluation measures the demands of the job, not the competency of the person in the job. Therefore a job description which is exclusively competence based is not helpful for matching purposes
- there is no recommended format: the format and content of job descriptions are matters for individual organisations to agree in partnership and should be appropriate to the needs of the organisation.
Revised profile consultation - April 2024
Between 29 April and 30 June 2024, the Job Evaluation Group (JEG) consulted on proposed revisions to the job evaluation matching profile for nursing and midwifery - bands 4, 5 and 6.
JEG invited detailed responses and additional evidence that will be used to confirm or further amend the draft profiles before publication.
View the draft profiles:
We also produced a document that compares the existing profiles with the proposed drafts.
Nursing and midwifery profile review launch webinar - September 2023
A supporting webinar was successfully held on 7 September 2023 by NHS Employers and the NHS Staff Council Job Evaluation Group to explain how and why these profiles are being reviewed. It also explained how employers could contribute to the evidence gathering stage of the review that ran until May 2023.
Outcome of the evidence gathering survey: evidence report - May 2022
Following its evidence review, the NHS Staff Council Job Evaluation Group have published an interim update report on national job profiles (band 4 and above) for nursing and midwifery.
The evidence received showed that the majority of employers and stakeholders can use the profiles, for the most part, but that improvements to them are necessary to assist matching panels in using them effectively.
Of greater concern was evidence received indicating that job descriptions – and therefore potentially also banding outcomes – are not regularly reviewed and have not been kept up-to-date despite changes to responsibilities and job requirements.
To view the evidence report and a webinar recording outlining its finding, please click here.
JEG is now undertaking further work to review the language and terminology of the existing profiles, updating it where necessary, including a review of the profile labels and job statements to ensure they reflect current clinical practice and deployment. In doing this work, JEG’s aim is to show clearly the differentiation between the bands and provide greater narrative examples of the factor levels (the ‘non-bold’).
This work is being undertaken in partnership by JEG members according to its usual profile review process and conventions.
Drafts of revised profiles will come to the NHS Staff Council for comment and consultation in the usual way.
The review is ongoing and is expected to move to consultation on the first set of draft profiles later this Spring.
Employers are advised to take the following action in anticipation of the review outcome – May 2022
- Secure board engagement and conduct an organisational risk assessment (Learn from experience of HCSW band 2 and 3)
- Consider your deployment model and whether job descriptions are accurate and comprehensive (ensuring understanding of the difference between professional development of staff and job evaluation of posts)
- Consider your JE operation by using the JEG Self-Assessment Checklist
- Build internal JE capacity – consider training more panellists.
Download the presentation slides.
Speakers:
| Claire Surtees | Management-side joint co-chair | |
| Salli Roddis | Management-side joint co-chair | NHS East Sussex Downs & Weald |
| Louise Chinnery | | |
| Nicola Lee | Head of Job Evaluation and Equal Pay | |
| Paul Watt | Scottish management-side rep | NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde |
| Penny Bromley | | Chartered Society of Physiotherapy |
