Staff focus updates - 13 December 2012

New policy, guidance and initiatives from across the UK which focus on staff issues and professional development. For more information about this theme see Quality and Safety e-Bulletin: staff focus.

Some of the resources linked to are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.

DH: Launch of the Disclosure and Barring Service. From 1 December 2012 the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) will carry out the functions previously undertaken by the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority. The primary role of DBS is to help employers in England and Wales make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups including children.

DH: Public Health England People Transition policy: Module 2. Published as a series of factsheets, this module sets out the agreed framework for the terms and conditions for those transferring into PHE and for new staff appointed to PHE after 1 April 2013.

DH: Planning medical and dental school intakes for the future needs of the NHS. This report from the Health and Education National Strategic Exchange (HENSE), using research by the Centre for Workforce Intelligence, looks ahead at the future medical and dental workforce needs of the NHS. It enables plans to ensure that those workforce needs are met in 2025 and beyond, when students entering medical school next year will become fully qualified.

General Dental Council: New guidance for employers on trainee nurses and technicians. The General Dental Council has new guidance in place for anyone employing trainee dental nurses or dental technicians. The guidance contains a number of key points, including what defines a student/trainee dental nurse or dental technician.

Health in Wales: Midwife and Healthcare Support Worker win National Awards. Maureen Jones, Senior Midwife at Bronglais Hospital and Tracey Davies, Tissue Viability Health Care Support Worker at Glangwili Hospital were both winners at the Royal College of Nursing in Wales’ inaugural Nurse of the Year.

Health Protection Agency (HPA) : Challenges still to be met in reducing occupational exposures to bloodborne viruses. There were 541 reports of needle stick injuries that exposed healthcare workers to patients carrying bloodborne viruses in 2011, twice as many as a decade ago (2002) when 271 exposures were reported. The figures are published in the Health Protection Agency’s fourth Eye of the Needle report, which includes occupational exposures to bloodborne viruses in healthcare workers reported by hospitals through the HPA’s enhanced surveillance system. These reports are only a fraction of needle stick injuries that would have occurred.

NHS Centre for Professional Workforce Development: This new centre has been established in the north-west, with the support of NHS North West. The CPWD will provide a single point of access to 30,000 healthcare staff across the 60 professions of healthcare science, pharmacy and allied health professions. The CPWD will support both service providers and commissioners to achieve the education outcomes framework, the NHS outcomes framework and the public health outcomes framework.

National End of Life Care Programme: End of life care facilitator competency framework. This framework has been developed to support high quality practice by encouraging and assisting end of life care facilitators to continually review their learning and practice. It provides a basis to support and improve the quality of practice by encouraging and assisting learning, and enhancing knowledge and skills.

NHS Employers: Line Managers Bulletin. NHS Employers organisation has launched a new bulletin for line managers in the NHS. This new, fortnightly bulletin gives managers in the NHS practical tips, tools and advice on key workforce issues. NHS Line Managers Bulletin is for any manager whose role involves managing individuals or a team - from finance and estates managers to nurses or clinicians who lead a team.

NHS Employers: How to reduce expenditure on medical locums. NHS Employers has published guidance offering practical tips and suggestions. Despite a general trend across the NHS toward a reduction in the number and use of temporary and agency staff, the number of medical locums being used by NHS trusts is increasing, as is the overall cost. Recent estimates suggest that 50 per cent of expenditure on agency staff in the NHS is spent on medical locums and that these costs are continuing to rise.

NHS Employers: Supporting employees that are carers - your views needed. One in seven workers is already caring for a family member or friend. Take this short survey to share your organisation’s experience in supporting employees that are carers and help improve the understanding of the business benefits of supporting carers.

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement: Call for examples of flexible PbR. The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement is seeking examples where variations in the payment by results (PbR) national tariff have been used to good effect. These case study materials, and findings around any barriers that exist, will then be used to stimulate the use of PbR Local Tariff Flexibilities to support innovation.

NHS Protect: Violence against NHS staff figures (2011-12) (PDF 436.8KB). NHS Protect collects and collates figures for physical assaults against NHS staff from NHS bodies across England on an annual basis. The organisation is working in partnership with an expert group to develop new guidance and research for health bodies on dealing with the issue of assaults against NHS staff involving medical factors, which the latest figures show have risen in the same period 16.3 per cent (from 39,770 in 2010/11 to 46,265 in 2011/12). 
News: 2011-12 figures released for physical assaults against NHS staff
RCN: RCN condemns attacks on staff.

RCN: Nominate your representative of the year. If you know an RCN representative who has gone the extra mile to help members, this is your opportunity to acknowledge their hard work and dedication by nominating them for an award. RCN members who nominate a winner will receive £100, and those who nominate a commendee will receive £50. The closing date for entries is 4 January 2013.

RCN: RCN film outlines AfC proposals. A new RCN film explains the proposed changes to Agenda for Change (AfC) and outlines the consultation process to RCN members. The RCN, along with other NHS trade unions, has been negotiating with employers around the proposed changes. Unions have been forced to negotiate changes as they faced the possibility of employers moving away from a national framework and towards regional agreements.
Frontline First: Agenda for Change consultation and resources.

RCN: Applications sought for pensions group. The Royal College of Nursing is looking for members to join a task and finish group which will focus on the key aspect of the proposed changes to the NHS pension scheme. The work of the group will highlight the impact of working beyond 60 but also identify good employment and pensions practice for those who choose to work longer.

The College of Social Work (TSCW): Business case for work with adults. “The 'business case' for social work with adults must demonstrate to employers that it is a false economy to scrap social work posts without first taking care to ensure that the short-term savings are not outweighed by the long-term costs. The point of this discussion paper is to indicate where social workers fit into modern models of care and sketch the outlines of an argument that the cost-benefit analysis comes out in their favour.”