Future NHS workforce solution update
In December 2021 the future NHS workforce solution programme team provided an update on the programme and plans for the Discovery 3.0 phase, which began in autumn last year.
In this edition of ESR News the team is sharing more information about the Discovery 3.0 phase and what is planned for the coming weeks and months as the procurement gathers pace.
The programme has now completed this final discovery phase and has started the next phase, the procurement of a supplier for the new solution.
What happened during Discovery 3.0?
From December 2021 to March 2022, a range of online engagement activities took place where we heard from 450 stakeholders, users and professional experts from across the NHS in England and Wales. These included programme sponsors; colleagues from a variety of NHS Trusts, Arm’s Length Bodies, health and care partnerships and Welsh Health Boards who had volunteered to be involved. Their involvement provided the team with more than 2,500 pieces of feedback which helped them understand, identify, and validate what the user and business needs are for the future NHS workforce solution. These needs have been grouped into seven functional areas shown below and are in addition to the service management elements of the solution which includes system intelligence, security, interoperability and reporting:
- Talent Acquisition
- Career Development
- Performance Management
- Core HR
- Learning
- Compensation and Benefits (Total Rewards, Pensions, Salary Sacrifice)
- Time Tracking and Payroll
Throughout the three discovery phases, the programme engaged with over 15,000 users and stakeholders through surveys, workshops, interviews, focus groups and correspondence.
The programme team would like to say thank you to everyone who was involved in this engagement exercise. Your valuable input has helped them shape the requirements, which will be a key part of the procurement phase of the programme.
What’s coming up?
The programme team has now commenced the next stage of the programme and started the procurement phase. This means they have formally notified potential suppliers they can now submit their bids for the work on the future NHS workforce solution.
The procurement phase will include reviewing and evaluating initial suppliers and creating a short list. The suppliers on this list will create ‘proof of concept’ designs, which will then be tested and a final evaluation process of their bid proposals will take place. Given the work involved during this process and the size and scope of this programme, it is expected this phase will take some time to be completed. We aim to have a contract awarded to the successful supplier in summer 2024.
Keep up to date
You can keep up to date with the programme by visiting our website, sign up to our FutureNHS workspace and/or sign up to our contact form to receive information direct to your inbox.
If you have any questions you can contact the programme team at nhsbsa.esrdiscovery@nhs.net.