This document discusses promoting diversity and equality in the NHS workforce. It outlines the business case for diversity, noting that organizations with less diverse workforces can lose millions each year due to factors like legal costs, poor quality of care, and lack of leadership. The document also discusses challenges like tensions between investing in skills versus tight budgets, and how to deal with risks from policy changes that could impact the workforce. Overall, the document argues that a diverse workforce leads to better financial and patient outcomes for NHS trusts.

1. Promoting diversity and
equalityA DIVERSE
VALUING
WORKFORCE IN THE NHS
SHA Conference
David Amos
10th July 2010

2. 2

3. Promoting diversity and equality
Diversity and the changes ahead
The real business case for diversity and equality
The board’s perspective

4. The road ahead recovery
periods
Employment recoveries from previous recessions - this
show the previous depth and extent of the impact on
s
1.0
unemployment
pre-recesion peak of employment (1979Q4/
1990Q2) =100 Q1. Workforce jobs, UK, seasonally a
djusted
1.0
1.0
100
1.0
index Q1=
0.9
0.9
0.9
1980s 1990s
0.9
11
13
15
17
19
21
23
25
27
29
31
33
35
37
1
3
5
7
9
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
4

5. fThe changing
workforce the educated and
qualified workforce 170-2005
UK, share of total workforce with degree or equivalent (better educated) and share with just basic schooling.
Source: EU KLEMS database.
70
U Better educated
K
U N qualifications
K o
U better educated
S
60
50
share of total employment
40
30
20
10
0
_ 9 0
1 7 _ 9 2
1 7 _ 9 4
1 7 _ 9 6
1 7 _ 9 8
1 7 _ 9 0
1 8 _ 9 2
1 8 _ 9 4
1 8 _ 9 6
1 8 _ 9 8
1 8 _ 9 0
1 9 _ 9 2
1 9 _ 9 4
1 9 _ 9 6
1 9 _ 9 8
1 9 _ 0 0
2 0 _ 0 2
2 0 _ 0 4
2 0
5

6. The new government’s policy
approach – implications for
the workforce
 Funding and efficiencies
 Employment legislation
 Pay and regulation
 Organisational changes
 Operational performance
 Devolution to the front-line healthcare professional
 Independent and third sector providers
 Welfare to work programme
 New training support and system

7. A real business case:
St Not Very Diverse (lower quartile) NHS Trust
3,000 staff
£150m turnover
500,000 patients treated each year one way or another
 How does it perform as a result of its approach?

8. St Not Very Diverse (lower quartile) NHS Trust
Financial accounts 2009/10
Not employer of first choice (£1m)
 Lost productivity
 Recruitment difficulties
 Advertising costs
 Lack of candidates
Legal cases (£0.3m)
 Legal advice and representation
 Compensation claims and settlements

9. St Not Very Diverse (lower quartile) NHS Trust
Financial accounts 2005/6
Poor quality of patient services (£2m)
 Faulty communication
 Inaccurate diagnoses
 Choice goes West
 Repetition
Lack of leadership and teamwork(0.5m)
 Poor decision-making
 Duplication
 Under-performance

10. St Not Very Diverse (lower quartile) NHS Trust
Financial accounts 2009/10
Total lost income and unnecessary
costs : (£3.8m)
Or 6% of turnover
Or 2000 cataract operations
Or 150 extra staff

12. Getting the most from
everyone
Consultants and Senior Managers
9
8
7
6
Payband
5
4
3
2
1
12

13. Dealing with tensions and risks
 The three lines of unemployment:
• Contrasting needs and competition
 Quality skills, quality services
• Investing in skills when cash is tight
 Investing in the future graduate
• Reducing commissions which might be a problem later
 Learning lessons from the past
• Should we let history repeat itself
 Balancing the short with the longer term
• Taking on those when jobs get tighter later on (or now even)
 Taking on and letting go
• Appointing apprentices and making others redundant
 Delayering and cherishing the first-line manager
• Taking out back-room costs and relying on local leadership
 Encouraging engagement and taking difficult decisions
• Getting staff to engage when they are increasingly unhappy
 Interventions which bump into each other
• Overlapping and relabelled initiatives
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14. Good practice - In practice
 Organisational values
 Track record in developing existing staff
 Support for the Skills’ Pledge and skills
development
 Top level commitment to staff engagement
 Alternatives to compulsory redundancy
 Active in Local Employment Partnership
 The principles of diversity and equality put into
practice
 Take up of latest employment and training
initiatives
 Effective performance management and HR management
practices
 Sufficient capability and capacity to deliver
 Innovative in HR practice and organisational
development
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16. David Amos
david@davidamos.net
07976424218
16