Making a difference: workforce skills and capacity for integrated care

This study did not consider workforce development and planning challenges for nursing and care staff in residential, nursing care homes or domiciliary services. This part of the workforce is integral to the care pathways for many patients, and in line with the current emerging national focus on this sector, these groups require further examination. Further, data explore service users' and carers' perspectives on workforce skills. It proved challenging to recruit patient and carer respondents for the research due to the nature of their illnesses. Many of the required skills already existed within the workforce. The OD process facilitated collaborative learning to enhance skills; however, workforce planning across a whole system has challenges in relation to data gathering and management. Ensuring a focus on workforce development and planning is an important part of integrated care development. This study has implications for social and voluntary sector organisations in respect of inter-agency working practices, as well as the identification of workforce development needs and potential for informing subsequent cross-sector workforce planning arrangements and communication. This paper helps to identify the issues and benefits of implementing person-centred, integrated teamworking and the implications for workforce planning and OD approaches.
Source: Journal of Integrated Care - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Source Type: research