Workforce

We know that a key enabler for the successful delivery of our Joint Forward Plan is our workforce.

Currently, there are approximately 60,000 colleagues working across health and social care in the Black Country, each providing a unique contribution to the delivery of care to our community. We know that for us to thrive we need to look after our workforce and become a place where people want to work. As a health and care system we know that as ‘one workforce’ we are better and that we need to develop the right culture and infrastructure for the Black Country to be the best place to work.

We hope to do this through creating psychologically safe and supportive environments, where all our diverse colleagues feel they belong and we can provide the architecture for developing a workforce that is sustainable for the future. The NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan is a key document that will act as a framework for supporting and developing our workforce.

We will:

• focus on retaining our people and supporting them to be the best they can be, which in turn optimises our resources
• create an inclusive talent management approach
• publish a Black Country Health and Wellbeing Strategy along with our refreshed ICS People Plan 2023-2028 that describes the priorities, actions, and impact to make the Black Country the best place to work
• work collaboratively to coordinate a Workforce Development Plan that articulates our strategic approach to workforce planning, education and training including working in partnership with Health Education institutions and further education colleges, clinical placement activity, etc.