Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Democratic Services which presents a briefing paper by the Leeds Health and Care Academy on workforce challenges impacting on health and care service delivery in Leeds and how partners are working to address these.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which presented a briefing paper by the Leeds Health and Care Academy on workforce challenges impacting on health and care service delivery in Leeds and how partners are working to address these.

The following were in attendance:

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Councillor Salma Arif, Executive Member for Adults Social Care, Public Health and Active Lifestyles

·  Caroline Baria, Interim Director of Adults and Health

·  Victoria Eaton, Director of Public Health

·  Kate O’Connell, Director of Leeds Health and Care Academy and Strategic Workforce

·  Tina Turnbull, Workforce Adviser, Forum Central

·  Claire Nixon, Development Manager, Forum Central

·  Sam Prince, Interim Chief Executive, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

·  Kelly Cohen, Clinical Director, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

·  Helen Lewis, Director of Pathway Integration, Leeds Health and Care Partnership

·  Jenny Cooke, Director of Population Health Planning, Leeds Health and Care Partnership

The Chair invited the Executive Member for Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships to provide some introductory comments.  In welcoming the appended briefing paper, the Executive Member particularly acknowledged the section on Carers and the Third Sector workforce.  The Board was informed that the Executive Member had wrote to the Chair of the Leeds Health and Care Partnership Executive (PEG) to emphasise the importance of recognising the vulnerability of the Third Sector in view of its key role across the workforce.

The Director of Leeds Health and Care Academy and Strategic Workforce provided a brief overview of the key points set out within the briefing paper. Representatives from Forum Central also provided comment on the challenges, opportunities and successes relating to Carers and the Third Sector workforce.

In summary, the following key points were highlighted:

·  There remains a strong commitment towards collaborative working to better integrate the health and social care workforce in Leeds. 

·  Workforce capacity remains challenging but collective actions around recruitment, development, retention and staff well-being are maintaining a stable city-wide position.

·  The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published in June 2023, also provides real opportunity for advancing the city’s collaborative work around retention, training and transformation.

·  The last year has demonstrated some key areas of growth and improvement but also some systemic issues which will take some time to resolve. The Board’s attention was drawn to the key indicators and notable areas of progress set out within the briefing paper.

·  There remains a collective focus on narrowing inequalities. In February 2023, Leeds One Workforce partners reviewed the impact and organisational commitment to the Connecting Communities with Health and Care Careers programme and unanimously agreed to embed this as a permanent programme into the Academy’s Talent Hub.

·  The Third Sector is very much a recognised integral part of the Leeds Health and Care system, with active representation on the Leeds Health and Care Partnership Executive Group, the Leeds One Workforce Strategic Board and many other committees and steering groups supporting collaborative working.

·  The 2020 State of the Sector report, which explored Third Sector resilience, had recently been refreshed using 2022 data and insights, and revealed a concerning loss of Leeds health and care Third Sector capacity, with a 10% drop in registered Third Sector organisations since 2020, along with a 34% drop in the workforce.

·  Key workforce challenges in the sector have included a lack of digital support and capacity; increased operating costs; and escalating recruitment due to the loss of staff seeking greater security and better conditions due to on-going uncertainty around funding. This is creating instability and increased financial vulnerability across the sector.

·  There has been positive action in terms of connecting new organisations with the Talent Hub, increasing access to staff benefits and health and wellbeing support, and making training and education more accessible for staff in the Third Sector, which has been welcomed.

The following areas were also discussed during the Board’s consideration of the briefing paper:

·  Illustrating the trajectory of progress – in noting the key indicators and areas of progress set out in the briefing paper, a request was made to illustrate the trajectory of progress over the last 6 months in the form of graphs/charts.

·  Supporting unpaid carers to access training – the Board noted that a learning portal had been launched for carers to access free training and that work was being undertaken with Carers Leeds to explore how best to raise greater awareness and increase uptake.

·  Effective recruitment and selection - it was noted that the Talent Hub is designed to be person centred and actively disrupts traditional recruitment processes across the partnership, promoting values-based recruitment, improving candidate’s recruitment experience, improving retention rates and delivering efficiencies. A key benefit has been the opportunity to engage unpaid carers in career conversations, exploring how their skills and experience can provide a platform for future training, volunteering and careers.

·  Potential implications of abolishing A-levels and T Levels – with the government’s recent announcement regarding plans to abolish A-Levels and T-Levels, the Board was advised that there would be time to work through the implications of these plans and while these may present some challenges, Leeds has a good basis to adapt accordingly.

·  Retention challenges within the Third Sector – the Board noted that pay within the Third Sector is continuing to fall behind statutory employers and remains a key challenge when trying to retain staff, despite efforts to explore other incentives such as staff discount schemes or access to free training.

·  Health and wellbeing support to staff – the Board was informed that additional funding had been secured to enhance health and wellbeing support for staff across the partnership which is being used to recruit a Welfare Officer to support staff and volunteers from smaller organisations and to strengthen research and evaluation of health and wellbeing support to ensure continuous improvement of both impact and sustainability.

The Chair thanked everyone for their contribution to the Board’s discussion.

RESOLVED - That the report, along with Members comments and information requests, be noted.