The NHS workforce is made up of a huge array of professions, and adapting the balance of skills that staff have and the tasks they carry out has been an area of major change in the NHS in recent years.
The Nuffield Trust (an independent think tank) has been commissioned by NHS Employers to carry out a short-term piece of work to help understand the key lessons on the balance of different staff groups in the NHS.
What is the scope of the research?
The work is seeking to find out what challenges might exist with the use of new or emerging roles in the NHS, and also any factors that are helping these newer roles to become part of a well-functioning workforce. In particular, the research is considering previous rebalances of the workforce that have taken place in England to draw out any relevant lessons that might be useful today.
What is not in scope of the research?
The work is neither intended nor designed to question the merits of individual professions. It is also not commenting on what the right level or balance of new or emerging roles is.
How is the work being carried out?
The research is primarily based on a review of published evidence on lessons around introducing new and emerging roles into the NHS. We will draw out common themes on issues including role design, onboarding, regulation, supervision and funding by looking at existing evaluations of the implementation of professions such as nursing associates and those within the additional roles reimbursement scheme in general practice.
We also conducted a short survey based on the scope outlined above, focusing particularly on issues directly relevant to the advanced clinical practitioner and physician associate roles, as these are two high-profile emerging roles.
The survey was based on an existing questionnaire to provide reassurance from using an established approach and was also piloted with several different professions. Using a pre-established approach potentially enables us to observe and draw out any changes that might be taking place over time.
How do I see the results of the research?
We will write up our results into a short report. The report will be published in autumn 2024 on our website, which is free to access.
Further information
If you have any further questions about the work that have not been answered here, please contact us at skillmix@nuffieldtrust.org.uk .