Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust has launched its people strategy to 2031 noting digital, data, and automation as a key enabler in reshaping how care and work are delivered, committing to keeping people “at the heart” of rapid change.
Maximising human judgment and oversight will be essential to enable people and technology to create value together, the trust states. A focus will be on addressing the barriers that “make work harder than it needs to be”.
Workforce planning will transition from headcount planning to skills planning, decision capacity, and human judgment for digital technologies, it posts. Changing roles will mean exploring skills requirements beyond traditional competencies, and beyond the deployment of technological advances, to enabling, managing risk, preserving expertise, preventing knowledge erosion, and sustaining critical capabilities.
Digital solutions will also promote flexibility, Royal Free highlights, giving agency and input to shift work, enabling access and equity of flexibility through technology. Flexible pathways will be built into education, progression, and entry opportunities, and the research workforce will be integrated into long-term planning to attract and retain clinical academics as well as clinical practitioners.
Introducing the strategy, chief people officer Thomas Pounds says: “The world around us is changing. The NHS faces significant financial pressures, changing population needs and unprecedented advances in digital technology. While these changes bring challenges, they also create exciting opportunities to work differently, develop new skills and rethink how care is delivered. Our role is to ensure that every colleague feels confident, supported and ready to succeed in that future.”
Plans to develop the people strategy were set out by the trust earlier this year. “This will be underpinned by the creation of digital Communities of Practice model to upskill staff and make RFL an NHS digital centre of excellence,” it stated. “We will also produce digital skills development plan for SMEs and trust wide staff which will support the workforce to deliver better care by removing friction and unlocking digital opportunities for colleagues and patients.”
Wider trend: Digital workforce
The Department of Health and Social Care opened a preliminary market engagement in June, to support plans to develop a national workforce development framework and curriculum designed to promote consistency in skills, competencies, training, and professional development. With a maximum value of £1.3 million, the contract is split into two phases, with the first to establish the framework covering core competencies and skills, guidance on supervision models, advice on career progression, and principles for continuing professional development.
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has taken a face-to-face approach to deliver AI training across its workforce, aiming to make AI learning more accessible and help staff understand how Copilot can help to support them in their day-to-day roles. The training is taking place aboard the trust’s Health Bus, which has so far visited sites including Prospect Park and West Berkshire Community Hospital. It reportedly uses practical demonstrations and real-world examples to show colleagues the capabilities of Copilot.
The board of Clatterbridge Cancer Centre has discussed its current position and future plans on digital systems, data, and digital workforce capability and training. Digital capabilities across the workforce are being supported through a number of initiatives, the trust shares, including the Nursing and AHP Commitments and associated REFORM programme, intended to develop digital confidence, innovation, and data literacy so staff can “contribute to digitally enabled service improvement, research and patient care”. Undergraduate and postgraduate learners are provided with access to relevant digital systems alongside clinical skills training, according to the board, enabling them to safely develop digital and clinical competencies in practice environments.
