NHSScotland 'Once for Scotland' workforce policies: consultation

Background

Vision

The ‘Once for Scotland’ Workforce Policies Programme is designed to review and transform existing workforce policies (previously known as Partnership Information Network (PIN) Policies) in line with our vision:

‘Once for Scotland Workforce policies will promote NHSScotland as a modern, exemplar employer; showcasing our core values, and promoting consistent employment policy and practice that supports the implementation of the Staff Governance Standard and effective recruitment and retention.’

Principles

The Scottish Workforce and Staff Governance (SWAG) Committee agreed that the following principles would govern the development work and future model:

1. The overriding purpose of future policy review exercises will be to create single, standardised policies that will be used consistently and seamlessly across NHSScotland.

2. Policies will be presented in a refreshed and reinvigorated format on a digital platform in a more user friendly and meaningful way, with staff and managers at the centre, whilst still being accessible to all groups of staff in alternative formats.

3. Policies will be developed and reviewed more quickly and efficiently, with accountability for delivery shared between employers, staffside and professional organisations and the Scottish Government.

4. There will be collective responsibility for each PIN Policy in terms of providing governance and leadership around future policy development or review.

5. Existing national PIN policies set good practice standards that have been negotiated and agreed in partnership and the starting presumption should be that these standards will apply at the core of future Once for Scotland policies.

6. Where a national PIN policy has been recently reviewed and is legally compliant, the expectation is that there should be minimal changes in relation to policy standards and therefore the focus is adopting that version to the Once for Scotland policy style.

7. Policies should be developed with robust engagement and take account of good practice locally and within other employers.

8. A new model for PIN policy review will be developed that improves the timeframe and efficiency of PIN policy review.

9. Once policies are agreed, they will be implemented consistently and fully across NHSScotland.

10. In future policies will be more focused on key standards and information and implemented across NHSScotland. The implementation will be supported by processes and procedures that will be nationally or locally agreed as appropriate.

Refreshed Policies

This consultation paper includes the following policies:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion [a refresh of the Equality, diversity and human rights: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2013)
• Gender-based Violence [a refresh of the Gender-based violence: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2011)
• Facilities Arrangements for Trade Unions and Professional Organisations [a refresh of the Facilities arrangements for trade unions and professional organisations: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2011)
• Personal Development Planning and Performance Review [a refresh of the Personal development planning and review: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2011)
• Employment Checks [a refresh of the Pre and post employment checks: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2014)
• Fixed-Term Contract [a refresh of the Use of fixed-term contracts within NHSScotland PIN policy, 2012)
• Secondment [a refresh of the Secondment: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2012)
• Redeployment [a refresh of the Redeployment: NHSScotland PIN policy, 2014)

Engagement Model

The emphasis is on moving to more dynamic and interactive engagement within a quicker process and with more direct feedback. The one-month consultation period will run from 8 February to 8 March 2024 inclusive with necessary flexibility to ensure maximum feedback. The consultation follows the regional engagement events pre-policy (January 2020) and mid-policy development (March 2020). Delegates were invited to participate in a follow up survey in the summer of 2021. This allowed delegates to reflect on what had been said at the mid-policy development engagement events and provide an opportunity to add any new perspectives.

The approach, agreed by the Scottish Workforce and Staff Governance (SWAG) Committee, minimises the need for the traditional 2-3 month formal consultation process. The consultation reflects this new model of engagement, and recognises that the extant PIN policies have already been agreed in partnership.

What is included within the consultation?

The consultation focuses on the 8 refreshed policies. Each policy includes the following sections:

• Aim
• Scope (Who it applies to and What can be raised under the policy)
• Definitions
• Roles and responsibilities (specific to the policy and in addition to standard roles and responsibilities which underpin all NHSScotland workforce policies)
• Procedure

The policy references supporting documents, each with a descriptor on what this entails, for your consideration.

Please note: supporting documents are not part of the consultation. These will be drafted following the consultation when responses have been analysed and the policy is developed in a final draft.

Standard sections that apply to all policies, for example, Principles and Values, Employee Support, Roles and Responsibilities are available on the NHSScotland Workforce Policies website.

The questions set out in the consultation seek to understand if the refreshed policies reflect our vision for NHSScotland workforce policies, and to identify any gaps in the policies or proposed supporting documents. The consultation also includes an equalities section to gather views on the potential impacts of each policy on protected characteristics equalities groups.