Workforce Initiative of the Year

Workforce Initiative of the Year
Workforce Initiative of the Year
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The NHS requires real-world solutions to its workforce challenges, moving beyond traditional approaches to ensure health and care services remain resilient, adaptable and efficient. This means confronting significant shortages of skilled professionals across clinical and non-clinical teams through innovative workforce development, rethinking roles, breaking down traditional barriers and finding new ways to bring people into the NHS. It is a commitment to building a sustainable workforce for the long term.

This award is about recognising innovation in workforce development. Judges will be looking for new strategic approaches to workforce planning to improve quality and productivity. They will want to see organisations rethinking roles, breaking down the traditional barriers to create an adaptable workforce that delivers quality and efficiency. They want to see initiatives that develop not just the existing workforce and its talents but look for new ways to bring people into the NHS, getting good people into hard-to-fill entry-level posts. 

Eligibility

Entries are welcomed from all NHS organisations and public sector third parties working in partnership with the NHS.  

Ambition

The challenge and context within which your project, person or organisation is set alongside your goals and targets whether quantitative or qualitative, and how this aligns with national priorities.

  • Describe the rationale for the initiative, including the workforce challenges it was designed to address and the goals and targets that were set
  • How did the initiative draw on existing best practice while creating something new to drive efficiency, quality, improvements in care or staff wellbeing?
  • What made this approach new or distinct from existing workforce models?

Collaboration

The stakeholders' involvement in co-designing and delivering the project. How have patients, staff at all levels, communities and other parties worked together to realise the outcomes?

  • Provide evidence of how staff and, where appropriate, patients were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative
  • Detail efforts to ensure inclusivity and diversity in the planning and implementation phases
  • How have the teams involved worked with partner organisations or public sector bodies to deliver results?

Impact

The measurable benefits delivered to patients, staff, your organisation or the wider system. Provide data and evidence showing improvements to outcomes, quality, access, equity or efficiency.

  • Provide evidence that the workforce initiative has led to improved patient care, workforce efficiency and productivity or value for money
  • How has the initiative delivered improvements in staff experience, resources, skills or service delivery?
  • Include both qualitative and quantitative feedback to comprehensively illustrate the initiative's impact, including any financial implications and efficiency gains

Scale

How your work has been shared, adopted or replicated beyond your immediate team or organisation. This includes dissemination through publications, presentations, toolkits, partnerships or inspiring similar initiatives elsewhere.

  • How has the initiative been applied beyond departmental, organisational or local boundaries, or what evidence is there that it is replicable and scalable?
  • How have the results been shared with other teams or organisations across the NHS?
  • What evidence is there that this approach could deliver positive outcomes in other settings?

Sustainability

The potential for the project/work to continue and create lasting impact. Evidence of how it can be sustained or built upon.

  • How is the initiative being embedded into workforce planning and business as usual, and what resource is in place to sustain it?
  • How does this initiative contribute to building a resilient and sustainable NHS workforce for the long term?
  • What evidence is there that this work can be built upon or adapted by other teams or systems?

To find out more

Partnership opportunities:  Sponsorship Sales Team
Awards entry enquiries: Delegate Sales Team
Judging and event management: Awards Support