The nursing workforce is at the core of healthcare provision in England and Wales. It is central to plans for modernisation of the service. But it is acknowledged that the supply of skilled and experienced staff fails to meet current demands and that new vacancies are created as a result of additional investment.
This report provides advice to trusts about managing bank and agency nursing staff better. Sometimes this means finding ways of doing things more efficiently and more economically, freeing resources that may be used elsewhere in the service. But it also means contributing to improvements in the quality of patient care, by reducing the risks inherent in over-reliance on temporary cover.
Included in this report:
- bank and agency nursing
- assuring the quality of care
- keeping costs under control
- managing demand and improving efficiency
- the way forward