Knowing who to call: supporting integrated care systems to influence the local labour market

Successive policy plans to develop the health and care workforce have traditionally focused on the national role the sector can and should play in securing its necessary people and positions.

While this is understandable given the top-down focus of the NHS in particular, the NHS Confederation believes that such an approach is becoming outdated given recent labour market trends.

This report is intended to guide integrated care system (ICS) leaders on how they can shape their local labour market to best determine and develop the future workforce. It outlines:

• recommendations for how an ICS can better influence local decision-making
• the key sectors with which an ICS should develop system-wide strategic relationships
• and the priority skills-related policy areas on which an ICS should collaboratively focus.

The NHS Confederation strongly believes that the journey to an ICS becoming an ‘intelligent customer’ in the local labour market is a critical enabler in its ability to transform system-wide health and care services and deliver the Long Term Plan more generally.

The report is a practical companion for Growing our own future: a manifesto for defining the role of ICSs in workforce, people and skills, published in January 2020. It called for ICSs to become the default level at which accountability for system-wide skills and workforce decision making is based, and for them to be given the necessary devolved powers, funding and support to truly develop their future workforces.

This report is part of our ICS Network’s ongoing programme to support system leaders across the country.