The importance of workforce planning in the NHS in the 1990s

Considers a variety of pressures, both internal and external to the National Health Service, which in recent years have ostensibly increased the importance of sound workforce planning initiatives. These include, among others: skill shortage; the drive towards cost-efficiency and effectiveness; an altered philosophy of care through technology; the develop of competence-based training initiatives; nationwide demographic changes; and the need to develop identifiable skill shortages. Presents reprofiling (skills alignment with organizational needs) and skill mix and distribution as useful approaches to workforce planning and concludes with a brief consideration of implications for planners of professional boundaries and changed educational priorities for health service personnel.