Measuring safe staff levels in the community: the 'DominiC' workforce management tool

There is significant need to establish and predict what numbers of district nursing staff are needed to provide quality patient care. This is the first in a series of articles sharing the evidence-based and tested solutions being used in clinical practice across the UK to inform caseload and workforce planning. Stockport NHS Foundation Trust's electronic workload management tool 'DominiC' is explored in this article. The tool promotes continuity of patient care, efficient resource allocation and the benchmarking of care. It predicts future service demands and measures these against the staff resources available. Lessons learned from the process of developing and implementing DominiC are shared to help inform clinicians and managers looking for similar workforce planning solutions.