Health Education England & NHS Digital mMDS (Workforce Data Collection) Independent Mental Health Care Providers Event – 8 March 2019

 

The South West of England, including Bristol, has one of the largest number of independent, private and voluntary providers of NHS services in the country; many providers are involved in the provision of mental health services. There is a value in having a clear picture of the combined mental healthcare workforce across the sectors, in order to plan for workforce fluctuations and to adequately prepare for future expansion.

NHS England’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health sets out the hallmarks and indicators of the landscape of services in the future. Key to the delivery of this involves having a workforce being adequately trained and retained, whilst service providers expand to meet the requirements of new contracts and new organisations join the landscape, as well as responding to the realities of labour supply (leaks in the workforce, leavers, returners, etc). Indeed, this event results from statements made in the Five Year Forward View requiring service providers to work together. 

One of BIMHN’s representatives attended a workshop on Independent Provider Mental Healthcare Workforce Data Collection (wMDS), run by Health Education England & NHS Digital. His report sets out the backdrop to the importance of having an wMDS (Workforce Minimum Data Set) that is accurate and fit for purpose, and the discussions and challenges that were had to the ongoing development of the wMDS that were had during the sessions.

You can download our member report to read here.

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