NHS pay review body: twenty-sixth report 2012 - Official Documents

Staff Bodies
5.60 The Staff Side saw the process of the KSF and appraisals as the key driver in ensuring
all staff were provided with personal development, access to appropriate training and
line management support. However, the most recent NHS Staff Survey for England
(2010) showed only a third (34%) of all staff in England felt that their review was “well
structured” in that it improved how they worked, set clear objectives and left them
feeling their work was valued.
5.61 The Staff Side hoped that the simplified KSF guidance would help to accelerate what they
considered to be slow progress so that full implementation could be achieved and the
benefits of the KSF could be properly realised.
5.62 While NHS Wales has adopted a series of measures to help achieve full implementation
including improvements in monitoring, the Staff Side noted that results for 2010/11
indicated a downward trend in the level of appraisals/performance development
reviews. The Staff Side observed that NHSScotland continued to progress towards
full implementation of the KSF but that there was no appointed project lead with
responsibility for promoting the KSF across Northern Ireland and monitoring statistics
were not currently available.
5.63 UNISON pointed out that the simplified KSF guidance did not undermine or contradict
the original KSF principles, and organisations could decide whether they wished to make
use of the simplified guidance or continue to use the fuller version in the original KSF
handbook.
Our Comment
5.64 We note that new, simplified KSF guidance is now available and has been generally
welcomed by employers. We are also encouraged that appraisal rates have increased for
AfC staff, according to the 2010 NHS Staff Survey. However, this still only covers 77%
of staff and does not necessarily mean that all appraisals are linked to the KSF. Our 2011
visits demonstrated to us that use of the KSF remains patchy and it is not as widely used
as it should be. However, where fully implemented, the KSF yielded positive outcomes for
management and staff. We continue to emphasise that the KSF is an integral part of the
AfC structure which is intended to link an individual’s pay and career progression to their
acquisition and demonstration of key job competences. Where used effectively the KSF
both enables checks to be applied to incremental progression to the top of pay bands
and contributes to the identification of key training and development needs, to skills
development and role redesign, to the delivery of safe and efficient patient services, and
to staff morale and motivation.
Data Relating to Our Remit Group
5.65 As we have noted previously, the availability of robust, timely data on our remit group
is critical to our ability to make informed, evidence-based decisions on pay and other
matters. A consequence of our remits during 2012 is that the parties and ourselves will
require workforce data for England in more detail than the national- or regional-level
statistics currently provide.
5.66
Recent developments concerning workforce data produced by the Health Departments
include:
•
In Scotland from June 2011, the publication of quarterly statistics on the size of the
workforce, vacancies and turnover;
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