CHANGING how staff work, launching new recruitment drives and using funding to renovate and build new facilities are key priorities for Betsi Cadwaladr in the next year, a new plan has revealed.

The health board’s annual operational plan has outlined how it will look to improve services and reduce the level of overspend seen in recent years by addressing staffing issues, putting increased community-based services in place and ensuring health facilities are in place to support that.

The plan, which went before the health board’s May meeting, said that a greater emphasis on community-based services meant there would need to be changes in how staff are deployed and the areas they work, with staff recruitment also a major concern for the board.

It says: “The organisation’s workforce strategy will focus on developing our staff to deliver healthcare closer to patients’ homes through integrated working across health, social care, the voluntary sector and other partners.

“A shift in workforce skills is therefore required to meet this demand and support the subsequent changes to the way services are to be provided.

“The organisation will require an engaged workforce that is adaptable, appropriate in terms of skill mix and competency levels, affordable within our budgetary constraints and, most importantly, which meets the needs of patients and service users. This shift will be enhanced as a result of the requirements set out within the Social Services and Well-being Act for closer integrated working and new models of service delivery.

“The organisation’s shift in focus will require appropriate training and education to underpin new ways of working and reduce the barriers between health and social care workforce."

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