We will show how using the KSF for role and service re-design can improve service delivery and assist with cost savings against the organisations wage bill in the ever changing NHS climate.

Implementing the KSF

Using the KSF for Role Redesign

The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) provides a foundation to help organisations optimise their investment in staff through Role and Service Redesign.

We work with organisations to use the KSF as a catalyst for reviewing the knowledge and skill mixes that are used to deliver patient care. We encourage organisations, and their team leaders, to ask questions:

• Do you know what Knowledge, Skills and Competences are required to deliver a patient-facing service? What does this cost?
• How do you need to group these knowledge and skills into roles?
• What level / band do each of these patient services need to be performed at?
• Is there scope in your service to have different people, performing different roles, to make the most of the knowledge and skills you have available to you?
• Are there any cost savings in doing this, and can you free up investment to spend in other parts of the patient pathway?

What can we do to help you?

By identifying a range of specific activities and tasks required within any service (either clinical or non clinical) revised KSF post outlines can be created to better meet the patient needs, clinical obligations and budgetary requirements, optimising your staffing budget and service effectiveness.

The three main benefits of adopting this approach are:

• Ensuring the right people are doing the right jobs (maximise motivation and commitment).
• Cost Savings (doing the right work at the right level).
• Enhanced Service Delivery (better and more efficient patient care!)

We would start our role and service redesign work with a 1 or 2 day focused workshop to investigate the current, and ideal, knowledge and skill mix with a clinical or non-clinical team.

What will you need to take advantage of this approach?

In order to adopt this approach to role and service redesign you will need knowledge and understanding of the following:

• The patient pathway or business process.
• The Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF).
• The staffing levels and associated costs within a service.
• An understanding of the e-KSF is not required but this tool can assist with role and service redesign.

We have found this approach most successful when a range of individuals attend including service leads, senior and junior post holders, KSF leads and HR.

How can you benefit from working with Think Associates?

Not only will this approach lead to enhanced service delivery, cost savings and ensure that the right people are doing the right jobs but through adopting this approach you will also be able to:

• Reach a common understanding of the current Knowledge & Skills mix of your service.
• Learn how to analyse a series of multi-disciplinary post outlines within your service(s).
• Be able to describe what type of work each stage of each patient pathway requires.
• Enable service re-design through the use of the NHS KSF.
• Demonstrate how the KSF can positively impact staffing budgets and effectiveness.
• Be able to identify any inappropriate skill levels and mix in your service(s).
• Learn how to apply the correct level of skill into a patient - budget relationship.

What have organisations who have adopted this approach said?

We have worked with a number of organisations who have begun to use this approach after attending our role and service redesign workshops. The following are some quotes:

I enjoyed the day it was very informative. I feel I would use it if I was beginning a service redesign as it took me through vital steps to ensure I didn’t miss anything out and considered all areas. Another positive is that I now appreciate the KSF as a tool to influence and support service redesign and help to demonstrate that the services we provide are cost effective which will be vital in the coming years. Val Hall, Middlesborough PCT

I found the day very interesting and as a process l would like to use it with another service in the organisation. I also thought it helped highlight to my colleagues the fact that KSF can be used in another way not just for producing post outlines but can be instrumental in identifying the knowledge, skills and competencies required prior to producing the job description. Sarah Jane Ashcroft, KSF Lead, Middlesborough PCT

Great workshop – the practical approach was very useful and informative I will be adopting a similar approach for the next KSF workshop I deliver. It really got to the detail of the jobs we were looking at and this is very important as people sadly forget about the tasks when working with KSF. Angela Wright, Education and Training Manager, County Durham Primary Care Trust

A well facilitated and interactive session. I felt because it was interactive our service colleagues remained engaged throughout the workshop. It helped to increase awareness of KSF for the service managers who attended. I found the process very useful and will use the approach when developing outlines in the future I felt it really focused discussions. I look forward to the results. Pauline Yarker, Modernising Learning Manager, County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust

For further information on how we can help you with your role and service redesign initiatives please contact us.

Click here to download the fact sheet:
Using the KSF for Role Redesign Workshop

Click here to download the fact sheet:
Optimising Your Investment - Role and Service Redesign Using the KSF