Health Education and Improvement (HEIW) wins award for workforce planning development

Published 10/10/2023

On this World Mental Health Day 2023 we are very proud to announce that HEIW and Social Care Wales have won a prestigious people management award for our mental health workforce plan. This has been a wonderful recognition of the unique and innovative nature of the workforce plan and showcases our wide-ranging ambitions for the future mental health workforce of Wales.

The award was received from Healthcare People Management Association (HPMA) for their workforce planning.

The strategic mental health workforce team is a small but dedicated team who have put together a plan for delivering mental health services according to service user needs.

To compete, the team were tasked with submitting their project in 1,600 words. The submission was to cover everything from the rationale, implementation plan, and evidence of impact.

18 months in the making, the plan spans the entire health and care sector, with over 2,000 stakeholders. It covers short-, mid-, and long-term actions with the aim of having an engaged, motivated and healthy workforce, with the capacity, competence, and confidence to deliver services to the people of Wales.

Its implementation entails training, annual commissioning increases, innovative opportunities, a mentor network, flexible working and more.

Ainsley Bladon, our Strategic Mental Health Workforce Plan and Implementation Lead said of the award-winning plan “We are delighted to receive recognition for the partnership working approach between HEIW and Social Care Wales. We are already seeing the positive impacts of the plan, and we hope to deliver real improvements that strengthen our mental health workforce over the coming years”.

https://heiw.nhs.wales/workforce/strategic-mental-health-workforce-plan/