Initially there were five workstreams that fed into the All-Wales Nurse Staffing Programme :
Each workstream consisted of senior representatives from each Health Board / NHS Trust across Wales. The purpose of these workstream groups was to develop and test evidence-based workforce planning tools for their area of speciality.
Over the last 10 years extensive work has been undertaken by the workstream groups, to engage with thousands of nurses to develop and test the Welsh Levels of Care (patients acuity tool), identify quality indictors and those factors that need to be taken into account when using professional judgment, which when used together can be used to determine the right number and skill mix of staff needed to care for patients. Interim nurse staffing principles have also been devised for Health Visiting, District Nursing and Mental Health inpatients areas to assist and guide workforce planning within these areas.
Each workstream has developed a Welsh Levels of Care tool for their area of speciality which is used to measure patient acuity and dependency. These tools are used within Health Boards and Trusts the data has proved invaluable in workforce planning to calculate the right number and skill mix of nursing staff required to provide effective care for patients.
You can view the Welsh Levels of Care Tools for each area here:
The adult and paediatric workstreams were stood down in January 2023 as the work required to embed the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act into these areas had concluded and every Health board and Velindre NHS Trust is reporting under the legislation. The health visiting, district nurse and metal health workstream have been stood down as the work has been transferred to national forums.