A phased mental health workforce development programme across a whole ICS footprint
A two-phase programme building the workforce plan and delivery capability for community and inpatient mental health services across the Frimley system.
Frimley Health and Care ICS
System-level mental health workforce programme
Whole ICS · community and inpatient mental health services
Multi-year, two-phase programme
Rising demand, constrained supply, and no shared system plan
Frimley Health and Care ICS faced the well-known pattern in mental health - rising demand across community services, complex acuity in inpatient pathways, and workforce supply that was not growing anywhere near fast enough to match. Individual providers had their own plans; the system as a whole did not.
The ICS needed a mental health workforce plan that worked across community and inpatient services, aligned to the Long Term Plan expectations, and grounded in the reality of the workforce that could plausibly be recruited, retained and developed inside the timescale.
A programme built in two phases - plan first, capability second
We designed the programme in two connected phases. Phase 1 built the mental health workforce plan itself - demand and supply modelling across professional groups, scenario analysis, and a strategic prioritisation of the shifts the system needed to make.
Phase 2 developed the internal capability to hold and refresh the plan - working alongside the ICS workforce team and provider workforce leads to embed the planning method, the data flows and the governance rhythm that would keep the plan live rather than static.
How the programme was delivered
Phase 1 - the plan
Modelling and strategy
Demand and supply modelling across mental health professional groups, scenario analysis across community and inpatient services, and a system-level prioritisation of workforce interventions - producing an integrated mental health workforce plan for the ICS.
Phase 2 - the capability
Embedding
Working alongside the ICS workforce team and provider workforce leads to embed the planning method into a repeatable annual cycle, with clear data flows, roles, decision points and governance.
What changed
A shared plan
A mental health workforce plan owned across the ICS and providers, aligned to Long Term Plan requirements and grounded in a realistic view of workforce supply.
Live planning capability
An internal capability to hold and refresh the plan, rather than an external plan handed over as a one-off deliverable.
A repeatable method
A workforce planning method that could be reapplied to other service lines across the ICS.
Services delivered
Mental health workforce planning · System-level workforce strategy · Capability building · Planning cycle design and embedding
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