KSF Steering Group minutes – 19th February 2009

Venue: Boardroom, NHS 24, Clydebank, Glasgow

In attendance: Fiona Allan, Lewis Berston, Ken Brown, Anne Campbell, Birgit Clark, Kirsty Cole, Anne-Marie Greene, June Livingstone, Ross McCulloch, Paul McGuire, Evelyn O’Neil, Kevin Reith

Apologies: Alison Aitken, Helen Cheyne, Lynn Cowan, Anne Inglis, Tracy McBurnie, Sandra-Dee Masson, Sharon Millar

1.  Welcome and housekeeping

Anne Campbell welcomed everyone and detailed the plan for the meeting.

2.  Notes of previous meeting

The notes from the previous meeting held on Wednesday 19th November 2008 were agreed.

3.  Matters arising

KSFG

AC informed everyone that Janet Thacker is the new KSF Lead for England. Janet works with NHS Employers.

SHA networks have been re-established in England and the next KSFG meeting in April will be a joint meeting with the SHA Leads. The SHA Leads are keen to hear the experience from the other countries.

4.  HEAT target 2009

AC stated that the Information that each Board provided for the meeting with SWAG is also being used to provide a progress update for KSF for the mid year Board reviews. AC will be providing information to Jacqui Jones, Interim Deputy Director of Workforce on Board performance towards meeting the target. As several Boards were still reporting very low percentages on staff with PDPs, it was likely that Jacqui would be in contact with those Boards.

June Livingstone explained she has undertaken random checks on the progress figures which have been submitted by Directorates and the findings so far have been consistent with what has been reported.

AC reminded everyone that there are exclusions from the baseline. If Boards wish their baseline to be re-calculated then they need to provide AC/AMG with a breakdown of their figure as soon as possible so that their baseline can be adjusted accordingly.

The next HEAT target states that at least 80% of AfC staff are to have a review completed and recorded on e-KSF by the end of March 2011. The percentage of 80% has been set to take into account the difficulty of achieving 100% within a fluctuating workforce. There will be no exclusions on the next target. There was discussion on TUPE staff and whether they were to be included in Boards figures. AC stated that the TUPE employer was responsible for ensuring that staff have a KSF review and as the figures relate to the Board these staff would not be included. AC informed everyone that employers with TUPE staff can however use e-KSF.

A query was raised regarding the using the complete on paper option on e-KSF. AC stated that as there may be practical issues to be resolved in terms of access to e-KSF then the use of this option can be made available. It may be however that, in time, reasons for continuing to use this option within a Board could be subject to audit.

AC stated that national reporting will take place quarterly and the figures will be pulled from e-KSF centrally. The first figures generated from e-KSF will be checked with the e-KSF Administrator at each Board to ensure that there is consistency of content.

5.  Gateways

There was discussion on issues around activating Gateways. At the moment the Good Practice Guidance on Gateways that was prepared by KSF Leads and issued in June 2007 still stands. It was noted that some concerns were being raised locally by staff side. AC agreed that this issue would be further discussed at the next meeting.

6.  e-KSF contract update

AC stated that the new contract will be signed off by 1st April 2009 and will be for 3 years. There is a provision within the contract for a potential roll on of two years. The new contract with the Prime Supplier, Methods Consulting Ltd, does not include any additional funding for developments. However, part of the Prime Supplier role is to look at value for money from current processes with a view to perhaps freeing resource for system development. Future developments will be managed and agreed through a new change control process.

7. KSF networking 2009/10

Discussion took place on the future role of the KSF Leads network in supporting KSF implementation in light of KSF becoming more mainstreamed within Boards.. It was noted that the national team roles had been extended until March 2010.

AC stated that the meetings that are scheduled for this year would continue and that perhaps we need to consider if other stakeholders should be invited.

There was also discussion around the need for KSF Leads to maintain links with e-KSF and inform the future development of the system. Agreed to add this item to the agenda for the next meeting. Kevin Reith has also agreed to share his experience of the reporting functionality within e-KSF that is being received well by Senior Managers at NHS 24.

8.  NES projects

ACS project

AC gave brief report on the pilots looking at the core skills required by Administrative staff within Administrative and Support Services project. The initial project report has identified 5 key skill areas which have been linked to KSF dimensions, levels and indicators. This still has to be discussed with the Project Steering Group. It is intended that the content of the core skills report may form the basis of a core curriculum for any educational or training programmes for this group of staff.

9.  KSF Revalidation

AC updated the group on the national (UK) project looking at the feasibility of using the KSF to support professional revalidation or continuing fitness to practise. Key points from the study highlighted the difficulty of mapping regulatory body standards to KSF, the issue of professional conduct and the concern that the focus of KSF might be lost. It was acknowledged that the evidence gathering process used within KSF could also provide useful evidence for revalidation. However the interim findings suggest that further work needs to be done involving the relevant stakeholders before further recommendations are made. AC will keep group informed of any further developments.

10.  AOCB

WEA – KSF essentials courses

AC referred to the letter from NES regarding WEA KSF essentials courses. NES has provided funding from the ACS project to support a limited trial of these courses. There was discussion on this.

Local Managers guide

The SHA network in England has produced a Local Managers guide for KSF and AC circulated for information.

Using outlines for recruitment

June Livingstone queried how other Boards were using outlines in relation to recruitment. June stated that NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde are trying to adopt the policy of not advertising without a post outline but are in discussion with recruitment at the moment. Evelyn O’Neil stated that NHS Fife send post outlines to all applicants. Paul McGuire stated that NHS Forth Valley are not including outlines at the moment. Kevin Reith stated that at NHS 24 Managers must have an outline approved before advertising but they are not sending them out to applicants. There was a discussion on this issue.

11.  Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on Friday 1st May in the Boardroom at NHS 24, Clydebank, Glasgow from 10.30 am. This meeting is open to all KSF Leads.