1 National Occupational StandardsNational Occupational Standards are currently being developed. The article below is by Sarah May, the Executive Head of Strategy at the Institute of Biomedical Science and is published here as a helpful summary of what is currently happening.
National Occupational Standards are currently being developed. The article below is by Sarah May, the Executive Head of Strategy at the Institute of Biomedical Science and is published here as a helpful summary of what is currently happening.
It has been copied from the IBMS Website at www.ibms.org
NATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS UPDATE
The National Occupational Standards for Healthcare Scientists project has been ongoing for almost two years and is now little more than two years from full implementation. Despite the size of this project and the impact it will have on every biomedical scientist, both the concept and the mechanism for operation remain poorly understood. With the project poised to enter the field testing phase it is vitally important that this powerful human resources tool is recognised as the means by which job evaluation and subsequent career progression will be determined.
In order to understand the purpose and nature of National Occupational Standards (NOS) it is perhaps easier to first define what they are NOT. NOS are not procedures, protocols, processes, tasks, actions or work instructions although these are all incorporated into them. Occupational standards are based on outcomes, or the measurement of outcomes against national, pre-defined standards. They each describe a discrete work activity with a defined purpose and context and are delivered as a series of functional statements against which are set the common measures of competence. Each of the standards aims to capture the decision making process, the knowledge required and the judgement applied.
The project work to date has focussed on the scoping and development of 63 individual sets of standards. These resulting National Occupational Standards (NOS) are sub-grouped into the generic areas applicable to the whole of the Healthcare Science workforce or into any one of the three main divisions of the workforce based on primary function (Life Sciences, Physiological Sciences, and Engineering & Physical Sciences). Biomedical scientists naturally fall into the Life Sciences group and specific occupational standards have been developed for each of the individual disciplines.
Some of the terminology that relates to NOS is used in a context and manner that may be unfamiliar to many individuals. It is important to dispel any misunderstanding concerning the nature and sequence of events that will precede and facilitate implementation. Before full implementation can be accomplished the standards first have to be field tested and piloted. These are two distinct and separate exercises that are fundamentally different in nature and purpose. Field testing is essentially a paper exercise by which participating sites relate the relevant generic and discipline specific standards to all grades of healthcare staff within a given department and determine if they accurately describe what people do. A successful set of standards should cover all work undertaken by all grades and groups of staff. Piloting of the standards involves the actual assessment of performance of individuals, and teams, against the agreed product of the field testing exercise.
The NOS project operates to a tight and non-negotiable timetable that is now about to enter a new phase. The generic and discipline-specific workshops have completed the work needed to produce the standards and notification has been sent to trusts inviting them to participate in the field testing of the standards. This part of the project will be done in two waves, each of three month's duration that commence in October 2002 and complete by the end of March 2003. At this point the comments and observations of the field test participants will be analysed and collated by the project managers to enable further refinement of the standards.
Once the standards are complete they will be held on a database and available on a CD ROM for easy access. The standards will be accompanied by a separate knowledge database that incorporates all the 'need to know' elements that underpin the standards. These will include training programmes, protocols, manuals and any information sources that provide the knowledge base. The outcome of the NOS project should map directly across to the knowledge skills framework behind Agenda for Change that will subsequently be used for job evaluation and subsequent career progression.
Since the launch of the NHS Plan much talk has been of change, although to most biomedical scientists there is little tangible evidence. The NHS Plan formed the blueprint for the future delivery of NHS healthcare. The means by which these changes will occur are the subject of the numerous working groups, projects and sub-plans that have subsequently been spawned. Some of these are initiatives in their own right, but a large number are part of a 'jigsaw puzzle' of changes. Such is the status of the NOS project in parallel with the job evaluation process necessary for Agenda for Change, the implementation of the Healthcare Scientists' Strategy, HR in the NHS Plan and Pathology Modernisation. The NOS project will also complement the regulatory requirements of the Health Professions Council, particularly in respect of the need to demonstrate competence to practise.
The emphasis of the NOS programme is purported to be 'flexibility' and it will eventually be used to address alternative ways of meeting educational standards. This is very much in accord with the vision of a 'skills escalator' and progression achieved by the acquisition of specific and demonstrable skills and competencies.
One criticism of the NOS project is the limited amount of information that is forthcoming on the project and how it will operate. The importance of field testing cannot be overstated. This offers the opportunity to scrutinise each standard in the context of the working environment against each of the grades of staff who deliver the service. Criticism is important and constructive to enable the project to move forward to the pilot phase. All field test sites should look at all the generic standards in conjunction with the discipline specific standards. It is likely that the results of field testing will lead to a further refining of the standards to produce more for the support grades, rather than having their role implicit in a broader standard.
Whilst field testing is taking place work will begin on devising the assessment criteria, which will be the means by which competence and performance against a specific standard are assessed. There will be a common framework for performance assessment across all disciplines. Performance of functions accompanied by the necessary knowledge and skills will eventually lead to the development of common training schemes across disciplines.
From the 'pool' of graded competencies, individual competencies will be selected as the requirements for different jobs or different roles. They will be used to form not only the basis of training programmes but also job descriptions and person specifications that specify the desired and essential competencies required for a specific job or purpose. They will also permit the identification of the competencies required for each part of a career pathway. All healthcare practitioners must be fit for purpose and competent to practise. NOS are intended to simplify staff development and offer innovative ways of working.
The Institute will be collating comments received from members who are participating in the field testing exercise. Please email alanwainwright@ibms.org if you are involved in field testing.
2 Agenda for ChangeApology.
Apology.
Further explanation
Details on holiday entitlement are contained in the new Handbook which has yet to be finalised. It must be assumed at this point that one week's holiday will be interpreted as 5 days leave. There will in addition be 8 public holidays. Time off in lieu of overtime pay should also be available to further enhance holiday entitlement for all grades up to 7 and arrangements to suite the circumstances for those in grade 8.
The protection of pay has not been finalised. We are still pressing for the Early Implementers to be protected for as long as those in the full role out. The DoH already acknowledge that something will have to be done for those on protection who are approaching retirement age. These are matters yet to be determined.
The final meeting of the negotiating group will not be until 17th January at which point these unresolved issues should be settled.