Managing the cost of the NHS workforce (Healthcare Financial Management Association, 16 May 2025)

Summary

Workforce accounts for two-thirds of the cost of the NHS. Its effective management is fundamental to productivity improvement and delivery of challenging cost improvement targets.

This briefing draws together the minimum expectations of NHS England as they relate to establishment and workforce cost control while providing case studies of good and bad practice drawn from across the United Kingdom. In a look to the future the briefing explores aspects of electronic patient record systems currently being developed that have the potential to enhance workforce cost management while improving patient safety and quality.

Content

This briefing sets out:

• the control objectives that the regulator expects to be in place 
• a practical guide to the controls that need to be in place to cover the setting of establishment, recruitment, temporary staff usage and reporting
• case studies of good and bad practice
• the impact that next generation electronic patient record (EPR) systems might have on rostering.