NHS trusts are still not fully utilising a flagship staff training and development tool, three years after its launch.
NHS Employers, health service trade unions and the Department of Health have launched a new drive to ensure that the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) is fully embedded across the service.
The KSF includes an annual system of review and development for staff, an agreed method of pay progression and is a mandatory strand of the Agenda for Change pay scheme.
Concerns have been raised by both unions and employers this year that the full benefits of KSF were not being realised, according to Alastair Henderson, deputy director of NHS Employers.
“The KSF is an important tool both to help organisations deliver their objectives and to support staff in their development,” he said.
“The message is that implementing the KSF need not be a burden – keep it simple and you will get results.”
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Mike Jackson, senior national officer at Unison, said there were contrasts to be made between organisations that had fully utilised KSF, and those that had not.
“We are starting to see direct correlations of better staff morale and quality of results for patients at trusts that have implemented KSF, and trusts that are poor performing and have not,” he said.
