Governance of Flexible Working

The Governance of Flexible Working

The NHS relies on flexible working staff in order to deliver a quality and costefficient service to patients. NHS Professionals commissioned The Good Governance Institute to develop this series of  products to move forward thinking and understanding forward.

Flexible Workers Board Assurance Promp and Maturity Matrix 

Flexible working can mean the application of flexible working practices, including: part-time working, job sharing, flexitime, child friendly hours, etc. but also the way in which trusts achieve flexibility in their workforce to meet fluctuations in demand for services by using temporary staff, sometimes referred to as contingent workforce planning.

This briefing addresses the later definition and is targeted at Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS and Health and Wellbeing Board members and others planning and enabling healthcare improvement. It is intended to support debate around service quality, operations and planning in a precise and informed manner. The contents are drawn from the Good Governance Institute report ‘flexible workers in healthcare: issues for boards’

Many of the issues raised also have application for permanent staff and GGI advises boards to be assured they have in place a trust wide strategy in relation to all their staff.