Job planning – a brief introduction for SAS doctors
The purpose, scope and effect of job planning
2008
1. Background
Participation in job planning is an agreed requirement under the new national terms and conditions of service for Associate Specialists and Specialty Doctors. Schedule 4 of the Terms and Conditions of Service refers.
2. Job planning – purpose
Broadly speaking, a job plan should be a prospective agreement that sets out a doctor’s duties, responsibilities and objectives for the coming year. In most cases, it will build upon the doctors existing NHS commitments. The act of planning should be a systematic activity designed to produce clarity of expectation for the Trust and doctor about the use of time and resources to meet individual and service objectives. All such plans are prospective in nature.
Job Planning should be undertaken in a spirit of partnership and balance the needs of patients, the Trust and the wider NHS with those of individual doctors. Within this context it is expected that all parties will participate openly in the process, and actively consider alternative ways of working, so as to enable service improvements to be introduced.
a. A prospective process
The job planning process needs to start by reviewing current activities in the light of future service needs; to question what the individual or team is doing and whether such activities will meet the future requirements of the population served. This may be supported by the use of activity records or diaries. The information gathered should be used to develop prospective job plans for teams and individuals. Where team job plans are developed these should be converted into individual job plans with the addition of personal objectives.
There is no single model for a job plan. They will take many forms, but all are expected to contain -
- The doctors main duties and responsibilities
- A schedule of commitments (where and when)
- Personal objectives and their relationship with wider service objectives
- The support and resources required to fulfil the agreed activities
b. Service development
The job planning process has a key role to play in creating more flexible NHS organisations, increasing capacity, improving resource utilisation, and measuring and enhancing productivity as well as helping to reduce any excessive working hours. The job planning process is an opportunity to look at current working practices and to consider alternatives to deliver high quality services. Where changes and improvements can be implemented quickly these should be built into the new job plans. Where it is not possible to do this, plans should be developed to make changes.
c. Objectives
The development and agreement of objectives is now part of the job planning process. Personal objectives will usually be developed during the appraisal discussion and then brought to the job plan review meeting for agreement and linking to service and corporate objectives, where appropriate. To enable objectives to be reached, there needs to be a realistic discussion and agreement about the resources required. It is for NHS organisations to decide how the appraisal and job planning processes are integrated.
4. An opportunity
The job planning process should be seen as an opportunity. It is an opportunity to think about the ways in which doctors’ work and the way services can be organised and provided. It is an opportunity to review at least annually the way the NHS organisation supports doctors and employs the skills of its entire staff. It is also an opportunity to make clear what the longer term strategic aims of the service are.