The latest meeting of the NHSCB heard of plans to 'lift and shift' staff and discussed concerns about the gender and ethnic profile of its staff.
In what were presented as emergency measures the Board looks set to delay some management cuts until 2013-14 and may also recruit interim staff due to delays in the transition to new NHS structures. The NHSCB admitted that recruitment has not been as planned and may not have all staff in place by the time it takes on its full statutory responsibilities next April. The board's risk register rated the likelihood it may fail to be fully staffed by March 2013 as red even after mitigation actions.
One measure planned is the 'lift and shift' of existing NHS staff to job roles in the NHSCB with staff of particular skill sets or on particular pay grades being transferred en masse to the board. Given plans for less jobs in the new system the NHSCB would in the interim have to employ more staff than it can afford on its planned budget for the medium and longer term. This would signal another round of redundancies in 2013-14.
After that if posts remain unfilled interim managers could be hired.
The board also discussed concerns about the age gender and ethnic profile of its recruited staff finding that 97.1 per cent of staff appointed body by 30 July were classified as 'white British' and that people in their 50s accounted for 48.3 per cent of candidates.