Well where to start is the first question I’ve asked myself, as it would be amiss of me to talk about where things are now but cut out the backstory of the WRaPT journey – so to mix things up a bit let’s start with what’s happening now and work backwards.
It feels as though 2018 will be the most exciting year yet for WRaPT. With the focus on STPs and the agenda of integration, never before has the need for a strategic system wide workforce planning tool and process been more in demand. During the 2018/19 financial year, we will continue to work with the North West health and care systems, supporting them to develop their workforce strategies at a time of significant emphasis on having the right workforce, with the right skills, in the right place and at the right time across all providers of health and care. We will also look to continue the expansion of WRaPT implementation around other areas of the country, working with Health Education England both nationally and through the three other regional areas.
The tool itself is continually being developed to make sure it meets the needs of the systems we are working with and seek to work with. We look forward to releasing a new version late March and in getting there the team have worked closely with our software developers to bring users a new style tool which is much better aligned to modelling system workforce transformation and planning, offers users an even better user experience and enhanced functionality. With a constant eye on Information Governance, the tool will be compliant with GDPR and further strengthens our commitment to robust IG and data sharing.
A bit of history……..WRaPT of course is the Workforce Repository and Planning Tool and in 2013 was the brainchild of the then Director of Transformation at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust (Craig Barratt) and the Head of Workforce Transformation at Health Education England North West (Kirstie Baxter). Both believed that fundamental to successful strategic workforce planning was the availability of a tool that could tell the health and care system what their workforce looks like and enabled scenarios of change to be modelled. And so WRaPT was born. Now in its fourth year it has gone from being a development project to a service, offering not just the tool but a team with expertise in workforce planning and transformation and a range of products to help others to help themselves in using WRaPT.
The tool was first developed in-house by Lancashire Care NHS FT developers and the new version in late April will essentially be Version 3 and is being developed by 01 Group. The WRaPT Service has always been and continues to be hosted by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust and delivered in partnership with GE Healthcare Finnamore. We were recently shortlisted as finalists for an HSJ Partnership Award and were Highly Commended, which only strengthens our view that the operating model brings the best of the NHS and private sector together.
So finally, I hope that you find the website helpful and the resources supportive in your WRaPT journey. And even more I hope that you continue using WRaPT and your experience is improved with the new tool. In the Team, we think it can only get better.
Fiona