Local Medical Workforce Advisory Groups (LMWAG) were set up following publication of EL(96)68. The purpose of LMWAGs as stated in paragraph 3 of the circular was:
This resulted in the formation of 10 LMWAGs in England. The West Midlands LMWAG took several steps to achieve this goal.
The LMWAG's were wound up in 2001 and there functions absorbed in the Workforce Development Confederation Group Membership.
Membership of LMWAG comprised 21 individuals of whom 18 were medical practitioners. The Chairman and Vice Chairman throughout were Dr Peter Leopard and Dr Rowland Hopkins. Andrew Butcher was the Chief Executive and Martyn Howell the Administrator, Victoria Tishler was Research Associate from Spring 1998 toWinter 1998 and Susan Hamilton who was the Research Associate from Winter 1998 to January 2001
Monitoring Trust Medical Staffing
In April 1997, the WM LMWAG considered the value of the information in the medical census provided by the NHS Executive as a means of examining Trust's staffing arrangements. It concluded that the information provided was of little use as the information is typically 18 months old before it is available, the speciality breakdown was inappropriate, and the detail provided was insufficient to make judgements on quality issues.
As a result, the WM LMWAG decided that more accurate information must be collected for medical staff in different specialties. In order to achieve this goal, the WM LMWAG examined the numbers of medical staff in post for individual specialties on three separate occasions, 31st December 1997, 31st March 1998 and 31st March 1999. Trusts falling in the 10% decile for three categories; the ratio of consultants to all grades, consultants to training grades, and consultants to staff grades, were identified. Details of all staff in post and Trust falling in the 10% were sent to all Trusts in the West Midlands.
The WM LMWAG considered that the 10% decile is not a comprehensive enough mechanism for identifying potential problems, and recognised that there would a great benefit in examining the data in more detail. As a result, each set of data has been analysed by a WM LMWAG subcommittee and areas of potential concern identified. These included a low ratio of consultants to other grades, a high dependency on staff grades, single handed consultants and long term use of locums. Any concerns arising from the data have been raised with Medical Directors of Trusts. Responses were considered by the committee and further action taken if appropriate. Details of the data collection round on the 31st December 1997 can be found in 'Medical Workforce Planning - National Issues and Practice in the West Midlands (view using Adobe Acrobat).
Monitoring Business Plans
As part of the assesment of the quality and level of workforce planning in the West Midlands, the WM LMWAG assesses the medical workforce planning component of Trust's business plans. The review revealed a lack of medical workforce planning and as a result LMWAG developed and recommended to Trusts a framework. The framework is detailed in Network 2.
Research
The WM LMWAG employed a Research Associate to co-ordinate data collection and research into specific topics that WM LMWAG has an interest in.
This has resulted in a report 'Medical Workforce Planning - National Issues and Practice in the West Midlands', which reviewed the background to workforce planning, the organisations involved and current situation and details of workforce planning in the West Midlands in 1998.
One of the topics highlighted in the report was that of flexible working, which resulted in a survey of policies and attitudes of Trusts in the West Midlands to employing career grade flexible doctors. Results of Flexible Working in Medicine were distributed to all Trusts and Health Authorities giving recommendations of improvements of flexible working arrangements. The results were also published in a paper in the BMJ Careers Focus.
The WM LMWAG has also undertaken data collections of doctors in the West Midlands. The results were widely distributed, and the data formed the basis of a publication in the Journal of Management in Medicine and analysis for local use.
Developing Links with Other Organisations
WM LMWAG developed links with a wide range of organisations with an interest in medical workforce planning . These include:
Working together with these organisation has resulted in WM LMWAG informing central workforce planning about local issues, investigating the possiblilities for intergrating the medical and non-medical workforce planning, sharing data, and enhancing co-operation of the West Midlands workforce planning bodies.