More understanding of care pathways to plan services and workforce

A better understanding of care pathways and how these might change is needed in order to plan service provision – and the workforce to deliver it.

For example, often the assumption is that nursing in the community will cost less. However, there are many factors that affect what work is needed: how long it will take for each patient, and the skills level needed to provide care (for example, travel time, shift patterns, availability of back-up and advice, re-engaging with the patient as the nurse enters the home each time). More information is needed about these factors to estimate the workforce required and therefore costs.

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.