The NHS stands at a crossroads. Workforce planning, long overlooked, is no longer about simply filling gaps – it’s about building a resilient, adaptable system that prioritises patient care, staff well-being, and long-term sustainability.
In 2025, we have the chance to lay the groundwork for meaningful change. But to achieve true transformation, we need to think beyond just this year. This is a vision for what workforce planning can be, both now and in the future. The possibility of a truly transformative approach that reimagines how we plan, allocate, and support our most critical resource: people.
2025: Practical workforce trends to watch
Know your resource
- What’s happening: Many trusts and services now see the importance of understanding their workforce and engaging teams in planning processes.
- Why it matters: In order to utilise your resources effectively, you first need to know what you have. You also need everyone involved to make the process work.
Data-driven decision making
- What’s happening: Trusts are starting to embrace predictive analytics and robust management information to align staffing levels with patient demand.
- Why it matters: Accurate planning and forecasts prevent overstaffing during quiet periods and understaffing during peaks, reducing stress and improving efficiency.
SWAS, not SAAS
- What’s happening: Trusts and services are realising that tools alone aren’t enough – they often add complexity, feature bloat, and time burdens.
- Why it matters: Moving from Software as a Service (SAAS) to Software with a Service (SWAS) is about getting external expertise to accelerate change. SWAS breaks the cycle of adopting tools that aren’t fully utilised by addressing time, capacity, and capability gaps.
Flexibility for all
- What’s happening: The push for flexible working options is gaining momentum, recognising that flexibility isn’t just a perk but a necessity for retention and recruitment.
- Why it matters: Flexibility reduces burnout and attracts a younger, diverse workforce while meeting the operational needs of the NHS.
Integrating social care
- What’s happening: Partnerships between healthcare and social care providers are being strengthened to improve patient flow and reduce bed-blocking.
- Why it matters: Better discharge processes and community care coordination free up capacity in hospitals and improve outcomes for patients.
Workforce well-being as a priority
- What’s happening: Trusts are embedding mental health and wellness support into workforce strategies.
- Why it matters: Addressing moral injury and creating manageable workloads improves retention and ensures clinicians can provide safe, effective care.
Ethical use of technology
- What’s happening: Automation and AI tools are being introduced to streamline administrative tasks, ensuring clinicians can focus on patient care.
- Why it matters: Technology enhances productivity without dehumanising the patient experience or overwhelming staff.
The big shift: From SAAS to SWAS
Trusts are coming to terms with the importance of workforce planning in an ethical and sustainable way. They are also recognising the need to ask for help. SWAS offers a model of consultancy that isn’t about endless recommendations.
Instead, it’s about rolling up sleeves and implementing real change. By addressing immediate barriers like time, capacity, and capability, SWAS helps trusts accelerate progress while leaving them with the skills and tools to sustain it independently.
This shift is key, not for cost-cutting, but for balance – prioritising patient safety, staff well-being, and productivity.
Beyond 2025: A vision for transformative workforce planning
While 2025 is about laying the foundations – building sustainable processes, improving management information, and embracing SWAS – true transformation will require workforce planning to become operationally useful.
Imagine a future where workforce planning is not just a static exercise but a ‘living, breathing process’ that adapts to the needs of the moment. A future where every trust operates a dynamic staffing control centre, ensuring the right resources are in the right place, at the right time.
Here’s what that future could look like:
Operational workforce planning: At the heart of this transformation is a fundamental shift: From workforce planning as an annual, administrative task to workforce planning as a dynamic, operational tool.
Currently, workforce planning is disconnected from day-to-day operations. Job planning happens annually, based on what individuals say they will do, while rostering is done weeks or months in advance, often becoming obsolete due to shift swaps or unforeseen changes. There is no meaningful connection between planned and actual activity, leaving trusts unable to pivot quickly when faced with new challenges.
Take COVID-19 as an example. When the pandemic struck, workforce plans became irrelevant overnight. Trusts had to manually rework deployment, consuming countless hours just to ensure safe staffing levels. This reactive approach is unsustainable.
The Requirement for Change: To truly transform, workforce planning must evolve to:
- Bridge planned and actual: Systems must link job planning, rostering, and real-time activity data, enabling trusts to quickly identify gaps and reallocate resources.
- Enable dynamic adaptability: Replace static schedules with flexible systems that allow rapid adjustments, supported by up-to-date management information.
- Combine prediction and real-time insights: Use predictive analytics for long-term planning and integrate real-time data to refine decisions on the fly.
Integrated platforms: To achieve this, trusts need integrated platforms that provide real-time visibility into staffing, patient needs, and resource allocation. A single, intuitive dashboard can bring together job plans, rosters, and live activity data, enabling leaders to make informed decisions confidently.
Skill-based staffing: With operational workforce planning in place, the NHS can move toward skill-based staffing. Advanced algorithms will match staff skill sets to tasks, ensuring the right clinician is deployed at the right time to deliver high-quality care.
Holistic staff support: Ultimately, a sustainable workforce system must also prioritise staff well-being. Dynamic workforce planning should not only address patient demand but also support mental health, career development, and work-life balance. When staff thrive, the entire NHS thrives, delivering better outcomes for patients and retaining talent for the long term.
This possible new world is not a pipe dream. With organisation, external help, and a focus on first principles, it is achievable without budget-breaking investment.
The journey starts now
2025 will be a year of change, but it should also be a year of preparation. By focusing on immediate priorities like flexible working, data-driven planning, and well-being, the NHS can lay the groundwork for a more sustainable future.
Beyond 2025, we can build a system that doesn’t just survive crises – it prevents them. A system where every staff member is supported, every patient receives the care they need, and every trust operates at its best.
The NHS of the future is within reach. All it takes is the courage to start building it today.
Phil Bottle is the managing director of SARD.
