pdf Psychological Professions Workforce Strategy

The West Yorkshire & Harrogate Psychological Professions’ Workforce Strategy aims to identify and meet the challenges facing the psychological professions now and in the future, including the targets set in the Five Year Forward View and the NHS Long Term Plan.   In order to contribute in a meaningful way to the ‘reset and recovery’ agenda and to ‘building back fairer’ after the Covid pandemic, we need to have a comprehensive understanding of our diverse workforce to support effective planning. 

Our ambition is to embed psychological knowledge and practice across the whole health and care system.  Our psychological professions workforce spans mental health, community, acute, primary care, social care, independent and the third sector services. This strategy proposes that the first phase of the work will focus on the NHS workforce prioritising a comprehensive gap analysis; career development and expansion plans; enhancing and embedding psychological leadership in the commissioning, development and operation of services. 

An additional strand of the project is to work with colleagues in the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Sector to understand their workforce challenges in the provision of NHS services and ways of working together to maximise the impact of our provision to meet the increasing demand for psychological therapies and psychologically informed care.

We are committed to developing a workforce which reflects the communities that we serve. Representation and inclusion are key, as is ensuring that the services we provide meet the diverse needs of our communities.