These postcards - short thought pieces - raise challenges for workforce planners. Experts from the CfWI and our partners explore key themes. To discuss these themes, or comment on a postcard, follow the links to our discussion forums, register and start posting.

• ECP development pays big dividends in emergency care

  

  Robert Standfield (Skills for Health)

  Normally, over 75 per cent of 999 calls to the ambulance service result in admission to an emergency department. However, evidence at South Central...

• Healthcare productivity in a tough financial climate

  

  Ian Wheeler (Skills for Health)

  The formation of the coalition government in 2010 has reinforced the need for the health sector to find new ways of providing high-quality...

• New templates provide flexibility boost to healthcare roles

  

  Andrew Butcher (Skills for Health)

  Experience in trusts throughout the UK shows that new multi-disciplinary support roles at both assistant and advanced practitioner level can make...

• Profiling the community, academic and industrial pharmacy workforce in the East of England

  

  Jack Turner (CfWI)

  Although data is available on the NHS pharmacy workforce, this is not the case for other pharmacy sectors. The issue is a significant one; the 2008...

• Is every cost a workforce cost?

  

  Dave Waghorn (CfWI)

  It is frequently stated that around 70 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on workforce. However, in workforce planning terms, we need to think...

• Personalisation service redesign: Have we got the right skills mix?

  

  Jim Thomas (Skills for Care)

  There are only so many ways you can cut a cake before you have to think through whether or not you have actually included the right ingredients. If...