Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN00186

To:

• Integrated care boards (ICBs):
  • chief executives
  • chief operating officers
  • chairs
  • chief people officers/human resource (HR) directors
• Trusts:
  • chief executives
  • chief operating officers
  • chief people officers/HR directors
• CSU managing directors

cc.

• Regional:
  • directors
  • directors of nursing
  • heads of emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR)

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial Action – 6-7 February and 9-10 February: Pre-action assurance, cancer services, rescheduled activity, and workforce situation report (SitRep) data collections

Workforce and rescheduled activity situation report (SitRep) data collections via Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS)

NHS England will conduct two SitRep data collections on the SDCS data collection tool in light of industrial action (IA) planned for the week commencing 6 February.

The workforce and activity impacts of the following industrial action will be in scope:

• GMB (8 Ambulance Trusts) and Unite (four Ambulance Trusts) on 6 February and the morning of 7 February
•  Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members on 6 and 7 February at 73 Trusts (including 6 Ambulance Trusts)
• GMB members at East Suffolk and North Essex, and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trusts on 6 February, and at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust on 7 February
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) members on 9 February at 32 Trusts
• Unison members at five Ambulance Trusts on 10 February

These SitRep collections are:

1. An IA workforce SitRep

This will collect information the next working day from all organisations where staff are taking industrial action. This SitRep will collect numbers of staff taking part in the IA, and total numbers of staff due to be at work.

This workforce data will be collected on 8 February from affected Trusts for each of the two days of IA (6-7 February).

The workforce data will be collected again on 10 February from only the 32 affected Trusts for the day of CSP industrial action (9 February).

The workforce data will be collected again on 13 February from only the five affected Ambulance Trusts for the day of Unison IA (10 February).

2. An IA rescheduled activity SitRep

This will collect information on elective inpatient and outpatient activity that has been rescheduled as a result of IA in all acute trusts, and details of activity rescheduled in all community and mental health trusts.

This collection will run on four occasions – on 3, 8, 10, and 13 February – to provide an estimate of impact, initial figures for the impact of action on 6 and 7 February, and then to provide impact of the CSP and Unison action.

On each occasion we will be asking for figures on rescheduled activity for the seven-day period of 5 February to 11 February inclusive.

Notes

Resubmissions will only be needed for the rescheduled collections on 8, 10, and 13 February if the data has changed from the previous submission, and the new submission will overwrite the previous submission (e.g., if the first submission reported 100 rescheduled appointments, and then a further 2 were found to have been rescheduled after the original submission, then the revised submission would need to show 102 rescheduled appointments).

Although the rescheduled collections will be open on 10 and 13 February for all trusts, this is primarily to allow the 32 Trusts affected by CSP IA on 9 February and the five Ambulance Trusts impacted by Unison IA on 10 February to update their position, and there is no requirement for unaffected trusts to upload again on these dates.

A schedule highlighting which data will be collected on each of the upcoming dates are included at Annex A.

How we will use the information

Data from the collections prior to each day of industrial action will be used to understand the anticipated position, inform local conversations on derogations, and help NHSE target regional support and follow-up – it will not be published. Highlights of the data collected on 8, 10, 3 and 13 February will confirm the summary position following each period of industrial action and be published.

It is important that all relevant Trusts submit data returns so we can fully understand the impacts. Regional Operations Centre and the national SDCS team will follow up to ensure all relevant Trusts make returns.

Templates illustrating the data required for each submission are shown in Annexes C-F. More detailed guidance notes will be shared with registered submitters ahead of the first collection.

Submission requirements

Submissions will be made through the SDCS, and on any day that the collection is running we will open the collection at 09:00 and the deadline for submission will be 13:00 that day. The template will be available to download from SDCS from 09:00 on the day the collection is running.

Detail on the submitters list for each organisation is included at Annex B.

Pre-action assurance collections

Pre-action assurance for RCN and GMB strike action (Excel)

As previously, NHSE will request Acute, Community, and Mental Health Trusts affected by IA complete a pre-action readiness return and report their confidence in ability to provide key services safely on the days of industrial action.

This readiness template will be issued at 12:00 on 1 February via the National (NOC) and Regional Operations Centres (ROCs), with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 2 February.

The template will be re-issued on 2 February, with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 03 February; however, a return is only required if there has been a material change in circumstances since the first return.

Pre-action assurance for Ambulance industrial action on 06 – 07 February (Excel)

NHSE will again request Ambulance Trusts affected by GMB, Unite and RCN IA on 6-7 February to report their confidence in ability to provide critical services and the level of agreement on derogations in key service areas, using the previously issued Excel template.

Ambulance Trusts will also be asked to complete a second Excel spreadsheet that asks them to identify the impact of the simultaneous RCN and GMB IA at Acute, Community, and Mental Health Trusts on their services and any necessary mitigations to maintain Ambulance services.

This template will be issued at 12:00 on 1 February, with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 2 February. The template will be re-issued on 2 February, with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 3 February; however, a return is only required if there has been a material change in circumstances since the first return.

Pre-action assurance for Ambulance industrial action on 10 February (Excel)

The readiness template will also be issued to the five Ambulance Trusts affected by Unison IA on 10 February, using the previously used (standard) Excel template.

This readiness template will be issued at 12:00 on 08 February, with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 09 February.

Pre-action assurance for Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) industrial action (Excel)

NHS England will ask the 32 Trusts (only) affected by the IA to report their confidence in ability to provide critical services, using the previously issued Excel template.

This template will be issued at 12:00 on 7 February, with a deadline for return of 12:00 on 08 February.

Submission requirements for readiness assurance

Pre-action readiness assurance documents will be cascaded via NHS England’s National Operations Centre (NOC) and each Regional Operations Centre (ROC) to NHS Trusts and ICBs affected by the IA.
Our expectation is that the returns are completed by Operational and/or EPRR leads in Trusts affected by the IA.

Trusts are asked to complete the templates and to submit returns to their Regional Operations Centre.
If you have any questions, please contact your regional team.

Many thanks for your continued cooperation and support in providing this information and ensuring a high return rate.

Yours sincerely,
Stephen Groves, Director of NHS Resilience, NHS England.

Annex A – Schedule of data collections and assurance returns

• Weds 01/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#1) issued/Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • Pre action assurance for Acute, Community and Mental Health Trusts with RCN and/or GMB action (only) (#1) issued/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Thurs 02/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#1) return/ Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • Pre action assurance for Acute, Community and Mental Health Trusts with RCN and/or GMB action (only) (#1) return/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Thurs 02/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#2) issued/Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • Pre action assurance for Acute, Community and Mental Health Trusts with RCN and/or GMB action (only) (#2) issued/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Fri 03/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#2) return (only required if there has been a material change in circumstances since the first return)/Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • Pre action assurance for Acute, Community and Mental Health Trusts with RCN and/or GMB action (only) (#2) A (only required if there has been a material change in circumstances since the first return)/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Fri 03/02/2023
  • IA rescheduled sitrep for all Trusts (for the 7-day period of 05-11 Feb) collection/SDCS collection
• Sat 04/02/2023
  • No SDCS collections or assurance returns
• Sun 05/02/2023
  • No SDCS collections or assurance returns
• Mon 06/02/2023
  • No SDCS collections or assurance returns
• Tues 07/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for 32 Trusts with CSP action (only) issued (at 12:00)/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Weds 08/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for 30 CSP Trusts with CSP action (only) return/Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#3) issued/Excel via NOC and ROCs
  • IA workforce sitrep for 8 Ambulance Trusts (to cover action on 06 and 07 February)-SDCS collection
  • IA workforce sitrep for Acute, Community and Mental Health Trusts with RCN action and/or GMB action (to cover action on 06 and/or 07 February)/SDCS collection
  • IA rescheduled for all Trusts (for the 7-day period of 05-11 Feb) – will be open as resubmission to overwrite/SDCS collection
• Thurs 09/02/2023
  • Pre action assurance for Ambulance Trusts (#3) return/Excel via NOC and ROCs
• Fri 10/02/2023
  • IA workforce sitrep (for 32 Trusts impacted by CSP action on 09 February)/SDCS collection
  • IA rescheduled required for 32 CSP Trusts (will be open to all Trusts – as resubmission to overwrite / update figures if changed for the 7-day period of 05-11 Feb)/SDCS collection
• Sat 11/02/2023
  
  • No SDCS collections or assurance returns
• Sun 12/02/2023
  
  • No SDCS collections or assurance returns
• Mon 13/02/2023
  
  • IA workforce sitrep for the five Ambulance trusts with Unison action on 10 Feb/SDCS collection
  • IA rescheduled required for Trusts affected by Unison IA on 10 Feb (will be open to all Trusts as resubmission to overwrite / update figures if changed for the 7-day period of 05-11 Feb)/SDCS collection

Annex B – Data collection submitters

We will create submitters list for each organisation as per below.

Organisation type – source of submitter list:

• NHS acute trusts – we will use the same submitters as for previous IA collections.
• NHS ambulance trusts – we will use the same submitters as for previous IA collections.
• NHS community and mental health trusts – we will use the same submitters as for previous IA collections where the org has previously submitted, otherwise we will use submitters from the COVID daily SitRep.

If you want to make changes to the submitter list for your organisation, then please contact emergency.collections@nhs.net.

Please also contact this email address if you have any issues in accessing the return for your organisation.

Annex C – Workforce SitRep

Annex D – Rescheduled activity SitRep (acute trusts)

Annex E – Rescheduled activity SitRep (mental health and learning disability trusts)

Mental health and learning disability activity SitRep.

Annex F – Rescheduled activity SitRep (community services)

Community activity SitRep.