Introduction

The tool

The support worker pastoral support quality self-assessment tool is designed to enable organisations to benchmark themselves against the core principles that underpin a high-quality pastoral support offer for support workers. These elements of practice are not specific to particular settings and will enable organisations to ascertain how they can build upon existing work done to promote support worker recruitment and retention, as well as improving staff experience.

The tool is structured by themes and is further broken down by phases. Elements of practice within phase 1 describe those interventions or actions that can enable the joining up of existing elements of organisational support. Elements of practice within phase 2 describe actions that can enable organisations to build upon great practice to deepen their impact. Elements of practice within phase 3 describe actions that constitute organisational best practice within the context of pastoral support for support workers.

How to use the tool

You should review each example that corresponds to an element of practice and rate your organisation accordingly using the RAG (Red Amber Green) rating scale. You can then review your ratings to ascertain what phase your organisation may be at for each element of practice, each theme and its support worker pastoral offer as a whole. Please note that the examples given are not exhaustive, and your organisation may have additional elements in place that are not cited within the tool. You may also wish to use the NHS Futures Healthcare Support Worker Programme platform as this workspace contains a wide range of best practice guidance and tools.

Although the tool is not specific to clinical settings, it is recommended that the tool is used in combination with complementary tools and resources to ensure actions and strategies are appropriate for the clinical area concerned. For example, in maternity services, organisations should also ensure they are utilising the Maternity support worker competency, education and career development framework as part of ongoing learning and development.

It is recommended that when using this tool to plan and design actions and interventions, you take a phased approach, eg implement all phase 1 elements before transitioning to phase 2 and 3. This will help to ensure that you take an iterative and measured approach to strengthening your pastoral support offer as part of a continuous improvement journey.

It is important to use the tool in the context of your organisation and identify what good looks like for your organisational circumstances. The tool is designed to be flexible to allow you to tailor it to your unique situation.

Who should use it

The tool can be used by anyone with responsibility for the recruitment, retention, education and pastoral support of support workers. It is recommended that completion of the tool is undertaken alongside the relevant clinical, human resources and workforce planning groups and involving a diverse range of colleagues to achieve best practice.

Each organisation’s approach will evolve based on the latest data and insights on key areas of challenge, and from continuous learning on what works. To measure progress, it is recommended that organisations revisit this tool every 6- to 12 months as part of the trust’s overarching governance processes.  

Whilst the tool has been developed for use at a provider level, adopting the standards listed in the assessment tool can also be utilised either at a regional or integrated care board/integrated care system level, as a way to celebrate best practice. The elements of practice identified could be the foundation of a regionally led quality mark or award.

If you have any questions about the tool, please contact england.nursingworkforce@nhs.net.

Pastoral support quality self-assessment tool

Download a Word version of the pastoral support quality self-assessment tool.

Publication reference: PRN00840