Medical‐workforce planning: an art or science? The difficult problem of matching supply and demand

Abstract

Purpose

Illustrates how the NHS workforce‐review team looks at the area of medical workforce planning and some of the problems that planners face.

Design/methodology/approach

Describes a structure for workforce planning and examines some of the challenges workforce planners and those working in the human‐resources field face.

Findings

Argues that workforce planning is more than simply number crunching; it requires the application of both art and science skills.

Practical applications

Demonstrates how the workforce is calculated in terms of the need, demand and supply for the future.

Social implications

Highlights the important advantages, for individual organizations as well as for society as a whole, which can result from successful workforce planning.

Originality/value

Fills a gap in the literature about whether workforce planning is an art or science.

Citation

Parsons, D. (2010), "Medical‐workforce planning: an art or science? The difficult problem of matching supply and demand", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 36-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/09670731011060289