Staffing level (workload) tools and methodology

Under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, NHS Scotland services must be appropriately staffed. 

A suite of staffing level tools is available to help NHS Scotland services plan the number of staff they need. The purpose of each tool is to provide information and recommendations on staffing levels based on workload.


Toolkits

There are 12 tools available for use in nursing and midwifery:

  • One of the tools, Emergency care provision, is multi-disciplinary and is suitable for medics.
  • 10 of the tools are specialty specific and workload based.
  • The Professional Judgement (PJ) Tool is used alongside all other tools. This tool can also be used in areas where no specialty specific tool exists.
  • The Quality Tool is used alongside the “3Cs” tools. These are:
    • Community nursing
    • Community children’s and specialist nursing (CCSN)
    • Clinical nurse specialist (CNS) tools

Access all of our toolkits.

Quality assurance and reporting

Find out more about quality assurance and reporting.

Real-time staffing resources

We are working to develop a suite of real-time staffing (RTS) resources for key service areas.

Common staffing method

These tools are part of the mandated Common Staffing Method (CSM).

NHS Scotland services with a specialty specific tool have a duty under the act to use the CSM to inform safe and effective staffing.

Knowledge and skills framework for health and care staffing in Scotland

You and your team should access this framework and supporting learning resources on TURAS before commencing a tool run.

We recommend that all staff complete the ‘informed level’. We recommend that Team Leaders also complete the ‘skilled level’.