Even though primary and community care managers face the same challenges as their hospital counterparts they’ve never had an equivalent range of methods for evaluating workforce size and mix. So this book aims to set the record straight by explaining community demand and supply side workforce planning and development. Eight chapters set out the main variables, from dependency and workload, activity and performance, staff education, recruitment and retention, before the most recent data are synthesised into a set of software-supported algorithms that managers can easily adopt.

The book and software enable readers to not only compare their organisations with those in the same socio-economic group but also against ‘best-practice’ staffing and performance. Both help managers determine if their stock of workers is equitable, efficient and effective. Finally, a large annotated bibliography helps users locate relevant publications, and readers should look out for workshops in 2006 designed take them through the book’s methods.

Keith Hurst is the author of Primary Care Trust Workforce: Planning and Development, published by Wiley.