The workforce to deliver the service

It is important for Nutrition and Dietetic services to consider the staffing to best deliver the quality service commissioners require.

This will require the need for services to consider:

skill mix of the service including the most appropriate grades of staff to deliver a quality, efficient, effective service within the required budget
Staffing ratios including the ratios of qualified to unqualified staff
Staff availability at different times across a 7 day period to deliver the services if this included as a requirement in the service specification
Staff development and what this may entail to progress the delivery of a service

Benchmarking^[1] can also be helpful when considering the staffing levels required to deliver a specific service.

Suggested dietetic staffing levels are provided for some clinical specialities the BDA caseload management toolkit.^[2]

[1] http://ahp.dh.gov.uk/2012/08/31/setting-the-benchmark-for-ahp-services/

[2] Caseload management toolkit: Suggested dietetic staffing levels for adult dietetic services, British Dietetic Association May 2012