FAQ: Do Choice numbers factor in leave?

Question: Hi! I wonder if you would kindly answer a question about the CAPA model that is causing some confusion here. The confusion surrounds a practitioner’s choice and partnership in the quarter when they are on holiday.

 Q: If a practitioner has 15 choices to undertake in a quarter and they go on holiday, do they still have to do all 15 choices in that quarter? If they still have to do all 15 Choices, should they be made up in that quarter or the next?

 Hope this makes sense!

 Answer: Hi! OK first to answer a question you didn’t ask (!). The partnership numbers are based on job plan and the multiplier of 3 already accounts for holidays so whatever their number is, that is what clinicians need to do.

 However this isn’t the case for choice. Choice can be organised however suits the team and is reasonable and doable.

 The top rule is that total number of choice offered must equal what is required for the whole team. This total number can be divided up amongst the team in a number of ways:

•  A quota per person – either prorata, based on FTE, or same number each (or another way!). E.g. a team needs 100 Choice and has 10 FTE. This equals 10 per FTE per quarter. So a 0.5 FTE would need to offer 5 in the quarter (next 3 months).
  The number that this produces then is job planned. E.g. if 10 per Q and each choice takes say 2 hrs including admin then 10 x 2 = 20 hours / 13 weeks = about 1.5 hours per week in job plan.
• A fixed weekly rota e.g. 1 every week there (= 11.5 per Q – accounting for leave). This does factor in leave as there would not be an expectation to do choice when on leave or to make up when back.

It’s whatever suits the team and delivers the right number so leave doesn’t come into it directly.

 Cheers

 Steve