Key Messages and links to 14th October 2020

Welcome to Health Education England’s weekly stakeholder bulletin.

Weekly messages from HEE:

Dr Navina Evans joined HEE in October as our Chief Executive. Read Navina’s first stakeholder message – HEE Chief Executive

We are supporting all professions to rapidly grow to meet the needs of patients by:

Specialty recruitment webinar

A webinar is being held for doctors in training on Wednesday 21 October at 7pm to outline new guidance and timelines for specialty recruitment. The webinar will be hosted by Prof. Sheona MacLeod, Deputy Medical Director – Education Reform, Prof. Adrian Brooke, Deputy Medical Director – Workforce Alignment and National Speciality Recruitment Manager Clare Wright. Here’s the link to the webinar

Questions can be asked during the webinar through Slido, using event code #specialtywebinar

One career endless opportunities #Choose GP

Applications for Round 1 2021 GP specialty training open on the 2 November – 1 December 2020. Please ‘like’ and follow the #Choose GP Facebook page to keep up to date with news and views and please forward this information to any doctors who may be thinking about career options. Find out more about the GP National Recruitment Office (GPNRO). We also have a number of GPs and trainees who are able to help with local or general enquiries – Please email Daryl Barrett at gprecruitment@hee.nhs.uk to be put in touch.

Interim Foundation Pharmacist Programme update

More resources are being added to the Interim Foundation Pharmacist Programme (IFPP). This is a new HEE-funded education and training programme, designed to support the 2019/20 cohort of pre-registration pharmacists whose training and registration have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme also provides a unique opportunity to accelerate pharmacist early years’ education and training reform and supports delivery of the NHS People Plan for 2020/21.

HEE is providing free access to the new RPS Provisional Registrations Service Support Line. This is a dedicated support line for provisionally registered pharmacists, staffed by the RPS professional support team.

There is more good news for provisionally registered pharmacists working in primary care and Health in Justice in England. As established foundation training programmes are not available through employers in primary care or Health in Justice, HEE is funding CPPE to provide a structured foundation training programme as part of the IFPP. This is to ensure that this group of pharmacists are not disadvantaged in their learning.

Please encourage provisionally registered pharmacists to register for the programme. More information including FAQs and the registration form are published on the IFPP website.

The programme team is sending weekly updates about the IFPP. We encourage you to subscribe to these updates by emailing fpp@hee.nhs.uk, stating ‘IFPP Updates’ in the subject header.

Widening Participation – Call for Evidence

An NHS workforce which is representative of the communities it serves is a workforce that understands those communities and is better placed to meet their needs. The NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS Interim People Plan have both recognised that more needs to be done to encourage people from the widest possible range of backgrounds to take up careers in health and care and to offer them satisfying and developing careers in the NHS.

Health Education England is aware that many examples of innovative work exist which are attracting people from underrepresented groups and communities to widen access and participation to take up study which will lead to a career in the NHS. In order to expand these approaches nationally we would like to hear what evaluation activity different organisations (Universities) have done to address access and participation issues to ensure  everyone regardless of  background feel they have the option to take up undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare education and a career in the NHS is open to them.

We would be grateful if you could visit our website and fill in the form. If you have any queries around this piece of work please do not hesitate to contact us on policyandregulation@hee.nhs.uk.

We are ensuring core HEE work to support our NHS colleagues continues:

Students on placement – ‘essential worker’ status and access to COVID tests

The DHSC has updated its guidance to make it explicit that students on placement should be regarded as essential workers and be given the same priority access to COVID tests as other healthcare workers. This guidance may help if a student needs a test and there are issues gaining access to one.

Health Education England and the AHSN Network join forces to help support system partners in delivering innovation and transformation for the NHS workforce

An enterprising new partnership between Health Education England (HEE) and the AHSN Network is developing at pace. After successful discussions, HEE and the AHSN Network have agreed to share expertise and work together across several common priorities at national and regional level.

The AHSNs bring proven expertise in supporting and facilitating the spread and adoption of evidenced innovation across healthcare pathways, as well as their well-established, place-based relationships across the country.

HEE brings a greater awareness of the national strategic growth plan for workforce transformation enshrined in We Are the NHS: People Plan 2020/21, sharing a range of proven methodologies, tools and enabling programmes along with its own, regionally-based knowledge and expertise and the already well established partnerships in relation to digital readiness.

One of the first areas of partnership will be the usage of the Star methodology – HEE’s model for workforce transformation. AHSN colleagues, having been trained in the methodology will then use the model to help system partners better understand and explore the workforce challenges implicit in embedding innovations within their pathway transformation work.

Other common priority areas being pursued by the partnership for delivery to the system include Digital Readiness, Patient Safety, Technology Enhanced Learning and Genomics.

Learn about whole genome sequencing in healthcare

Whole genome sequencing has been in use behind the scenes for some time, but now it is becoming part of routine care with the introduction of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service. But when should it be used? How does it work? And what are the implications, both in healthcare and for families?

Join the Genomics Education Programme’s free, flexible online course on 2 November to learn from expert scientists, medics and researchers, as well as patients and families, how valuable this revolutionary test can be in a number of areas – most recently in the current fight against COVID-19.

The course is delivered through a range of articles, videos, animations and discussion forums facilitated by experts. Prior to enrolling on the course, join our Twitterchat on 22 October to find out why now is the time to learn about whole genome sequencing.

For more course info or to sign up, please visit the FutureLearn website.

Freedom to Speak Up Guardians

Freedom to Speak Up is about encouraging a positive culture where people feel they can speak up and their voices will be heard, and their suggestions acted upon. This animated film can be used in NHS Trust inductions, to inform new starters about how their local Freedom to Speak Up Guardian – an alternative route to normal channels for speaking up such as via line managers – can support them. Link to animation: Freedom to Speak Up

Better health through improved heath literacy

Providing reliable, easy-to-understand health information in accessible formats helps people make better decisions about their health. Being armed with greater knowledge can also have a huge impact on how people respond to treatment, recover from illness and manage a long-term condition while giving people the confidence to ask questions without feeling uncomfortable.

HEE’s national Library and Knowledge Services work with local NHS library and knowledge specialists to help them to share their expertise. Working with NHS Scotland, HEE has devised a free, online course for all to use on elearning for Healthcare  and throughout Health Literacy Month we are also supporting the year’s theme of Health Literacy Heroes.

HEE National Website Platform

HEE’s new digital service will replace the multiple website management systems across HEE with a single platform for all HEE websites, including national, regional, local and programme – similar to gov.uk. HEE continues to seek engagement with internal and external users and stakeholders.  Please get involved; register your interest, have your say, participate in user research and testing activities, and attend show and tell events.   Further, be an advocate, please share this information with people in your network who might want to get involved.  For more information or questions, please email parah.orakpo@hee.nhs.uk.

We are making sure all professions have the training they need to make a difference:

The Learning Hub – Did you know …

The Learning Hub is a digital platform that provides easy access to a wide range of education and training resources for the health and care workforce. Organisations and users can contribute and share resources for those in health and care to access.

Did you know…

• It only takes a few minutes to contribute a resource to the Learning Hub that has the potential to be shared right across the health and care workforce? Select “Contribute a new resource” and populate the form with details including the resource title, type, description and author details.  Once contributed you can share the resource with health and care colleagues via social media or via a direct web link to the resource.

Did you know…

• The allowed file size for uploaded resources has increased to 2GB? This means much larger audio and video files can be contributed to the Learning Hub.

Did you know…

• You can sort and order search results on the Learning Hub? The resources can be sorted by relevance, alphabetically, by date authored or by rating.

Come and take a look at what the Learning Hub has to offer and how this could support your organisation in sharing and accessing learning resources. If you would like further information about uploading content please email: enquiries@learninghub.nhs.uk.

For more information about the Learning Hub follow us on Twitter: @HEE_TEL and visit the Learning Hub website to read about our journey so far.

SCRIPT – supporting safer prescribing practices by healthcare professionals

The SCRIPT programme was created in 2010 and developed into a collection of innovative elearning portfolios designed to encourage safe and effective prescribing and medicines management among healthcare professionals.

SCRIPT was developed by the University of Birmingham and OCB Media and commissioned by Health Education England.

Each elearning portfolio has been specifically designed for foundation doctors, foundation dentists, paediatric specialist trainees, nurses, general practitioners, pharmacists and other non-medical prescribers. The portfolios are also available to undergraduate medical, pharmacy and nursing students.

SCRIPT elearning modules cover a wide range of therapeutic topics. A module usually takes approximately 1 hour to complete and does not have to be completed in one sitting. Content has been authored by a team of expert healthcare professionals and is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

You can learn more about the SCRIPT elearning programme by visiting the SCRIPT website.

Updates to Statutory and Mandatory Training Programme

HEE elfh is currently undertaking an annual review of the Statutory and Mandatory elearning sessions.

The following sessions, and their associated assessments, have been updated:

• Conflict Resolution – Level 1
• Equality, Diversity & Human Rights
• Infection Prevention and Control – Level 1
• Infection Prevention and Control – Level 2
• Resuscitation – Level 1
• Resuscitation Adults – Level 2
• Resuscitation Newborn – Level 2
• Resuscitation Paediatric – Level 2

This year’s review has focused upon the following:

• Ensuring that the sessions are fully aligned to the Core Skills Training Framework (UK v1.6) following a reviewing by the Skills for Health team.
• Updating assessment questions using data from a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of the questions.
• Updating with any further recommendations from a team of subject matter experts and in response to user feedback.

We intend to complete all updates by the end of October 2020.

More information about the Statutory and Mandatory Training programme can be found on the elfh Hub.

We are supporting digital readiness across the workforce:

Dr Navina Evans – what a new era of digital leadership could mean for the provider sector

HEE’s new Chief Executive Navina Evans has written a blog on what the future holds for digital transformation and its role in health and social care. Read it on the NHS Providers website.

NHS Graduate Digital Data & Technology scheme webinar – register today

Are you looking for high-quality candidates to fill crucial digital, data and technology roles within your trust? The NHS Graduate Digital, Data and Technology scheme, commissioned by Health Education England as part of its Digital Readiness programme, is a highly focused development pathway supporting graduates to become the next NHS middle managers and beyond.

The Health Innovation Network’s Graduates into Health team are hosting monthly webinars for NHS managers to learn more about the scheme and the programme’s bespoke ‘grow your own talent’ model. The next session is 29 October, 08:00 – 09:00 and you can register for the event here.

Join the Digital Readiness Team at the free HETT: Leading Healthcare Innovation Summit – 20-22 October

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven seismic shifts in transformation across the entire health and social care ecosystem. In association with the Digital Academy Alumni, Topol Fellows and Clinical Entrepreneurs, and supported by NHS England, Health Education England and NHSX, the HETT virtual summit ushers in a new era in which leaders of innovation are resetting their long term plans to address the needs of this new digital landscape.

Hear from an exciting line-up of Digital champions, leaders, and innovators, including author of the Topol Review Eric Topol MD, HEE’s Director of Innovation and Transformation Patrick Mitchell, HEE’s Chief Information Officer James Freed, NHS Digital Academy workstream lead Aasha Cowey, HEE/NHSX Chief Social Worker Mark Nicholas, and many more…

With 18+ hours of CPD-certified keynotes, panel discussions, case-studies, and roundtables on offer it’s FREE to those in the NHS, independent healthcare provision, the care sector, and the wider public sector. Find out more and RSVP.

The Digital Readiness Team on Twitter

To keep up to date with the latest news on our work uplifting digital skills, knowledge, understanding and awareness across the health and care workforce follow @HEE_DigiReady on Twitter.

Further information

By following @NHS_HealthEdEng you can keep up to date with new information and resources as they are published. Most importantly are the notifications of webinars being broadcast during the week.

Right now, making sure we are communicating properly is obviously incredibly important. If there’s any information you think is missing on HEE’s Covid 19 webpages, please let us know by submitting your question to the HEE Q&A helpdesk.