Key Messages and links to 10^th June 2020

Welcome to Health Education England’s weekly COVID-19 stakeholder bulletin.

HEE is working with partners to support the system-wide response to COVID-19. Our priority is to ensure trainees and learners are kept informed of immediate changes to their training and recruitment, as well as to support returners to the NHS.

In this bulletin we will provide:

• Weekly message from Interim Chief Executive, Professor Wendy Reid
• Overview of HEE and our partner’s national response to COVID-19
• An update from your regional office

Weekly message from Interim Chief Executive, Professor Wendy Reid –

In this week’s message we focus on exploring the impact that the current pandemic has, and continues to have, on vulnerable populations and on wellness and healthy living. Read the full message here. 

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

Medical rotations webinar

We held a webinar on 26 May on medical rotations for trainees. The webinar was hosted by Prof. Sheona MacLeod, Prof. Adrian Brooke and Prof. Simon Gregory. The recording of this webinar has now been uploaded to our YouTube channel.

National nursing team shares student midwife case study

This week we shared the story of student midwife Alicia Shirley Burnett from the University of West London. She tells us how it felt to have to opt out of the extended placement when a family member was shielding, why she started a blog for midwifery students and what she’s learning about leadership and teamwork during COVID-19.

Alicia says: “Whether you opted in or out you’re still a student midwife. You’re not alone. Know who your sources of support are and how to access them. It’s okay to ask for support; it doesn’t make you weak, in fact, it’s pretty wise.”

Read the case study or view her video clip on Twitter

Impact of COVID-19 on students survey – On Monday 1 June, HEE launched the Impact of COVID-19 on Students Survey (ICONS), which will remain open for four weeks. The survey will help HEE understand the experience of medical, dental, nursing, allied health professional (AHP) and healthcare science learners, whether they have stepped into clinical practice, into new environments to support frontline clinical services or have opted to continue with their academic studies.

The survey will focus on the support provided to learners during the pandemic key areas, such as induction, clinical supervision, and academic supervision. Importantly, the survey will provide an opportunity to hear from healthcare learners currently working or studying and will inform our approach to supporting these learners now and in the future.

If you have any general queries about the survey, please contact Quality@hee.nhs.uk.

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

Increasing training places for NHS Clinical Psychologists and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists – HEE has recently announced plans to expand the number of training places for NHS Clinical Psychologists and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists, from September 2020. During 2020/21, HEE also intends to increase the education and training commissions for both professional roles by 25% nationally (an increase of 140). The roles will contribute to the design, leadership, research, development, supervision, and delivery of psychological and psychotherapeutic care and treatment, for people of all ages.

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

elearning for healthcare – The elfh COVID-19 programme has now been launched more than 1.4 million times since it was launched in mid-March 2020.

Recent additions to the programme include:

• A new learning path called “Physical Healthcare for Staff in Mental Health Settings” which includes the following content:

• • Health and Social Care Interventions: Children and Young People
  • Health and Social Care Interventions: Adults
  • Learning Disabilities and Physical Health.
• A second learning path for staff working in primary care and community settings called “Supporting Patient Mental Health for the whole workforce” is now available. The learning path includes resources for those supporting adults and children with learning disabilities.
• A learning path aimed at nurses, midwives and AHPs – but is also relevant for other members of the workforce with a supervisory role. The “Support for Supervisors” learning path includes resources to guide supervisors on how to provide effective feedback and support those who are being supervised.
• A learning path to support student nurses undertaking a general practice placement as part of the COVID-19 response.
• An ICU quick reference guide.

For more information about the programme select here.

NHS Test and Trace – Colleagues at Public Health England working on the recently launched NHS Test and Trace service asked elfh to host the training resources for the staff working on the app.  Due to the scale and pace of its roll out the usage on the programme has been incredible.  Since the programme went live on 14 May 2020 there have been 1.34 million session launches. 

elfh usage – Due to usage of the COVID-19 and Test and Trace programmes and an increase in usage on programmes including Care Certificate and End of Life Care, elfh has seen a new record number of session launches during one month.  During May 2020 there were 2,491,975 session launches.

Learning Hub live – Since HEE’s Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team released the Learning Hub at the end of May 2020, over 500 resources have been contributed by the health and care workforce – many in response to the COVID-19 efforts to support the sector.

The Learning Hub is a new digital platform that provides easy access to a wide range of learning resources including videos, webinars, slide presentations, Q&A packs, simulation scripts, lesson plans and web links to support system readiness, recovery and beyond.  New features will be frequently released to provide a comprehensive learning experience for users.

Many stakeholders from across the health and care workforce, including clinical commissioning groups, social care, professional bodies, charities and the simulation community, have already contributed a range of learning resources.

You are invited to access the Learning Hub (https://learninghub.nhs.uk) either using eligible elearning for healthcare log in details or by creating a Learning Hub account.

If you have any questions or require further support, contact the Learning Hub team: enquiries@learninghub.nhs.uk.

Supporting the well-being of the health and care workforce –

HEE podcasts - HEE’s Professional Support Unit (PSU) has released a new professional development and SuppoRTT podcasts to support trainees during COVID-19. The most recent podcast episode is:

• Human Factors in the pandemic (Part 1 and 2).

To find out more or to listen to the podcasts, visit either HEE’s anchor.fm profile here or HEE’s Spotify profile here

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 webpages, please let us know by submitting your question to the HEE Q&A helpdesk.

Key Messages and links to 3^rd June 2020

Welcome to Health Education England’s weekly COVID-19 stakeholder bulletin.

HEE is working with partners to support the system-wide response to COVID-19. Our priority is to ensure trainees and learners are kept informed of immediate changes to their training and recruitment, as well as to support returners to the NHS.

In this bulletin we will provide:

• Weekly message from Interim Chief Executive, Professor Wendy Reid
• Overview of HEE and our partner’s national response to COVID-19
• An update from your regional office

Weekly message from Interim Chief Executive, Professor Wendy Reid –

In this week’s message we focus on revolutionising our workforce’s contribution, both in the immediate and longer-term by building teams focussed on skills required, not professional backgrounds. Read the full message here

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

Student nurses – The nursing & midwifery team continues to develop and share case studies that tell the stories of the student deployment over the COVID-19 period.

Student nurse Samantha Stratton was due to graduate from Lincoln University in September 2019 but went on maternity leave before she had undertaken her management placement. Organised through Lincoln University and Lincolnshire Training Hub, Sam has been supported to start and continue her management placement at Abbey Medical Practice, including throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Samantha Stratton and Lisa Freeman, Director of Nursing at Lincolnshire Training Hub tell us more.

Bringing the employer perspective, Jo Marinas, Head of Professional & Practice Development at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust explains how the trust has deployed and supported student nurses during the pandemic.

Feedback Sessions for Healthcare Learners – Health Education England has sent a call to healthcare learners deployed during COVID; to include student AHPs, nurses, midwives and Interim Foundation Doctors. We are running the virtual feedback sessions on Thursday 4 and Monday 8 June; to specifically capture learners experiences around support and training.

ICONS – The Impact of COVID-19 on Students Survey (ICONS) launched this week (Monday 1 June) and will remain open for four weeks. The survey will understand the experience of medical, dental, nursing, allied health professional and healthcare science learners, whether they have stepped into clinical practice, into new environments to support frontline clinical services or have opted to continue with their academic studies. The questionnaire will focus on the support provided to learners during the pandemic in particular key areas, such as induction, clinical supervision and academic supervision. Importantly, the survey will provide an opportunity to hear from healthcare learners currently working or studying and will inform our approach to supporting these learners now and in the future.

Occupational Therapy Virtual Practice Placement – Case Study – The University of East Anglia developed and implemented a virtual practice placement for Occupational Therapy 2nd Year BSc students, using the virtual learning environment Blackboard.

As a result of Covid-19, the 2^nd year Occupational Therapy students had their usual face-to-face placements suspended. The Occupational Therapy academic team at the University of East Anglia looked at a virtual alternative allowing their students to continue their learning to achieve their placement outcomes in line with statutory and professional body requirements and to progress on their course.

In the Blackboard learning environment, students took responsibility for a virtual caseload, with a mix of group and individual working; they conducted interviews with ‘patients’, completed their guided reflections in their handbook. They worked through the occupational therapy process with each of the six cases, using their professional reasoning. Occupational therapy theory and practice were interwoven through the practical and written activities in their handbooks, through the student’s learning contracts and their case presentations.

This case study will be added to the chapter: ‘Enhancing the quality and capacity of the learning environment’ in the HEE Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL).  

Read the full case study here

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

Health Careers Winners of Step into the NHS competition announced – Now in its 11th year of running, the competition helps to raise career aspirations and awareness of 350 NHS careers.

Over 3,180 Year 7-9 students from 126 schools across England took part. Each chose an NHS role, wrote the ideal job description and created an advert that would appeal to their peers.

Our national winners, students from The Belvedere Academy in Liverpool, created a fun and informative video to advertise the role of an NHS innovation consultant. Chosen from a total of 1,784 submitted entries, each student receives a certificate, a £50 Amazon voucher and a class prize.

A panel of judges from across the health and education chose the overall winner. Trainee GP Dr Tom Watchman said of the winning video: “The animation was fun, exciting, upbeat and innovative!”

This year’s competition saw 66 new schools entering, with the majority of teachers saying that their primary motivator for taking part was to support and raise the career aspirations of young people. 94% of teachers said the competition developed students’ job seeking skills, and 60% of students would now consider a career in the NHS.

Step into the NHS also runs a primary schools competition, which has had its deadline extended to 19 June. It asks Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6) pupils to explore the wide range of opportunities in the NHS, by creating a ‘thank you’ to NHS staff, which could be a poem, piece of street art or a creative video.

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

Letter and ARCP update from the four Statutory Education Bodies sent to all trainees, 3 June 2020

This letter states that to maintain the essential pipeline of trained medical staff, resumption of training must be given full support and a very high priority as services are planned and reintroduced. Read the letter in full.

elearning for healthcare – The elfh COVID-19 programme has now seen over 1.25million launches since it went live in the middle of March 2020.

Supporting student nurses in general practice

elearning for healthcare has just released a new learning path to support student nurses undertaking a general practice placement as part of the COVID-19 response. Offered as part of the programme entitled ‘Resources for Nurses, Midwives and AHPs Returning to work, being Redeployed or Up-Skilled’, the training is intended to equip student nurses with the basics and complement local training. You can access ‘Supporting student nurses in general practice’ here

Learning Hub Beta launch – System now live

HEE’s Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team released the Learning Hub on Friday (29 May 2020).

The Learning Hub is a new digital platform that provides easy access to a wide range of resources that are pertinent to education and training in health and care.  New features will be frequently released to provide a comprehensive learning experience for users.

The resources shared on the platform play a pivotal role in its success, in its vision for collaboration and supporting learners.  Many stakeholders from across the health and care workforce, including clinical commissioning groups, social care, professional bodies, charities, and the simulation community, have already contributed a range of quality learning resources.  Many of the resources are in response to the COVID-19 efforts to support the health and care workforce.  These resources include videos, webinars, slide presentations, Q&A packs, simulation scripts, lesson plans and web links to support system readiness, recovery and beyond.

Do you or your networks have resources to share?  By contributing resources, you are supporting both the growth of the system and the evolving communities of learners that will use the Learning Hub.

You are invited to access the Learning Hub (https://learninghub.nhs.uk) either using eligible elearning for healthcare log in details or by creating a Learning Hub account.

If you have any questions or require further support, contact the Learning Hub team: enquiries@learninghub.nhs.uk.

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 webpages, please let us know by submitting your question to the HEE Q&A helpdesk.

Key Messages and links to 27^th May 2020

Welcome to Health Education England’s weekly COVID-19 stakeholder bulletin.

HEE is working with partners to support the system-wide response to COVID-19. Our priority is to ensure trainees and learners are kept informed of immediate changes to their training and recruitment, as well as to support returners to the NHS.

In this bulletin we will provide:

• Overview of HEE and our partner’s national response to COVID-19
• An update from your regional office
• Signposting to useful resources and contact information

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

Medical Training – The medical training rotations webinar took place on Tuesday 26 May. The session covered the background to the Covid-19 response so far and an overview of plans for August rotations. The recording of the session will be available in due course on YouTube.

The next webinar will take place on Wednesday 3 June 7pm, the focus of this webinar will be ARCP and will be led by Professor Sheona MacLeod, Acting Director of Education and Quality and Executive Medical Director and guest speakers will include representatives from the GMC and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. The link to join the session will be shared on HEEs social media channels nearer the date.

Feedback Sessions for Healthcare Learners – Health Education England has sent a call to healthcare learners deployed during COVID; to include student AHPs, nurses, midwives and Interim Foundation Doctors. We are running the virtual feedback sessions on Thursday 4 and Monday 8 June; to specifically capture learners experiences around support and training.

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

COVID-19 Patient Information for Vulnerable Groups – As we all know it is vital that we and the healthcare workforce can communicate with all our audiences effectively. During the Coronavirus pandemic the need to do so is even more acute.

HEE’s Library and Knowledge Services  team has developed a website which contains high quality patient information that meets the information needs of specific patient groups, and for people that require or prefer information in accessible formats such as easy read, sign language, and Makaton. This enables frontline health and care staff who directly work with patient, clients, and families to find, share and use reliable COVID-19 information. The website at https://library.nhs.uk/coronavirus-resources/ includes material on the following:

• coronavirus resources in accessible format
• coronavirus resources for older people
• coronavirus resources for children and young people.

The team will be adding further sections with resources for different patient groups and updating the site as new resources are published.

We would like to ask that you promote the website through your own networks. A communications toolkit has been circulated to HEE’s stakeholders including communications colleagues in trusts, CCGs, and ICS/STPs requesting that they promote the website through their channels to those working on the front line, and the organisations and agencies with whom they work locally, to the benefit of patients and the public. It is expected that staff in across health, social care and the third sector will find this content useful. To view the communications toolkit, click here using the password LKSResources.

If there are other strands of public and patient information about COVID-19 that you would like to see covered, please forward your suggestions to KFH.England@hee.nhs.uk. 

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

HEE elearning for healthcare (elfh) – COVID-19 elearning programme –

The elfh programme is still be used by lots of the health and care workforce and has now seen more than 1,200,000 session launches. The elfh team is continuing to add new content to the programme based on the needs of the workforce responding to the pandemic.

A new learning path called “Physical Healthcare for Staff in Mental Health Settings” is now available.  The learning path includes the following content:

• Health and Social Care Interventions: Children and Young People
• Health and Social Care Interventions: Adults
• Learning Disabilities and Physical Health and can be accessed here

A second learning path for staff working in primary care and community settings called “Supporting Patient Mental Health for the whole workforce” is now available.  The learning path includes resources for those supporting adults and children with learning disabilities and can be viewed here

A learning path aimed at nurses, midwives and AHPs – but is also relevant for other members of the workforce with a supervisory role – is also now available.  The “Support for Supervisors” learning path includes resources to guide supervisors on how to provide effective feedback and support those who are being supervised.  The resources can be accessed here

For more information about the elfh COVID-19 programme select here.

elearning sessions for radiographers, radiologists and breast clinicians now live – The National Breast Imaging Academy (NBIA) project is a collaborative, national, multidisciplinary initiative which encompasses a range of solutions to address the workforce shortage in breast imaging services.  These solutions include the establishment of a national centre of excellence for training, an innovative, online technology-enhanced learning platform, the NBIA Online and the development of high-quality training programmes for radiographers, radiologists and breast clinicians.

Due to the current pressures on the health and care workforce responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19) the NBIA team recognises the impact this is having on trainees and face to face learning.  Therefore, in response to this challenge the NBIA team has worked with elfh and accelerated the launch of some of the elearning sessions to support the learning for radiographers, radiologists and breast clinicians.

For more information about the sessions, including details on how to access the NBIA elearning programme, please click here

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 webpages, please let us know by submitting your question to the HEE Q&A helpdesk.