Key Messages and links to 28 October 2021

Welcome to Health Education England’s regular stakeholder bulletin. In this bulletin we will provide:

• COVID-19 latest updates
• Overview of HEE education and training news
• An update from your regional office

HEE COVID-19 latest updates

We have created a COVID-19 update webpage that provides guidance and information from HEE, which applies to all students and trainees. This webpage also includes HEE COVID-19 surge guidance.

To keep up to date with plans for medical training recovery, visit HEE COVID-19 webpages.

Our key objective has been to unify and integrate service and training recovery
This month, we published an interim review into the ambitious programme of work that HEE and our partners are collaborating on – the medical training recovery programme. There is still so much to be done, but it has been important to pause and evaluate our progress, note our successes and consider the remaining challenges, as we take the next steps in managing the continued progression of England’s 55,000 doctors in training, and support the management of the significant NHS care backlog post-pandemic. Read the full update from HEE’s Deputy Medical Director, Prof Sheona McLeod here.

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

Medical

HEE launches new medical degree pilot as part of Blended Learning programme

Prospective medical students in England will soon be able to choose to study flexibly thanks to a new pilot scheme launched by HEE and delivered by Queen Mary University of London.

The new programme aims to give students wanting to complete a medical degree more flexibility over how they study and a greater choice of where the University can provide practice learning opportunities to complete their training.

Nursing and Midwifery

Nurses and midwives offered increased incentive to return to practice

Former nurses and midwives wishing to re-join the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register and return to practice will be offered £1,000 to help with studying and living expenses. All information required for all routes of Return to Practice are available on the Return to Practice Health Careers website.

Pharmacy

Trainee pharmacist foundation year

Roll-out of the e-portfolio continues. This new tool is directly supporting the use of the HEE Foundation Year Assessment Strategy, to support practice-based assessment against the 2021/22 interim learning outcomes set by the General Pharmaceutical Council Standards.

A record 85% of trainee foundation pharmacists are already set up on the system. If your trainee has not yet registered, please ask them to complete the HEE survey now and before the deadline of 12 December 2021.  Access is now also being rolled out to designated supervisors and education programme directors. Find out more on the Trainee Pharmacist Foundation Year website.

Undergraduate clinical placement models

We are working with Schools of Pharmacy in England to explore the introduction of cross-sector clinical placements as part of the MPharm degree. Find out more on our website.

HEE newly qualified pharmacist pathway

This new (optional) pathway aims to link the initial education and training reforms to a continuum of development into post-registration. It is designed for learners across all sectors of pharmacy, to help them meet their development needs as they enter newly qualified practice. Find out more on our website.

Mental health

New IAPT high-intensity psychotherapeutic counselling training pilot

An exciting new training pilot, launched by HEE, offers a three-year salaried and funded training pathway for 60 trainee psychotherapeutic counsellors to work in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services to deliver specified IAPT services for adults with depression.

The IAPT High-Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counsellor training pilot will support the NHS to expand access to a range of quality, evidence-based psychological therapies, as part of a wider programme to offer these interventions to an additional 380,000 adults and older people with common mental health problems by 2023/24, as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan. Find out more on our website.

Psychological professions week conference

Building on the success of last year, the Psychological Professions Network (PPN) is excited to announce the second national conference for Psychological Professions Week 2021. The free conference will run from 15-19 November 2021 and will feature sessions aligned to the National Vision of the Psychological Professions.

The PPN is a membership network for all psychological professionals and other stakeholders of NHS commissioned psychological healthcare. They inform, enable and influence NHS commissioned healthcare to maximise the benefits of the psychological professions for the public. You can register for the conference on PPN Psychological Professions week website.

Workforce and education initiatives

New patient safety training for all staff, now available

In partnership with NHS England and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, HEE has published new patient safety training materials. The training materials can be found on the elearning for healthcare hub. The training has five levels, which build on each other, the first two levels Essentials for patient safety and Access to practice are available now. The first level, Essentials for patient safety, is the starting point and all NHS staff, even those in non-patient facing roles are encouraged to complete it. Level two, Access to practice is intended for those who have an interest in understanding more about patient safety and those who want to go on to access the higher levels of training.

The training has been devised following the publication of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy which contains a patient safety syllabus. The syllabus sets out a new approach to patient safety emphasising a proactive approach to identifying risks to safe care while also including systems thinking and human factors, all of which has been incorporated into the training. Levels three to five of the training are expected to be available by the end of March 2022.

Global Learning Opportunities and Provision Surveys

HEE and Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network (YHAHSN) have teamed up to find out more about those who have undertaken an international element to their Health and Care work or course and those who would like to.

Please fill in the survey here.

We are also working with YHAHSN to gather information from all NHS secondary care provider organisations and higher education institutions to understand current attitudes toward and provision of global health activities for current and future NHS staff. We would be grateful if those responsible for global health activities in OD, business management or HR department could complete the survey here.

The deadline for both surveys has now been extended until 26 November 2021.

CLEAR week

CLEAR is a nationwide programme, supported by HEE, placing clinicians at the heart of healthcare decision making and innovation. #CLEARweek will be hosting sessions on a range of topics, from deep dives about the unique CLEAR methodology, data visualisation and analytics to Wardopoly, special guest speakers and networking events.

From 8 – 12 November 2021, the National CLEAR Programme will be hosting a week of events, guest speakers, workshops and interactive sessions around healthcare activity and workforce redesign. You can find out more and register your interest in attending sessions #CLEARweek will be hosting, visit the CLEAR website clearprogramme.org.uk

Learn about the use of AI and robotics in education and across health and care

We are running a series of webinars around the use of AI and robotics in education with the first, taking place on Thursday 18 November, 12:30 to 13:15, providing an introduction to the work of Health Education England’s Digital, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technologies in Education (DART-Ed) programme. Ask our expert panel questions and learn more about the new AI capability framework, AI Roadmap, our work with NHSX and much more.

See full details and register now!

Health Innovation Placement (HIP) Pilot – call for expressions of interest

This new offering from our Digital Readiness Programme provides our clinical and non-clinical NHS leaders with an exciting opportunity to develop through exposure with start-ups and small-medium organisations (SMEs), with the aim of leading on the development of a technological solution to a specific NHS problem; support the understanding of digital development; so leading, improving and transforming the healthcare system by extracting the opportunity from digital.

Read more and express an interest in applying for the pilot cohort.

New programme focuses on delivering value with digital technologies

The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), supported by HEE, is delivering a 12-month programme of work to increase awareness amongst NHS finance staff about digital healthcare technologies and their potential to transform services and drive value and efficiency. Read more about the programme, the work already done, and how you can get involved.

HEE urge NHS staff to take part in review of the Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF)

The first ever online survey asking NHS staff in England for their views on their statutory and mandatory training experience is now open. The Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF) survey will help HEE to better understand users’ views, help shape training and how it may be delivered in future. It will also be used to inform future conversations regarding potential reforms to statutory and mandatory training.

Don’t miss the opportunity to let HEE know what you think works well, does the training meet your needs and what could be done better. To complete the survey, go to all staff survey. The survey closes on Friday 19 November 2021

elearning for healthcare

Keep up to date with all the latest additions to the eLfH platform 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.