Welcome to Health Education England’s (HEE) stakeholder bulletin.

In this bulletin we will provide:

• A Weekly message from HEE
• An overview of HEE education and training news
• An update from your regional office

Weekly messages from HEE:

This week’s stakeholder message was guest-edited by Lee Whitehead, Director of People and Communications, covering Wendy Reid, our Interim Chief Executive. Lee highlights the programme to make HEE the Best Place to Work and welcoming Navina Evans, HEE’s new Chief Executive, on the 1 October. Read the weekly message on the HEE website.

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

A further step toward an alternative route into nursing

 HEE’s Blended Learning Nursing Degree, an innovative national programme to train nurses of the future, has moved to the next stage.

Using a mix of technologies to study with important practice experience, this degree will provide opportunities to more people who have the right aptitude and values but need to study flexibly, pursue a career in nursing.

At a collaborative event on 25 September, with seven universities, HEE and others discussed the next steps to delivery of the programme. Universities are working towards the first students starting their courses from early 2021.

New guide to help overseas nurses go beyond basic English skills 

Occupational English Test (OET), in collaboration with HEE, has launched the Living the Language: A nurse’s guide to English usage in British life and work. This new guide aims to help overseas nurses working in the UK healthcare system improve their English language skills.

The guide can be used to help overseas nurses move beyond basic English to become competent communicators at work and at home. It is packed with practical advice and focuses on the communication skills nurses need to adapt, integrate, and settle in faster.

The guide also includes practical advice and guidance on workplace and patient communication. This includes common challenges such as local accents and dialects, person-centred care, and active listening. It also includes tips on the everyday use of British English in social settings and provides help with settling into new multidisciplinary teams and professional cultures. To find out more, visit the OET Living the Language webpage.

Interim Foundation Pharmacist Programme (IFPP) update

The IFPP that launched on 24 August, is progressing well and has recently received its 1000^th registrant. This programme is aimed at the 2019/20 cohort of pre-registration pharmacists whose training and registration have been disrupted by COVID-19. The programme also provides a unique opportunity to accelerate pharmacists’ early years’ education and training reform and supports the delivery of the NHS People Plan for 2020/21.

The IFPP resources are also growing, and in addition to the handbooks have which to guide pharmacists and supervisors through the programme, a brand-new guide to Learning Opportunities has also been published. This guide provides provisionally registered pharmacists (and their supervisors) with links to free to access resources that are appropriate to support learning and development throughout the IFPP.

Registration for the IFPP is still open, and the IFPP programme webpage provides guidance on eligibility and how to register. The programme team also continues to send weekly updates and to subscribe to receive these, email mailto:fpp@hee.nhs.uk, stating IFPP Updates in the subject header.

The deadline for applications to the Topol Programme for Digital Fellowships in Healthcare extended

The deadline for applications for the Topol Programme for Digital Fellowships in Healthcare has been extended until, Monday 12 October, at 5pm. The decision was made as the NHS will be busy during the second wave of COVID-19, and we want to give as many people as possible a chance to become a Topol Digital Fellow.

If you have a strong interest in making digital health happen, or if you have recently contributed to your organisation’s new digital services, consider applying for a Topol Digital Fellow post on the Digital Health Fellowship Programme webpage.

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

NHS Providers Annual Conference

HEE’s new Chief Executive, from 1 October, Navina Evans, will participate in a plenary panel session at the NHS Providers Annual Conference on 7 October, between 10:40 and 11:20.

Navina will be focusing on the role of digital in the response to COVID-19 and how Trust leaders have accelerated the digital agenda from the board room. The session is aligned to NHS Providers’ Digital Boards programme, supported, and funded by both HEE and NHSX.

How the BMJ Best Practice decision-making tool can help the changing workload of clinicians

The award-winning BMJ Best Practice clinical decision-making tool is available to all NHS healthcare staff in England for free at the point of care thanks to a national subscription funded by HEE.

In recent a BMJ Best Practice blog, Prof Sheona MacLeod, HEE Interim Medical Director, and Dr Kieran Walsh, BMJ Clinical Director, discuss the importance of making up to date evidence-based medical information available to all healthcare professionals so that they can make the most informed decisions possible for the benefit of patients.

The blog also discusses how the workload of clinical staff has changed over the years, making taking time out to study and scrutinise the latest guidance was an impossibility. New technologies, which BMJ Best Practice harnesses, now enables the obtaining of new research and information to be slotted into the workflow of the modern clinician. The blog also highlights having the most up to date information using the decision-making tool can drive up the standard of care and treatment for patients and reduce the inequalities in the standard of care across different healthcare providers.

Further BMJ practice series blogs will be released on 5 and 12 October 2020.

Accessible information resources for use by front-line staff when working with people with different needs

As we see cases of COVID-19 in the community increase, we thought it may be useful to remind you of the HEE Library and Knowledge Services website. The website host information resources which front-line staff can use to help them communicate effectively with patients, clients, and their families around Coronavirus.

The website resources all meet the accessible information standard and include easy read, sign language, and Makaton formats as well as other communication guidance. To access these resources, visit the HEE Library and Knowledge Services website.

New Fellowship launched by the National School of Healthcare Science (NHSC) 

In collaboration with the NHSC, Office of the Chief Scientific Officer for NHS England and Improvement, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Devices for Dignity MedTech Co-operative are launching the Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship scheme.

The Fellowship scheme will build system capacity to increase medical device regulatory and standards expertise and innovation capabilities for the introduction of appropriate technologies to benefit cancer patients in primary or secondary care settings. With the prevalence of cancer forecast to increase, the Cancer Workforce Plan has recognised the potential for scientific and technological innovations to transform care.

To find out more about the Fellowship, visit the Healthcare Science Innovation Fellowship scheme webpage.

Dive deep into our Allied Health Professions (AHP) 

Over September, we held a series of AHP webinars, each focusing on three AHPs. We looked at the current national challenges for each profession, along with the perspective of the professional bodies, and looked at profession-specific workforce data. This was a unique opportunity for a 360 look at each profession, that:

• provided up to date AHP information and data on each profession
• raised awareness, promote value, and optimise AHP skill utilisation within the system

The webinars delivered were:

• AHP Workforce webinar 1: Occupational Therapy, Podiatry, and Art Therapy
• AHP Workforce webinar 2: Physiotherapy, Operating Department Practitioners, and Orthoptists
• AHP Workforce webinar 3: Dietetics, Drama Therapy, and Paramedics
• AHP Workforce webinar 4: Speech and Language Therapy, Music, Therapy and Prosthetists, and Orthotists
• AHP Workforce webinar 5: Diagnostic Radiography, Therapeutic Radiography, and Osteopaths

To watch the webinar recordings and access the slides, visit the AHP Faculty webpage, and scroll to the bottom of the webpage, and then click the + sign under AHP Workforce Webinars.

Nursing in Social Care

We are delighted and excited to release our new Nursing is Social Care video. The seven-minute video was filmed at Wren Hall and Landermeads nursing homes in Nottingham.

The film showcases the role of nursing in social care and we hope it will attract nurses and nursing associates who want to work in this rewarding sector. It also conveys the passion for what we do, the varied nature of the career, and how social care nursing is about supporting people in the long term, building relationships that are not always possible in the acute sector.

Participate in user research – HEE National Website Platform

HEE is developing a new National Website Platform digital service that aims to 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. When the service becomes available, it will offer a better user experience and improved accessibility.

HEE is keen to provide a digital service that is fit for purpose and meets user and stakeholder needs. If you are a user of any HEE website, please get involved in user research and testing activities and subscribe to the National Website Platform Stakeholder Involvement Databank.

For further information and queries, email parah.orakpo@hee.nhs.uk.

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

HEE elearning for healthcare (elfh) updates

The elfh team, alongside key partners, have recently added and updated the following elearning programmes:

• COVID-19 recovery and rehabilitation resource
• New Midwifery Continuity of Carer resource
• elearning for Community Carers – Hydration in Older People
• New Personal Health Budgets elearning programme – a resource to support personalised care for those with complex needs
• New elearning on tackling homelessness – a resource to support the health and care workforce to prevent and relieve homelessness.

The Learning Hub – what do resources look like on the platform? 

The Learning Hub is a digital platform that provides easy access to a wide range of resources that are pertinent to education and training in health and care. Various resource types can be contributed to the Learning Hub, but what do they look like when viewed by a user on the platform?

Organisations and users can contribute and share resources for those in health and care to access.  Users are also able to rate the resources they view which helps other users to see, at a glance, how a resource has been rated by others and can inform whether they choose to access it.

Almost 650 resources have already been contributed to the Learning Hub including, elearning, video, audio, images, weblinks, documents, and articles on a range of subjects.  But when you contribute a resource, how does it appear to other users? Recently contributed content includes a series of tracheostomy videos to support health and care professionals treating COVID-19 positive patients, to see how these resources appear, visit the Learning Hub contribution resource webpage.

Contribute to the Learning Hub

If you or your organisation have resources to share and contribute to the Learning Hub, sign into the Learning Hub, and select the Contribute a resource webpage.

Please note, you can sign into the Learning Hub using your elfh Hub, NHS OpenAthens username and password, or by creating an account on the Learning Hub and using those details.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about contributing resources to the Learning Hub, email enquiries@learninghub.nhs.uk. For more information about the Learning Hub, follow @HEE_TEL on Twitter, and visit the Learning Hub blog.

HSJ win for ESCAPE-pain

Earlier this year HEE elfh worked with the Health Innovation Network and Academic Health Science Network to develop an ESCAPE-pain elearning resource to support the ESCAPE-pain initiative. We are delighted to share the news that the ESCAPE-pain initiative won the MSK initiative of the year in the HSJ Value Awards.

ESCAPE-pain is an evidence-based and cost-effective group rehabilitation programme for people with chronic joint pain. The elearning resources are aimed at helping interested providers determine how ESCAPE-pain may fit within their organisation and to begin the process towards implementation and professionals who plan to deliver the programme and become ESCAPE-pain facilitators.

To find out more, visit the elfh ESCAPE-pain webpage.

The return of face-to-face simulation training

HEE’s Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team recently announced the release of the COVID-19 toolkit for safe simulation in health and care. The second part of this guidance, National guidance for safe delivery of Simulation-Based Education, has now been published. This new document develops some of the ideas introduced in the toolkit.

The next phase of the return of face to face simulation work, #SimRestart, is now underway. The joint venture, between HEE’s TEL team and the Association of Simulated Practice in Healthcare, aims to create an open library of resources to help local education providers offer safe and effective face-to-face or remote access simulation-based learning.

We would like to hear from anyone who is building experience and expertise by using techniques, such as remote access live observation and feedback, video-assisted simulation activities, or other forms of immersive technology to enhance simulation-based learning. To get in touch, email tel@hee.nhs.uk using #SimRestart in the subject line.

Further information

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

Right now, making sure we are communicating properly is incredibly important. If there is 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 16^th September 2020

Welcome to Health Education England’s weekly stakeholder bulletin.

In this bulletin we will provide:

• Weekly messages from the Chief Executive’s Office
• Overview of HEE education and training news
• An update from your regional office

Weekly messages from HEE:

Messages guest edited by Professor Simon Gregory, Deputy Medical Director and Professor Mark Radford, Chief Nurse. Read the messages here:

Health and Wellbeing Matters

Supporting the NHS to continue to deliver safe and high-quality care

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

Funding boost for clinical placements growth and teaching – HEE has announced that £15m will be made available through its clinical placement expansion programme to increase clinical placements in the NHS and support growth in nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and all the other allied health professions. This represents a 50% increase in the funding previously pledged. These additional placements will expand the pipeline of our future NHS workforce across the health and social care system, meaning more healthcare professionals across the health and social care system.

Transforming Mental Health Social Work report launched – An interactive report on Transforming Mental Health Social Work has been launched by HEE. The document highlights the important roles that mental health social work and approved mental health professionals deliver across the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and independent sectors, ensuring the social model of mental health is at the core of our integrated services.

Population Health Fellowships restart in September – HEE will restart the first national Population Health Fellowship for NHS clinical staff in England on 15 September. This aims to develop and grow a workforce of professionals who will incorporate population health into their everyday jobs and is a full 12-month programme. Find further information here.

Applications still open for new HEE fellowships to help NHS staff shape the digital healthcare revolution – HEE is inviting candidates for 30 new digital health fellowships aimed at helping clinical professionals build digital health expertise into their careers in the second cohort of the Topol Programme for Digital Fellowships. Recruitment opened on September 1 and runs until September 30. Find further information on the fellowships programme and how to apply.

Updates from the National School of Healthcare Science – HEE’s National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) and the Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS) have announced changes to the completion of the Scientist Training Programme, which leads to Clinical Scientist registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

As of September 2020:

• The NSHCS will report directly to HCPC for the delivery of the Scientist Training Programme.
• Trainees completing the programme will be awarded their Certificate of Completion by the School, which will entitle them to apply to the HCPC for registration.

Find further information on the completion of the Scientist Training Programme.

Meanwhile NSHCS and AHCS, along with the Institute of Biomedical Science, Royal College of Pathologists and Manchester Academy of Healthcare Scientist Education are widening the eligibility criteria for Higher Specialist Scientific Training. The new criteria will allow appropriately qualified senior Biomedical Scientists, who can demonstrate ability to work at Level 7, to apply to join the programme. Find further information on the new criteria for Higher Specialist Scientific Training.

Interim Foundation Pharmacist Programme update – This new education and training programme, funded by HEE, has been established to support the 2019/20 cohort of pre-registration pharmacists whose training and registration have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It 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.

Registration for the programme is live and our dedicated programme website provides guidance on eligibility and how to register.

Two new handbooks have recently been published to guide pharmacists and supervisors through the programme. These are now available 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.

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

International Place-based Partnerships – HEE’s Interim Chief Executive Wendy Reid participated in our first international remote Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony recently. The MoU ceremony marks the formal launch of a partnership between HEE and the Consortium of Thai Medical Schools to create an international staff exchange programme for doctors and population health fellows.

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

New Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention in Adults module now available – HEE elfh added a new elearning module on adult suicide and self-harm prevention to its MindEd programme.

The module, which is free to access, offers guidance and advice to anyone who is directly involved with caring for or in contact with those who have suicidal ideas, with or without self-harm, or those who self-harm, with or without current suicidal ideas. This could include health and care professionals, parents, carers and teachers.

The new adult module is available here: https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/653238.

There are two existing modules also on suicide and self-harm to help teachers and others working with children and young people available.

For more information about MindEd visit: https://www.minded.org.uk/.

New elearning programme aims to boost pupil and teacher wellbeing in response to COVID-19 – HEE elfh worked in partnership with the Department for Education to develop a new programme for teachers to support children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as they return to school and college from September 2020.

Wellbeing For Education Return – part of elfh’s MindEd programme – launched following an investment of £8.2millon from the Government to provide schools and colleges across England with the knowledge and resources they need to support children and young people, who have experienced trauma and loss as a result of the pandemic.

The programme, which will be delivered to schools and colleges via Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, is aimed at education professionals working with children and young people aged 5-19 in education settings. This may include pastoral leads, senior mental health leads, Special Educational Needs Coordinators, school nurses, counsellors, educational psychologists, voluntary sector providers and mental health support team clinicians/practitioners.

To access the programme free of charge, please visit: https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/662137.

The Learning Hub – new features and functionality now available – The Learning Hub team has created a new area on the platform that details service updates and the new – features and functionalities of each release, to keep users up to date with the platform’s development.

The service updates and releases area displays, in chronological order, information about what’s new on the Learning Hub, bug fixes that have been completed and background changes that have been made to the platform.

Since the Learning Hub was launched in May 2020 there have already been an additional eight releases which include functionality for users to be able to:

• rate a resource by awarding an overall score of between 1 and 5
• share their opinion on their search experience via a feedback form so the Learning Hub team can learn from users’ experiences and improve it in the future
• mark a resource as containing potentially sensitive content when contributing; enabling other users to make an informed choice whether they wish to proceed with viewing the content.

As the Learning Hub is still in its Beta phase there is still so much more to come with many additional features and functionality to be delivered which will be released in line with the product roadmap, due to be published October 2020.

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

e-FACE elearning programme launches new module on consent – Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has worked with the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) to develop a new elearning module on consent.

Sessions within the module have been developed to demonstrate best practice and are aimed at Dental Core Trainees (DCTs) and specialty registrars in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS).The module aims to tackle the limited consent knowledge many trainees have by providing consent process training and a certificate is awarded once the module is complete.

The new e-FACE module includes:

• an introduction to consent that discusses the key principles of the consent process
• a series of short clinical scenarios that focus on commonly-performed procedures.

The Consent module joins the existing 11 modules that cover the majority of the Dental Core Training Curriculum within the e-FACE programme. The programme is designed to support junior trainees working in OMFS departments. The content is also suitable as refresher material for those starting their speciality training.

For information about the elearning programme and to access the session, visit: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/oral-and-maxillofacial-surgery/

Supporting the health and wellbeing of our workforce:

Animated Films Raise Awareness of Mental Health Support – Two new animated films have been produced by Health Education England in order to make health and care learners, as well as their supervisors, aware of the help that is available to them if they are struggling.

It is important that those experiencing mental ill health know they can talk about it and receive help if they need it. Those in a position of authority should also know what is required of them and how they can help if they are approached by someone who is experiencing mental ill health.

The two new films, one aimed at learners on healthcare courses and the other aimed at supervisors can be viewed here https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/supporting-your-mental-health-wellbeing.

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.