Training and development will be critical over the coming months and years in maintaining and growing quality healthcare provision across the NHS, particularly as we face some major cultural and demographic changes.
As part of the NHS Confederation’s 2015 Challenge, we are committed to helping staff prepare for these changes across all areas of the workforce, not only registered professional workers but also bands one to four (healthcare assistants, cleaning and support staff). This effort needs to be focused and reflect the complex and changing needs within society. For example, we have increasing numbers of frail and ageing people who have different needs and require different skills in their healthcare providers. So we need to prepare staff to care for an older, more dependent population and continue to step up our efforts to train staff in helping people to self-care, or in other words, to understand and manage their own conditions.
In my previous job with the Nottingham University hospitals NHS trust, we took training very seriously, and a lot of time and effort went into key areas such as diabetes and sepsis. What I learned is that if you don’t prepare your workforce for the future, then patient experience will suffer. And it is managing and enhancing that experience that much training aims to address.
Dr Kate Granger’s #hellomynameis initiative is timely and has touched a nerve – it illustrates the important link that exists between patient experience and what is colloquially known as customer service, and has illuminated the importance of values and how people behave. It also illustrates the power of social media as a force for good - one that we can use much more effectively.
One new initiative that we welcome is the recently launched Skills Platform website, where providers and those seeking training across all areas and aspects of healthcare can access a wide range of provision. This is how I believe we can achieve greater transparency and access to skills. It enables people to rapidly share information and abilities. At the end of the day we are like a large family consisting of hundreds of organisations, and not sharing our knowledge is a risk and potential problem. Sharing has to be an integral part of our approach to the future of training.
Find out more about the Skills Platform website here
Content on this page is produced and paid for by Skills for Health, sponsor of the Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network’s workforce development hub
