|  Learning in UK
National Health
Service (NHS)
Alexander Braddell, Oxfordshire
Skills for Health
Context for learning
1997: Blair government
elected on a ‘modernising’
agenda.
Promise to address the
“under-funding” of
National Health Service
(NHS)
2000:
Published NHS Plan, an action plan to modernise
National Health Service Premise of reform
1948
- NHS was established
as “doctor-centred”
Previous NHS was
under-funded
2000
- Reformed NHS is “patient-centred” Promises
and priorities
NHS
Plan promises
- £19
billion by 2005
- power,
information for patients
- more
hospitals and beds
- more
doctors and nurses
- shorter
waiting times
- cleaner
wards, better food
- improved
care for older people
- tougher
standards, better rewards for staff
NHS Plan priorities
- target
biggest killers, e.g. cancer, heart disease
- pinpoint
changes needed to improve people's health and
well-being
- deliver
modern, fair, convenient services that “people want”
Fulfilling
the promises
Key issue:
resource management
Will increased funding deliver
improvements?
Challenge: Recruit more staff,
and use existing staff more
effectively
2000–2003
-
Massive organisational
restructuring
2000
-
Health Service of All the
Talents Workforce
development plan
2001
-
Working Together – Learning Together Lifelong
learning framework
2002
-
HR in the NHS Plan ‘More
staff working differently’ HR strategy
2003
-
Agenda for Change
Pay modernisation based
on job standardisation
Skills
escalator
Staff
movement up, down, across
the organisation ‘Start as a
domestic, end as chief executive’
- Old-style
NHS: rigidly hierarchical, cultures within
cultures, lots of demarcation
- New-style NHS: greater flexibility,
job redesign (e.g.
nurses taking on doctors’
work), recognition of value of
whole team (cleaner to
consultant)
NHS as
a microcosm of the
UK workplace
- high
proportion of nonprofessional staff with
low or no qualifications
- denied
access to opportunities for
development, suspicious
of ‘learning’
- Wasteful
of human resource and individual potential
Health
Service of all the Talents Agenda for Change: staff to have
access to learning and
development as a right
Lifelong
learning and ‘Skills for Life’
- 1999
survey suggests 20% of UK population have limited
literacy/numeracy
- 2001
National Strategy launched to improve adult
literacy/numeracy
- NHS
is required by government to engage with
the strategy
- Of
1.2 million employees, 200,000 lack target
qualifications for school
leavers
- 50,000
+ staff are thought to have limited literacy/
numeracy
Limited
literacy/numeracy restricts ability to:
- perform
job
- cope
with change
- engage
critically with workplace issues
[See p. 20 for an NHS workplace
example]
Learning
and patient-centred service delivery
Lifelong
learning and development are keys to delivering the
Government’s vision of patient-centred care in the NHS.
Our main
aim is to ensure that the NHS, working with its partners
and related sectors, develops and equips staff with the
skills they
need to:
– support
changes and improvements in patient care
– take advantage of wider career opportunities; and
– realise their potential.
This is
not simply a good thing in itself. There is increasing
evidence that lifelong learning, as part of good employment
practice, lies at the heart of effective organisational performance.
–
Working Together – Learning Together 2001 |
HR in the
NHS Plan ‘More
staff working differently’
NHS
University (NHSU) ‘Learning for everyone’
A corporate university to support
NHS modernisation by unlocking
the potential of a ‘million hardworking,
talented people’
“For far too long education
and training in the NHS has
been a privilege for a few - the
NHSU will make it a right for
everyone. Everyone should
have access to a professional
qualification."
– Labour Party manifesto
pledge for 2001 election – to
launch in autumn 2003
Provide practical learning for
everyone at every level: staff,
patients, carers, volunteers ‘Bricks and clicks’
Grow the skills needed for
modern healthcare
Still evolving
– See www.nhsu.nhs.uk
NHSU launch portfolio
Improving patient care
- Induction to the NHS
First-ever standard induction for NHS
- Communication skills
- General and specialised
- First contact (triage)
Supporting new ways of
working in the NHS
- Hygiene and infection control
HAIs currently cost NHS £1bn plus annually
Supporting staff
- Skills
for life, health and work, literacy, numeracy and
language skills of staff
- Health
informatics Information management
- "Educator" support
for educators working in NHS to
support learners and
learning
- Management
Skills
Leadership and management
also Junior scholarship
program and Foundation
Degree opportunities for
employees
On the ground
Challenges
- Three
tiers of learning
– Statutory responsibilities –
legislated training e.g.
health and safety
– Compulsory – called for
by hospital policy e.g. local induction
– High priority – recognised
as valuable e.g.
supervisory skills
– Staff shortages, acute
difficulties around release
time, lack of back-up staff
–
Equity
– Resources (e.g. facilities
for learning)
Some possible solutions
- Protected
time and range of learning opportunities
e.g. skills training courses
– reading
– e-learning
– research
– experiential learning
- Job shares
– shadowing schemes
– networking
– courses
– work experience
- The kindness
of strangers (or is it “With a little help
from my friends”)
Alexander
Braddell is Program
Manager at ORH-Stepping Stones.
He works with Oxfordshire Skills for
Health, an initiative based on
partnership work between Oxfordshire
NHS organisations, Oxfordshire County
Council, and the South East England
Development Agency (SEEDA). |
