In this Issue…
- HEKSS establishes new county-wide workforce summits with first held in Kent
- Region-wide physician associate programme board established
- Leadership collaborative annual summit and awards
- Further details of The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice conference released
- HEKSS reviews 52 Innovation Challenge Fund entries
Welcome
Happy new year.
HEKSS ended 2014 with a very productive governing body meeting where we agreed on several significant new pieces of work for 2015, including developing a physician associate programme for the region and the creation of new county-level workforce summits. Please see below for more information on both of these initiatives.
Late last year we also held the leadership collaborative’s annual leadership summit. It was both thought-provoking and inspiring in equal measure, highlighting just how much more we need to do to put patients at the heart of services while celebrating examples of excellent leadership demonstrated by a wide range of health and care staff across the region. Congratulations to all those who were shortlisted.
We are now finalising our next major event – our second ‘The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice’ conference to be held in February. Places are limited, so do book soon and encourage colleagues or students who may be interested in attending to do the same. More information on both of these events, and a link to the leadership award winners, is below.
Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to working with you in 2015 as we continue to develop the workforce to improve health and care.
Best wishes,
Philippa Spicer
HEKSS LETB Director
HEKSS establishes new county-wide workforce summits with first held in Kent
The HEKSS governing body has agreed to replace the quarterly County Partnership Councils with workforce summits in each county three times each year, following consultation with partnership council members and a successful first event in Kent. The summits will support the development of system-wide workforce planning to support service transformation.
While partnership councils have been effective in building relationships with health and care providers and commissioners, local authorities and education institutions, the move to workforce summits aims to bring together the right mix of senior leaders to ensure a focus on tangible outcomes.
The Kent workforce summit, held on 28 November, was attended by 35 stakeholders representing 17 different organisations. Attendees explored the aggregated workforce forecasts for the county and projected population needs in the context of system leadership, integration and challenges such as seven-day services and their impact on education and training. The resulting action plans include further work on embedding human factors, developing leadership skills at all levels and opportunities for training in partnership with social care.
HEKSS will be working with stakeholders in each of the three counties to facilitate the new workforce summits.
Region-wide physician associate programme board established
HEKSS has established a programme board to support the development of physician associates across the region.
There has been growing interest in the potential for physician associates – non-medical graduates who can carry out specific delegated tasks under the supervision of a doctor – to address skills shortages, for example in urgent and emergency care.
HEKSS organised a seminar in September to explore the issue and attendees heard from Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust which has successfully introduced physician associates to support care of the elderly. A number of important considerations emerged, including the barriers to international recruitment, and the need not to exacerbate existing workforce shortages by, for example, recruiting physician associates from current nursing staff. It is anticipated that recruitment will be drawn from science graduates.
The programme board will involve interested NHS providers and higher education institutions across the region and work with relevant national organisations, to co-ordinate the development of a physician associate education programme to meet local needs. The work is being sponsored by Michael Wilson, Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School, the University of Surrey, Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Kent have agreed to work together in the design, development and delivery of a unified curriculum. It is expected that the education programme will be available from September 2015.
Leadership collaborative annual summit and awards
Nearly 300 people attended the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Leadership Collaborative’s annual summit and awards in November. The conference focused on patient leadership and the power of patient stories – recognising that we are all patients and relatives ourselves – and was a day of stories, conversations and connections.
The line up of inspiring speakers included Julie Bailey, founder of Cure the NHS, Roger Kline, co-director of Patients First and Mark Doughty, co-founder of the Centre for Patient Leadership.
Closing the day, Fiona Edwards, Chief Executive of Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and chair of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Leadership Collaborative, said: “This has been great day but a challenging one, recognising how much we’ve achieved but how much more there is still to do. It is important that as leaders we hold things in balance, recognising and celebrating success while hearing and holding the hurt and accepting the challenge to learn and improve when things go wrong.”
The awards celebrated examples of excellent leadership demonstrated by health and care staff across the region who have brought the NHS values to life in their relationships with their peers, patients, families and carers.
For more information on the event and award winners, please visit http://www.kssleadership.nhs.uk/summit-awards.
Further details of The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice conference released
HEKSS has released further details of its second ‘The Sound of the Student & Trainee Voice’ conference to be held in February 2015. The event is for learners from the world of health and social care, allied health professionals and support staff, their educators and teachers and the organisations within with they work.
Plenary sessions include:
• Dementia challenge – fellowship and beyond
• Getting the emergency and acute pathway right
• NHS 111 – joining the numbers
• The learner’s voice through cinema.
There will also be a marketplace exhibition and a selection of workshops including using the learner’s voice to improve safety; what makes an excellent placement; integrating health and social care education; and eliminating undermining for learners.
Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Please visit the event pages for more information.
HEKSS reviews 52 Innovation Challenge Fund entries
Fifty-two proposals were submitted for the HEKSS Innovation Challenge Fund from a wide range of health and care providers across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The initiative was established to accelerate the introduction of new approaches to training and education that will enable health and care professionals to deliver better, more efficient care for patients.
Working with the HEKSS research and innovation programme board and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Academic Health Science Network, there is now an opportunity for five innovation proposals to be embedded as part of existing HEKSS work programmes.
The selected projects will support priority areas identified in the HEKSS skills development strategy including primary care; emergency care; dementia; compassion and patient safety; and children and young people. The Innovation Challenge is a key part of the HEKSS research, innovation and evaluation strategy to identify and support the education needs of the future workforce.
Chris Loughlan, HEKSS Head of Research, Innovation and Evaluation, said: “We would like to thank everyone who entered. We’ve had a tremendous response which reflects that a positive culture of innovation across the health community is abundant across the region. We look forward to working with the successful teams.”
Questions? Comments? Please get in touch:
Phone: 0207 415 3400
Web: www.kss.hee.nhs.uk
Email: heksscommunications@kss.hee.nhs.uk