By Vivienne Russell | 28 May 2013
The Department of Health has issued a ‘blueprint’ for NHS staff training over the next two years, placing a greater emphasis on values and behaviour.
The 'mandate' lays out the government's requirements until March 2015 for Health Education England, the £5bn body set up to oversee NHS training and education following the abolition of strategic health authorities. The body will provide national leadership and strategic direction, with NHS employers collaborating at the local level through local education and training boards.
Among the requirements in the mandate to be achieved by March 2014 are: dementia training for 100,000 staff; more nurses trained to work in the community; and minimum training standards for health care assistants. By March 2015, 50% of student nurses should be doing community placements as part of their training. The government also wants more doctors working in emergency medicine and enough midwives to give every woman personalised one-to-one care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the post-natal period.
By March 2015, recruitment for all NHS-funded training will have to be based on values and behaviour as well as technical and academic skills.
There should also be more mandatory training for GPs in mental health and children’s health and post-graduate training for nurses working with older people who have complex care needs.
Health minister Dan Poulter said: ‘The staff working in our NHS are our health service’s most precious resource, and we must do all we can to ensure that our staff have the right values, training and skills to deliver the very highest quality of care for patients.
‘Today’s mandate to Health Education England, backed by a £5bn budget, will help our many dedicated frontline staff to further improve their ability to care for patients as well as enabling our NHS to train the next generation of doctors, nurses and health care assistants.’
Ian Cumming, chief executive of Health Education England, added: ‘Health Education England exists for one reason and one reason only: to improve the quality of care delivered to patients by ensuring that our workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours, and is available in the right time and in the right place.’
Dean Royles, chief executive of NHS Employers, said the emphasis on local knowledge and planning was ‘really important’ and should lead to greater efficiencies.
He said: ‘Employers will make the most of this mandate to help them tailor the future NHS workforce and skills to the needs of patients.’
