EALING HOSPITAL TRUST HEALTH VISITING EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Transcription

1 EALING HOSPITAL TRUST HEALTH VISITING EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 1. Background In 2013 a health visiting strategy Embracing the Best was developed following consultation and engagement with a range of internal and external stakeholders at both regional and national level. This strategy was a local response to the national Health Visitor Implementation Plan - a Call to Action (DH, 2011), which aims to establish a resilient Health Visiting workforce in Ealing Hospital Trust, that is well placed to deliver against the outcomes of the Healthy Child Programme. Embracing the Best strategy identified an urgent need for strengthening and building health visiting capacity, as well as transformational change in the area of education and development of health visiting staff in order to ensure on-going assurance around the competencies of the health visiting workforce. In a recent on-line survey conducted as part of the Health Visitor Retention Project by NHS employers, 75% of health visitors expressed that there was no clear career pathway within Ealing Hospital Trust. Having no professional educational programme in place for health visiting was reported to be a key factor for health visitors when they considered their future in Ealing Hospital Trust. This paper therefore outlines the strategy to develop coherent training, education and professional development programmes for health visiting staff at every level, while creating a health visiting clinical academic hub, strengthening leadership and embedding a culture of innovation and best practice. 2. Health Visiting Clinical Academic Hub The Health Visitor Implementation Plan (DH, 2011) called for an increase in the health visiting workforce, which meant there was a need for a greater number of health visiting students to be trained. As a result, three super training hubs were established in London to take on more students in the health visiting programme, and Ealing Hospital Trust was one of them. This new commitment was seen as an opportunity to establish a Health Visiting Clinical Academic Hub which would benefit not only students, but all health visiting staff. Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July

2 The Health Visiting Clinical Academic Hub will be created to develop the health visiting workforce, be a beacon of excellence and the employer of choice where health visitors want to work. It is envisaged that this hub will develop training packages and master classes for health visiting staff at every level, ensuring a clear career pathway. This will be achieved through effective and collaborative links with Universities and the trust s Learning and Development department. The hub will also be research active, be a pilot site for larger scale research projects and be involved in testing innovative practice, and lead the profession through contributing to local and national policy agendas. A variety of methods will be used to promote and communicate the activities taking place within the hub, which will include a regular newsletter for the staff, setting up a web page and the use of social media. Two new roles have been developed to provide support to health visiting staff and aid the transformational change in the area of education and development Health Visiting Clinical Academic and Innovations Lead, and Health Visiting Associate Practice Teacher. Both these members will be involved in setting up the Clinical Academic Hub with support from the Assistant Director of Professional Standards, and will act as a resource for the health visiting workforce. 3. Training & Development Programmes To ensure on-going assurance around the competencies of the health visiting workforce, core training packages will be identified and developed for staff at every level within health visiting teams. A training needs analysis will be carried out to identify the gaps in the level of training across the three boroughs which will inform the development of an effective training programme. Where possible national training programmes provided by organisations such as the Institute of Health Visiting and Department of Health will be accessed to prevent reinventing the wheel. Training packages will also take into consideration the strategic direction of travel for health visiting services and include relevant partner agencies as appropriate, e.g. Early years and Children s Centre teams. Training and development will include the following: Health Visitors: Master Classes for various aspects of the Healthy Child Programme and Public Health Leadership Development Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July

3 Supervision Mentorship Research awareness/ development In addition to the above: Health Visiting Managers & Team Leads: Management Training HR issues performance, sickness, conflict etc. Recruitment training Budget management Writing business cases/ proposals Specialist Health Visitors: Programme of development Involvement in local/ national working groups Share expertise and contribute to local/ national policy Provide opportunities to act as a specialist resource for the hub Involvement in clinical audit and research Specialist Community Practice Teachers (SCPT)/ Mentors Development of regular forums for support and development (6-8 weekly) Training based on identified needs Standardised Mentorship training Learning sets for students, facilitated and delivered by SCPTs Peer Reviews Health Visiting Students: Standardised induction process Standardised processes Mentor/ SCPT support Regular learning sets, practical training sessions and time for reflection Involvement in the activities of the hub, development of services, policies etc. Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July

4 Community Staff Nurses, Nursery Nurses & Health Visitor Assistants: Core (role appropriate) training necessary to deliver the Health Child Programme A clear development programme with identified competencies Allocated mentor Opportunity for Community staff nurses to apply for health visiting training on successful completion of the development programme Career/ role development opportunities 4. Leadership Development As well as leadership training, a whole range of activities will be promoted to support health visitors in taking on the role of effective leaders as ascribed to them. This will involve supporting staff with submitting abstracts to professional conferences, writing for publications, acting as peer reviewers for academic/ professional journals and raising the profile of the profession as well as the organisation. Corporate membership with the Institute of Health Visiting will also enable health visitors to keep up to date with national developments and opportunities. Through ICO-wide working groups, health visiting staff will be able to share and promote good practice and be involved in shaping the future of the new service model in Ealing Hospital Trust. Links with national organisations such as Health Education England, NHS England, Institute of Health Visiting and Queens Nursing Institute will enable health visiting staff to contribute to the development of national policies and standards. 5. Support Mechanisms Restorative Supervision training has been commissioned to train 40 health visitors to become supervisors. A system will be set up across the ICO for all health visitors to receive restorative supervision from these trained supervisors on a regular basis. Standardised Induction and Preceptorship programmes for health visiting will be created to ensure a consistent level of support offered to all health visiting staff across the ICO. There are currently national working groups being set up by the Institute of Health Visiting to develop standardised Induction and Preceptorship programmes. The health visiting Associate Practice Teacher will be part of this Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July

5 working group and the Clinical Academic Lead will be on the Expert Advisory Board, which will enable contribution to national standards. The Clinical Academic Hub will produce a bi-monthly newsletter to keep health visiting staff up-to-date with latest research and developments, training opportunities and the work taking place within the hub. Corporate membership with the Institute of Health Visiting will also enable health visitors to keep up to date with national developments and opportunities. 6. Succession Planning & Career Progression There is a need to re-launch the introduction to Health Visiting scheme where band 5 Community Staff Nurses are recruited and mentored to be successful in applying for the band 6 Health Visiting Student programme. This will enable the trust to Grow your Own health visitors and plan for the future. A clear and consistent system will be developed to ensure all health visiting students within the organisation are interviewed and given job offers in a timely manner to ensure retention. Any existing work undertaken in this area will be taken into account and built on. Robust appraisal and personal development programmes need to be in place to ensure staff are supported in further development of their role. Health visitors will have a clear career progression pathway which will enable them to develop further in management, education or clinical specialism, which will be linked to the appraisal process. By embedding a culture of talent spotting, staff who show further potential to develop can be encouraged and appropriately supported to reach their full potential. A register will be maintained of new and emerging leaders, this will link into ensuring succession planning is assured in all teams. 7. Quality Improvement & Governance Clinical excellence will be developed and maintained through evidence based practice and exploring new ways of working to improve services. Regular research and audits will result in further learning and quality improvements. Progress against the strategy and quality standards will be monitored by the Health Visiting Programme Board (HVPB). Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July

6 8. Outcomes Implementation of this Health Visiting Education and Development strategy will contribute to meeting our commissioning outcome measures and all six objectives of Embracing the Best Health Visiting Strategy: Listen to Families and Children to improve the Care we give Deliver High Quality Health Visiting Services Value and Develop our Health Visiting Workforce Embed a Culture of Innovation and Best Practice Strengthen Leadership Strengthen Education and Development It will also help make the health visiting vision a reality, while helping us achieve the best outcomes for children and families served by the health visiting service in Ealing Hospital Trust. Our Vision: The Health Visiting Services of Ealing, Brent and Harrow will ensure the delivery of high quality, primary and early intervention Health Visiting Services. In doing so every child and family will be supported to be happy, healthy and well. The Health Visiting service will be delivered by a team who embrace the best of practice and achieve the best of outcomes for children and families. 9. Reference: Department of Health (2011) Health Visitor Implementation Plan : A Call to Action. London: DH. Sharin Baldwin (HV Clinical Academic & Innovations Lead) July