In March this year, The Shape of Caring Review commissioned by Health Education England (HEE) in partnership with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, was published. Chaired by Lord Willis, the report makes recommendations for the future education and training of nurses and care assistants.   

In March 2015, Lord Willis said: “There are 1.3 million care assistants and half a million registered nurses in England: it is vital to invest in this essential workforce. In the future, patients and the public will have more complex clinical needs and higher expectations than ever before. The education and training of nurses and care assistants need to reflect the changing care environment, and equip them to deliver high quality care.”

The Review centres around 8 themes:

·       Theme 1:Enhancing the voice of the patient and the public

·       Theme 2:Valuing the care assistant role

·       Theme 3:Widening access for care assistants who wish to enter nursing

·       Theme 4:Developing a flexible model

·       Theme 5:Assuring a high-quality learning environment for pre-registration nurses

·       Theme 6:Assuring high-quality, ongoing learning for registered nurses

·       Theme 7:Assuring sustainable research and innovation

·       Theme 8:Assuring high-quality funding and commissioning

During this #WeNurses discussion we will be focussing on Theme 7: Assuring sustainable research and innovation.  The review highlights the nurse role in this:

“Nurses and care assistants should seek at all times to use research to inform their practice. Their frontline roleputs them in a unique position to reflect the needs and concerns of patients,and to ensure that research activity is patient-focused, clinically based and will make a difference to care.”

It goes on to explain:

“To do this, registered nurses will need the knowledge and analytical skills to make informed decisions and contribute effectively to new innovations, taking a more proactive role in service improvement change and change management.” The link between research and innovation and the nurses role is clear however how can we assure sustainability of research and innovation?

Lord Willis sets out 4 recommendations:

1. HEE should forge greater links with the Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) to ensure that the workforce is able to adopt and use the latest research to inform and provide better patient care.
2. HEE should accredit Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) and Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) to work with LETBs.
3. There should be greater development of postgraduate doctoral centres in LETB areas to drive up clinical research in practice and increase the number of academics in practice.
4. HEE should establish an expert group to examine the potential and implications of developing and implementing Magnet principles to improve the education of the workforce and patient outcomes.

This discussion will include contributions from Lisa Bayliss-Pratt (@hee_lisaBP) Director of Nursing at HEE, Nicki Latham (@hee_nicki) Executive Director of Performance and Development at HEE andKaterina Kolyva (@KaterinaKolyva), Director Continued Practice at the Nursing & Midwifery Council.

Professor Lisa Bayliss-Pratt

Lisa was appointed as Director of Nursing at HEE in 2012 and in this role she is responsible for leading national policy, workforce planning, and multi-professional education and training commissioning for the non-medical healthcare workforce. Key achievements include establishing the Shape of CaringReview, development and piloting of pre-degree care experience for aspirantnurses and leading the ‘return to practice’ initiative. Lisa’s work also includes the creation of a three tiered dementia education and training framework which enabled HEE to achieve one of its Government Mandate requirements demonstrating that 100,000 NHS personnel had received dementia awareness training. Lisa also led the development of the ‘Fundamentals of Care’certificate for support/care workers across health and social care in England.

Lisa has been awarded a number of Honorary Appointments including Honorary Professor of Inter-professional Education at the University of Wolverhampton, Honorary Visiting Professor at City University and Honorary Degree (Doctor of Business Administration) from the University of Coventry. She holds a Doctorate of Clinical Practice from the University of Southampton and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Wolverhampton.

Professor Nicki Latham

Nicki is responsible for performance reporting at HEE, is HEE’s Senior Responsible Officer for the Values Based Recruitment project and is the executive lead for research and innovation and information systems. A key part of her role was the development of the 13 Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs), following their authorisation in 2013. Nicki was made Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University in May 2013 and has contributed to the work of the Health and Social Care Faculty. Nicki was previously Chief Operating Officer for Information Systems at the National Institute for Health Research and has 20 years experience in Higher Education, including at Leeds Metropolitan University where she completed her PhD in health education of diabetes.

Dr Katerina Kolyva

Dr Katerina Kolyva is currently the Director of Continued Practice at the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The Continued Practice directorate covers the areas of education, standards, revalidation and quality assurance of education and midwifery supervision. Prior to her appointment, Katerina held senior roles in health regulation and policy in the UK and Europe including strategy for education in the European Commission and Parliament. She holds aPhD in European studies and has lectured in various universities in the UK andEurope on EU legislation, policy and regulation.

References

Willis (2015) [Online] Raising the bar: Shape of Caring: A Review of the Future Education and Training of Registered Nurses and Care Assistants Health Education England Accessed 13th Aug 2015

Background reading:

1. Shape of Caring webpage
2. Shape of Caring Review – summary: