Paper S – Medical Workforce update

Paper S
Health Education East Midlands - Governing Body
Medical workforce update
Purpose of this paper
To update the Governing Body on progress with the medical workforce priority
Why is it important?
The difficulties in the attraction and retention of medical staff in the East Midlands
has been highlighted as a risk to the future provision of high quality healthcare in the
region.
How it links to our strategic priorities
This paper links to our aim to supply a safe and sustainable workforce and to the
medical workforce priority making the East Midlands an attractive place to work and
train.
What are the implications/options/possibilities/risks/consequences/impacts?
This paper is provided for information. The risks are in failing to maximise impact if
we do not have an overall strategic approach to the medical workforce issues.
Suggested resolution
The Governing body is asked to receive the paper for information and share it in the
LETCs and feedback on the work being undertaken within the LETCs that link into
this.
Professor Sheona Macleod
HEEM Postgraduate Dean
Update on progress with the Medical Workforce priority
The difficulties in the attraction and retention of medical staff in the East Midlands has been
highlighted repeatedly as a risk to the future provision of high quality healthcare in the region.
There are a number of different initiatives addressing this being taken forward at individual trust,
CCG, training programme, and LETC level, as well as LETB and HEE initiatives.
In order to accelerate and maximise the impact of these smaller interventions, HEEM is pulling them
together into an over-arching strategy with the help of Pat Oakley. This will allow us to identify
clearly which areas we are moving forward and where we need to increase our efforts.
Update on Progress
Pat Oakley facilitated an agenda setting session on the 5th February, which gathered ideas from
around the region, and created and outline strategy for the future. In order to focus discussions
services are divided into five areas. There is notably no Primary Secondary separation as the
consensus on the day was that this traditional divide will not help us address future patient need.
The 5 development goals identified are:
1. Provide excellent training places, supervisors, clinical education leaders, and trainee support so
that junior doctors feel East Midlands is a “place to prosper” for both their training and career
development, and as a place to live and work.
2. Supporting hard pressed recruitment localities and specialties with joint training initiatives and
incentives.
3. Developing innovative training posts which further develop care in the community (integrated
care) and cutting edge care.
4. Recognising regional centers of practice innovation, supporting their networks with centers
outside the East midlands so that trainees feel that they are in a “very happening place” as they
develop their post graduate careers locally.
5. Working with the East Midland’s Local Government, Higher Education Institutes and Employers
to develop a long-term strategy to encourage talented children to the region’s universities and
to brand the region as a “place to thrive”.
Initial areas of work:
1. Size future workforce requirements to support the region’s future services.
2. Review training rotations to ensure adequate training, and the region’s services, can be
delivered.
3. Develop integrated training schemes to support the development of services across the
acute and community settings.
4. Assess the future role of non-training grade medical staff and others, and map-out their
development needs to complement the above.
5. Ensure plans fit with the developments in integrating health and social care provision,
informatics, and primary and secondary prevention programmes.
6. Assess the feasibility of developing specialist training centers and support community-based
services in all areas.
7. Assess the requirements for the introduction of genomics-aided therapeutics in the key
specialties.
8. Support career development by designing accredited modular post-training practice
development rotations to meet each staff group’s Continuing Practice Development, revalidation and re-accreditation needs.
The next steps
1. Mapping of current activity into the framework provided
2. Align initiatives with planned service developments
3. Develop clear time plan
4. Identify leads across the East Midlands.
5. Identify areas for wider collaboration across HEE and the NHS and social care systems.
6. Define additional work plans required from identified gaps
7. Align with workforce planning for the trainee workforce
8. Align with workforce planning for wider workforce
Suggested resolution
The Governing body is asked to:
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Receive the update for information
Share this in the LETCs
Feedback on the work being undertaken within individual LETCs that link into this to take
forward the initial mapping process.
Prof Sheona Macleod
Postgraduate Dean
March 2015