Training news
For further information on all training matters please contact your regional training facilitators, call the helpline on 0870 240 3801 or email Chris Dye, head of training and development:
Regional news
A number of events are now taking place across all regions organised by individual RTFs. A calendar of events for each region has been or will be distributed. These are normally distributed through chairs, but if you have difficulty accessing one, please contact your RTF. Sue Bedward, the RTF for West Midlands, is currently on maternity leave (her twins, both girls, were born in late September) but John Hunter (East Midlands) is covering her absence with support from Helen Smith.
Induction
During the summer, five induction events were held across the country for newly appointed non-executives. The commission adopted a more interactive approach to these events and evaluations were extremely positive. Ninety per cent of delegate evaluations rated the events either 'excellent' or 'good'. Three more events have been organised for January and invitations have recently been sent out.
The induction events for new chairs have also been highly evaluated with forthcoming events on 8-9 November in Leeds, 13-14 December in Oxford and 21-22 February in York.
Audit committee conferences
As a follow up to the events last year, the commission arranged two conferences entitled The Impact of Integrated Governance on Audit Committees. These were organised by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). In total 300 free places were purchased from the training levy for chairs and non-executives. It is clear that these events are extremely popular and the commission apologises to those who could not attend because the events were full. We may try to organise a repeat event early in the new year.
Finance training
The subsidised programme for 2004 is drawing to a close with remaining events being:
* The non-executive role in finance - 8 December
* Payment by results - 9 November.
These events are again very nearly full, but a programme for 2005 has been drawn up consisting of three different programmes (including the above two) running four times each throughout the year.
Full information and booking details are available by contacting the HFMA on 0117 929 4789.
Patient safety events
Two events per months are being held across the country outlining the systems that boards should ensure are in place to maximise patient safety. These are being run, on behalf of the commission, by the National Patient Safety Agency and are free of charge. The most immediate dates are:
- For PCTs
9 December, Bristol - For mental health trusts
16 December, Reading - For acute/ambulance trusts
11 November, Leicester
18 November in Leeds
The above may not be your most local events however. Should you need further details of all the events, contact Sue Slade:
Training needs identified through the appraisal process
A number of training and development needs will be identified through performance, development and review process. To ensure that our training programme takes account of such findings, we have set up an e-mail address for chairs and non-executives to let us know of training that would be helpful to either themselves or non-executives identified during appraisal processes. Please contact the commission with this information, and any significant findings identified will be included in future bulletins:
Competency-based recruitment training
As outlined on the front of this bulletin, by April next year, a new system of competency-based recruitment for all chairs and non-executive directors will be in place. By then, all chairs will need to have attended a training workshop on the new system.
Consequently, one event per month in each region has been arranged between November and March. Chairs should all have received an invitation to an event by December at the latest. Any queries should be directed to your RTF or to Sue Slade for the London programme.
