Developing the cancer workforce
8.50 All NHS staff need to ensure they are up to date with professional and service developments and are fully able to deliver a quality service to patients.
Continuing professional development must be grounded in service quality and clinical governance requirements and be firmly linked with individual appraisal and personal development planning. The NHS Plan announced that an extra £140 million will be made available for continuing professional development.
8.51 Education and training for cancer staff will need to underpin cancer network workforce strategies. All cancer service providers will be required to draw up a written training strategy for cancer clinicians, both medical and non-medical. ulti-disciplinary training will support and develop the effectiveness of the specialist multi-disciplinary teams providing cancer care.
Training for leadership
8.52 Implementing the changes for cancer care and putting the new network arrangements in place will place a substantial management burden on key staff in the cancer teams, for which they may not have been adequately trained. A survey of cancer consultants' perceptions of their own training needs found that only 20% felt they had had adequate management training.
8.53 This situation is common across the NHS. Improved leadership is vital to the modern NHS. The NHS Plan recognised that service modernisation relies upon staff - especially those in clinical posts - having the time and space to redesign and re-organise their services. The experience of the Cancer Services Collaborative has also demonstrated the necessity of this.
8.54 The new Leadership Centre for Health will be in place by 2001. The Centre will promote leadership development closely tied to the Modernisation Agency's work to deliver improved patient services, including the roll out of the Cancer Services Collaborative. It will provide tailored support for clinicians and managers, both those with potential and those already in leadership roles. Lead cancer clinicians will be included in the target groups of staff.
