New approach to education and training published
The policy framework for a new approach to workforce planning and the education and training of the health workforce is published today.
It puts employers and professionals in the driving seat and gives them the national support they need to identify and anticipate the key workforce challenges, and to be flexible and responsive in planning and developing their workforce. The Department of Health believes these provider-led arrangements offer the best assurance for future-proofing the way the health and public health workforce is developed.
Liberating the NHS: Developing the Healthcare Workforce builds on responses to earlier public consultations and the advice of the NHS Future Forum.
There are two central planks to the new system - Health Education England (HEE) and the Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs).
HEE will provide national leadership and oversight on strategic planning and development of the health and public health workforce, and allocate education and training resources. HEE will promote high quality education and training that is responsive to the changing needs of patients and local communities - including responsibility for ensuring the effective delivery of important national functions, such as medical trainee recruitment. Once the new education and training system is fully established, HEE will be able to consider to what extent they can be devolved.
The LETBs will be the vehicle for providers and professionals to work with HEE to improve the quality of education and training outcomes so that they meet the needs of service providers, patients and the public.
The Department will set the education and training outcomes for the system as a whole, securing the resources necessary and continuing to set the regulatory, policy and legal framework. It will hold the HEE Board to account for delivery of its strategic objectives.