Dear Colleagues

RE: Advance Care Planning Training Opportunity
I am writing to you to ask for your support within your organisation to promote staff attending a one-day Advance Care Planning (ACP) Training Course.
I know you will appreciate how important it is for patients to have the opportunity to
document their future wishes and preferences at end of life to aim for a prepared and planned death. Therefore, a group of specialist palliative care education centres in the North West of England joined together to form a regional network, The North West Coast Learning Collaborative (NWCLC) to design, deliver and quality assure a high-quality ACP programme for delivery across their localities. The NWCLC was successful in bidding for project funding from a partnership between Health Education England (working across the North West) Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Networks and the North West Coast Strategic Clinical Networks.
This well evaluated programme has now already been delivered to range of frontline staff. The programme has also supported the development of Facilitators who have been trained to prepare and deliver the programme. This free programme is particularly aimed at frontline staff from health, social and voluntary sectors. I would be grateful if you could promote this training within your organisation by sharing this letter to your relevant colleagues. Details about how to book on a session: North West Coast here and Greater Manchester here.
Evaluations from Staff who have already undertaken the training have indicated that it was "a wonderful, informative day. Really makes you think about your practice and evaluate how you do things" and "Fantastic session, very educational and enjoyable. I will be recommending to colleagues. Thank you".
We do hope that your colleagues and organisation can benefit from this helpful development. Yours sincerely,
Dr Michael Farrell, Head of Education Transformation - North, Health Education England

How to book your place

We are facilitating the Advance Care Planning study day at Queenscourt on the following dates:

• 7 June
  
• 11 July
  
• 8 August
• 13 September
  
• 15 October
• 18 November
• 6 December

9.30am – 4.30pm, lunch and refreshments are provided
Please complete and return the attached booking form to apply for a place

Click here for the Booking Form

NHS Improvement has produced draft guidance on safe staffing management for nursing associates. Employers are invited to submit feedback on the draft document by Wednesday 12 December 2018.

NHS Improvement intends to publish this guidance as an appendix to the set of safe staffing resources already available. This is to provide healthcare professionals and others with the tools to ensure they can safely and effectively integrate the nursing associate role into hospital and community care settings.

The resource has been drafted with input from senior nurses, clinicians, workforce colleagues and regulatory and government organisations including the Department of Health and Social Care and the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

To view the staff staffing draft document and the consultation please visit the NHS Improvement website.

Have your say on the draft guidance
If you would like to share your thoughts with NHS Employers, please email Robyn.Swain@nhsemployers.org by Monday 3rd December 2018. Alternatively, you can submit your individual responses directly to NHS Improvement by Wednesday 12 December 2018.

There are Leadership and Management apprenticeship programmes for every level - First Line Managers to Senior Leaders. 

Check out what's on offer for you here

This is a space for you to talk about what matters to you about working in health and social care.
We want to hear your ideas on 5 main areas to make things better for people working in health and care. Your comments will feed into the development of the long term plan for the NHS and the Social Care Green Paper. 
This is a public site so other people will be able to see your comments and respond to them. Ministers and staff from the Department of Health and Social Care will get involved in the conversation too. 
Find out more and start sharing your ideas. 
You can choose to be anonymous on this platform by ensuring the information you provide in the sign-up process does not identify you.

With flu vaccination season approaching and trusts getting ready to start their local campaigns to promote the flu jab, here’s a reminder of the facts behind flu and how being vaccinated helps protect staff and patients.

Read more here

BestEvidence is a free web-based app available for clinicians to get access to research and guidelines.

City University of London, funded the development of BestEvidence in order to facilitate the use of research evidence to inform and improve learning, practice and policy and thereby improve patient outcomes.

To get the app on your device, smartphone, tablet or desktop computers, go to www.BestEvidence.Info

The development of research capability and capacity for the Integrated Clinical Professions is an important priority.  To support this Health Education England (working across the North), with the support of NHS R&D North West,  has launched applications for the Health Education England North / NIHR BRIDGING SCHEME.
 
This Bridging Scheme offers the opportunities for Nurses, Midwifes, Allied Health Professionals, Pharmacist or Healthcare Scientists with a keen interest in pursuing a clinical research & academic career to apply for funding to support their development  with a particular focus in supporting their development and work towards a successful NIHR Fellowship application.   This scheme is particularly targeted at those clinical colleagues who have completed a Masters Level Degree and are looking to undertake a PhD or are seeking a Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
 
For full application details please visit Here.  Please note that applications for this high value development opportunity will close at 5pm Monday 17th September.

Take a look at the infographic below exploring the different routes into nursing for employers. Until recently, the routes to developing registered nurses within the workforce have been limited, with the university degree being the main way to train this group of staff. 
The introduction of the nursing degree apprenticeship gives a new opportunity for employers to train nurses, while the creation of the new nursing associate role can help to be a bridge between healthcare assistants and graduate registered nurses. These new routes can create a confusing picture for employers and so the infographic has been developed to support you to make the most of the new and existing routes into nursing.

• You can learn more about each of the different routes and good practice here.
• Click on the image to download the PDF
  

Health Education England is encouraging young people to consider degrees in nursing and the allied health professions, highlighting the high employment rates and the chance to make a difference to people’s lives.

Access resources to promote these careers to undergraduates here