We are working with partner organisations to increase the opportunities for people to experience work in the healthcare sector, broadening their knowledge of the available healthcare careers and helping to ensure the future workforce supply to the NHS.
Work experience can help an individual get a feel for and gain knowledge of a desired career, develop aspiration for previously unconsidered career options. It is a requirement for some professions and higher education courses and can take many forms - being organised through schools, volunteering in an individual’s own time or a structured traineeship.
Toolkits
More than photocopying (Work experience - a toolkit for the NHS) provides information and resources to help NHS organisations offer high quality work experience opportunities. It aims to answers your questions and helps you to create or enhance a work experience programme that benefits your organisation. It builds on the good practice that is already in place in many parts of the health service. 
Applicants have reported difficulties accessing opportunities within GP and dental surgeries and there are documented concerns from such organisation, highlighting issues such as indemnity and insurance, which are different for independent businesses. To help combat this, two additional toolkits (available in the related documents below) that focus on the detail needed to support work experience in dentistry and general practice have been developed.These two toolkits tackle specific issues, such as confidentiality, that might be putting dentists and GPs off providing work experience.
 
The toolkits have been designed to be used in several ways. You can read them from start to finish or you can dip into sections, which you can use to improve your existing programme. 
A connected guide for teachers and careers advisers is available on the Health Careers Website. It explains how the NHS works and provides information and practical tips on how to set up a placement.

In celebration of the RCN centenary, we are showcasing the very best of the profession, revealing nursing practice that often goes unobserved or is ‘under the radar’. We are asking nurses, midwives, support workers and students to share their ideas with us so that we can give them the attention and development they deserve. 
 
Read more here

Stories have the power to overcome the key challenges organisations face, writes Dan Lucy
Can you remember a time in your life when you weren’t listening to or telling stories? Whether we’re old or young, stories are embedded into our everyday lives. We tell stories about ourselves, our families and our lives, and then we share these far and wide using social media.  
While the power of stories to influence behaviour has long been recognised by the advertising industry, leaders are increasingly using storytelling to align and inspire a workforce. Our recent research, The Leader as Storyteller, highlights the view that storytelling is an essential tool for addressing many leadership challenges such as articulating a clear vision and strategy, engaging employees, generating commitment to change and establishing trust.

Read the article here

Countess of Chester
Approved by the Royal College of Surgeons of England 
Course dates:   7th & 8th November 2016
Course fee:        £700.00
 
 
This 2 day course is designed to provide an introduction to safe surgical practice within a controlled workshop environment. It covers:

• Open surgery
• Wound management
• Electro-surgery
• Endoscopic surgery

 
Features include:

• Intensive hands-on practice of basic skills
• Individual tuition, with a maximum of 16 participants per course
• Personal feedback on performance, with advice for further practice
• A detailed course manual and course DVD

 
For an application form please contact:
Miss Zoe Jones
Medical Education
Education & Training Centre
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Liverpool Road
Chester
CH2 1UL
01244 364727
Zoe.jones3@nhs.net
 
Attendance at a Basic Surgical Skills (BSS) course is strongly recommended for all surgical trainees who take up their first surgical appointment and is open to Foundation doctors intending a surgical career or surgically related career. The course has been agreed on an intercollegiate basis and trainees who complete the course will be issued with certification that will be reciprocally recognised by all four Royal Surgical Colleges.

DAPS Global invites doctors in training, allied healthcare professionals and medical students to the third International Summit on Quality & Safety in November 2016. The theme for this year’s Summit is 'Challenging Paradigms, Securing a Future' - exploring how we can change what we are doing to develop sustainable thinking for the future. We are looking for junior healthcare professionals and students to attend and present their work on how they have been doing exactly that. The Summit will be a stimulating, innovative and diverse conference bringing the best of aspiring healthcare leaders together. 

We are accepting over 150 poster and oral presentations as well as inviting delegates to be exposed to wealth of information at the Summit. CPD points will also be available for attendees, please visit the website for details. This will be a unique opportunity for individuals to learn from each other and to push the boundaries of healthcare innovation in Quality & Safety.

All NHS Trusts are to have appointed a local Freedom to Speak Up Guardian by October 1st and be embedding the national whistleblowing policy into their approach. With the FTSU agenda rapidly developing, how can you build on the progress made so far?
 
Join us in December to hear from Dr Henrietta Hughes, (incoming) National Guardian for the NHS and learn how you can improve culture and install confidence in your organisation, better support your FTSU Guardians and share best practice with your peers. 
 
Key points to be addressed include:

• Updated on progress made nationally on the Freedom to Speak Up agenda
• Embedding the principals of the national integrated whistleblowing policy
• Understanding the role of the National Guardian and what it means for your approach
• Developing the role & skills of your local FTSU Guardian
• How have other trusts appointed and supported their FTSU Guardians?
• Effectively supporting staff throughout the process
• How can Freedom to Speak Up Guardians learn from each other? 

About the day:
The morning session will examine the implications of the new national policy, work of the National Guardian, role of Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and how healthcare organisations can bring about the required change of culture.
 
The afternoon session will focus on the practical steps your healthcare organisation can take to improve your ‘raising concerns’ procedures and effectively support staff in the process.
Morning refreshments will be served upon arrival with a networking lunch to follow. 

The Health Education England learning disabilities team has been working on a set of ‘generic role templates’ to support commissioners and providers develop new roles in community intensive support services.
Health Education England (HEE) has produced a set of five generic role templates to support the development of new and different roles in learning disability community services.
The templates will help commissioners and providers of health and care services build a flexible workforce capable of delivering the aims of the Building the Right Support agenda.
Divided into educational levels, the templates outline a range of activity-specific competences that organisations can pick and choose from based on the features and focus of the role that is being designed.
You can find the templates here  http://bit.ly/2bUaYnY  

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust are proud to be part of the national Always Event (AE) pilot which was funded as part of the Compassion in Practice Strategy by NHS England working in partnership with Picker (Europe) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – Always Events® is registered trademark and ‘owned’ by IHI.
AEs are defined as those aspects of the care experience that should always occur when people and family members interact with healthcare professionals and the health care delivery system.
IHI’s AEs framework provides a strategy to help health care providers identify, develop, and achieve reliability in a person- and family-centered approach to improve individual’s experiences of care.
An AE is a clear, action-oriented, and pervasive practice or set of behaviours that:

• Provides a foundation for partnering with people and their families
  
• Ensures optimal experience and improved outcomes
  
• Provides a common platform for all that demonstrates a continuing commitment to person and family centred care
  

The opportunity to be part of the national pilot was timely for our Trust and an Adult Learning Disability Team volunteered to participate. Together the AE was co-designed with people who use services and their carers, to understand what matters to them and identify our AE:

• I will always be supported in moving on in care (transitions in care) Ideas were generated which would enable the AE, including:
  
• The development of a contact card on discharge
  
• Notification of proposed staff changes / transfers by letter, with photographs of new staff • A monthly “pop-in and chat” support session
  

These ideas have been developed and tested using Plan, Do, Study, Act improvement methodology.
Co-design has been fundamental to the development of our AE with people who use our services and their carers involved throughout, developing an AE in their own words, co-designing the evaluation questions and presenting their story. Between July 2015 and early Jan 2016 26 people were discharged following the new procedure (new letter, contact card, pop in and chat invitation). A follow up contact call was made 2 weeks later by support worker and cases were discussed at the team weekly discharge meeting.
The evaluation has been completed by Picker Europe and the findings show a positive difference to the experiences of care for those who use services and staff.
Feedback from people using services has included:
“I keep the card on the fridge with a magnet – so I see it all the time”
“My idea was chosen….I feel good”
Feedback from staff members:
‘‘Co-design made the implementation feel real and right the way target driven things aren’t’’
“I was worried that it was going to be difficult to do but it’s not at all. It’s a small investment of time to have a big impact”
The next steps are to continue develop our AE with the team. A roll out plan is in place to spread the AE to other Learning Disability teams and across the organisation.
For more information about Always Events please see the links to websites below:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/always-events/
http://www.ihi.org/Engage/Initiatives/PatientFamilyCenteredCare/Pages/AlwaysEvents.aspx
http://www.pickereurope.org/news/always-events-at-lancashire-care/ 

We’ll also be showcasing some of the tools, regional data and resources we have in place right now to help trusts, including:

• our Workforce Management (staff bank) framework
• our NHS Improvement approved agency staffing frameworks covering the full range of clinical and non-clinical roles
• our G-Cloud framework to help trusts get the best value deal on eRostering and other workforce management software services

Places are limited so sign up for your preferred date and venue today:

• 11 October: Leeds, Jury’s Inn
• 14 October: London, Aviation House, Holborn
• 17 October: Liverpool, Central Library  
  

In this short video, we learn how Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and private care home, Broughton House, brought significant benefits to staff and patients by adopting a joined-up approach to training in end-of-life care.
Staff from both organisations discuss how shared learning and integrated working have resulted in a unified level of training. This ensures that staff have the skills and knowledge to provide high-quality care for patients, and that patients receive continuity of care between providers. 

Watch the video here