Developing stronger global health systems post-pandemic Healthcare World’s Fabian Sutch-Daggett previews Health Education England’s revised strategy
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f there was ever a stronger case for health system cohesion and development, it is surely our experiences over the past 18 months. Never before have we seen such collaboration, ingenuity, and rapid development occur. Despite the struggles brought by the global pandemic, we can look back proudly at the momentous changes in healthcare that have occurred as a result. It’s vitally important that healthcare systems should look to carrying on this momentum into the future - which is precisely what Health Education England is aiming to do in their revised global strategy.
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“HEE will continue to strengthen the health systems and service in England and across the world through bilateral and multilateral, mutually beneficial, partnerships in order to attract, educate and train an international health workforce.” - HEE Global Strategy Refresh An offer to NHS staff One of the first issues which HEE will tackle is the ever-present issue of the workforce crisis. Without effective and resilient individuals within health systems at home and abroad, no amount of research and development will make a difference to the
way our health systems operate. Clinicians and staff at all levels of the healthcare chain must be provided with the opportunity to develop and learn, as well as share their learnings and skills within a global context. Working and learning in a global context – alongside their peers - not only are individuals better prepared for the issues that they face in their day-to-day routine, but they also have the ability to react to developing situations and provide valuable knowledge to others. In other words, it’s a win-win. “There is significant and mounting evidence that exposure to global clinical environments increases the speed and depth of metacognitive learning. In addition, multiple studies have shown that front-line staff value global experiences including global placement and volunteerism, cross border peer to peer relationships and global educational activity.” - HEE Global Strategy Refresh. “The reason this strategy was developed was because we recognised if we were going to develop the best healthcare, then our workforce had to be exposed to a range of learning environments,” says
