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Developing stronger global health systems post-pandemic

Healthcare World’s Fabian Sutch-Daggett previews Health Education England’s revised strategy

If 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.

“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

Professor Ged Byrne MBE, Director of Global Engagement for HEE.

“If we allow our workforce to learn within a global health context, they ultimately improve as individuals and as part of the wider system.”

Newly published data from THET highlights a significant number of NHS staff seeking more opportunities to undertake global work at points their careers. With the right support and planning, these opportunities can provide personal development for NHS participants as well as benefitting our partners overseas. We support and fund fellowships that use these experiences as a developmental opportunity for NHS staff.

Participation in such experiences can also foster innovation in the NHS as they expose NHS staff to new perspectives. Drawing on the insights and lessons learned through working collaboratively with global partners, NHS staff gain experience of solving problems in environments where less resource is available.

In addition, a key role of HEE as part of the NHS is ensuring staff who trained overseas are able to thrive as members of our NHS. There is significant activity in supporting international staff in the NHS, including the Widening Access to Specialist Training scheme (WAST), and a focus on tackling differential attainment.

Through Supporting NHS staff to take opportunities, such as HEE fellowships, for overseas learning can play a role not just in supporting overseas partners in delivering sustainable change, but will also lead to a stronger NHS over the long-term.

Ged Byrne MBE Director of Global Engagement HEE

“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”

An offer to NHS organisations

In addition to enabling individual development in an international context, there must be a focus at the grassroots of our health systems. This is why the second portion of HEE’s new strategy aims to support NHS systems to understand and benefit from a ‘globalised’ approach to education and development.

For example, in 2020/21 HEE funded NHS trusts to provide English language training programmes and examinations for nurses trained overseas who, as they are unable to demonstrate the NMCs required level of English language proficiency, are unable to gain registration and so are working in other non-registered roles in the NHS.

Working in partnership with 87 NHS Trusts across all seven NHS England regions, more than £1.3m has been provided to fund English language training for 2,046 OTNs currently working in the English NHS.

“Adding a global dimension to HEE’s offer to these health systems [ICS] provides new opportunities for system leaders to improve local healthcare delivery.” - HEE Global Strategy Refresh.

“We will work with HEE’s transformation team to integrate global opportunities into existing local workforce transformation programmes,” adds Professor Byrne.

The offer to the world

The last part of HEE’s refreshed strategy is its offer not to the NHS or the individual, but the global health system at large, centred around the “Triple Win” ethos:

• NHS (& HEE) have opportunities to learn and innovate from other healthcare systems • International Governments gain access to a world-leading healthcare workforce and expertise • International benefit from improved

Global Health Security, Resilience and

Infrastructure

As part of this, HEE will continue to work on Technical Collaboration & Consultancy programmes focused on the health workforce and education and training. These projects and programmes provide overseas partners access to NHS expertise for system-to-system knowledge exchange, in-depth strategic analysis and advice, and long-term implementation support for programmes.

By increasing and enhancing the quality of global partnerships which include front-line staff and NHS integrated care systems, as well as increasing the number and effectiveness of partnerships between institutions and health economies, HEE’s strategy aims to ensure that the NHS can truly contribute to the UK’s global health objectives – and puts NHS staff at the centre of this.

In conclusion

HEE’s revised strategy positions the NHS, and by extension, the UK, in a way that enables both overseas individuals and nations to collaborate, learn, and operate in a way which benefits everyone. In today’s still pandemic world, it is vitally important that we continue to develop together as a global health system, not as individual operators.

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