4 minute read
Delivering capacity through digital
Health Education England’s action learning programme enables individuals to consider workforce planning issues, say Partnerships Managers Finola Preston and Aleksandra Conversano
Last year, deep in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare capacity was in a dire place. Never before in living memory has there been such a stress on our health systems, and even now, we are really feeling the impact of the workforce problem.
In an e ort to recognise this issue, the
WHO designated the year of 2021 as the
‘International Year of the Health and Care
Workers’. This project was vital in highlighting the urgent need to invest in health workers, ensuring their health, jobs, economic opportunity and equity throughout the world.
As such, HEE worked in collaboration with WHO to develop the next generation of system leaders, creating the ‘Workforce Planning and Leadership Development Programme’, comprised of a series of four seminars and seven Action Learning Sets, presented by leaders in the field of workforce planning. These seminars are accessible and open to all, and only require registration.
So far, two of these seminars have taken place, with more coming later this year. These ‘Action Learning Sets’ are comprised of 60 participants from seven low and middle-income countries around the globe, bringing together future influencers and leaders from all corners of the social, economic, and political spheres.
“You can’t fix a problem with a tool from the same shed that created the problem,” says Goran Stevanovski, the Chief Medical Education O icer in the Medical Faculty, Skopje, and member of the North Macedonia Action Learning Set.
“There are many di erent people: lawyers, MBAs, MAs, people with varied backgrounds and positions. They are looking at the world in a di erent way, each bringing something to the table, which is enriching.”
Action learning enables individuals to consider real-life workforce planning issues specific to each participating country and encourages them to work together to co-develop solutions. Led by experienced facilitators from the University of Salford, the sessions empower participants to act as advocates for a strategic approach to health workforce planning.
“No one is solving this problem for us as this problem requires too many institutions to solve. Instead, we are learning how to tackle it,” says Goran.
This type of technical collaboration focuses on bringing in external best practice, but also building capacity and confidence in the ability of countries to solve their own issues.
Ged Byrne MBE Director of Global Engagement HEE
Highlighting best practice
One of these seminars: ‘State of Shock: the role of workforce planning in responding to shocks in demand for health and care’, brought together experts from Australia, England, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Peru, and South Africa. It focused on the challenges of responding to short-term ‘shocks’ to healthcare, such as COVID, at the same time as the existence of longer-term trends. More than 400 people dialled into the discussion and a further 2,000 have watched it online subsequently.
Seminars three and four are scheduled to take place in July and October 2022 respectively. These will focus on the challenge of ensuring su icient health professionals – nurses, doctors and other qualified health and care workers – as well as how countries may maximise the contribution of supporting workforces. International speakers will present on their experiences and share common tools and practices they utilise daily to address these challenges.
A solution to your challenges?
Discussing the success of the programme so far, Ged Byrne, Director of Global Health Partnerships at HEE, commented: “These digital sessions have highlighted the importance of collaborative and strategic workforce planning. Both HEE and WHO are excited to see how attendees apply their shared ideas, reflections and solutions to their challenges. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, a digital model has allowed us to deliver a global programme meeting the needs of seven countries.”
Further information on the YHCW programme, including recordings of the first two seminars, is available on the HEE website. HEE is undertaking a thorough evaluation of the programme to demonstrate its impact on each country involved and participants will present their reflections at the end of the year. HEE and WHO are currently planning a second round of this programme, building on the successes and learning from this first cohort.
“You feel yourself committed at the end of the day. The sessions are programmed in a way that first they give the ease of expressing themselves and talking about the problems, and then the way they put the questions. It is in an open way that you can have the freedom to express and explain and participate within the team with the chance for everyone to talk,” says Dr Vincent Saliba, who attended the sessions. “It is a very interesting and good approach, because at the end everyone has to address how they are going to tackle a part of the problem, so it keeps you preoccupied and committed towards your work and this is what makes it personal.”
If you would like to find out more about year two of the progamme, register your interest to join, or think HEE could support you in your capacity building needs, please get in touch with us at TCC@hee.nhs.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact Information
TCC@hee.nhs.uk www.hee.nhs.uk
