Education, training and development for health-care staff in NHS trusts

Citation

Morris, B. (2001), "Education, training and development for health-care staff in NHS trusts", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214gab.001

Education, training and development for health-care staff in NHS trusts

Edited by Barbara Morris

Education, training and development for health-care staff in NHS trusts

A new report from the UK Audit Commission, Hidden Talents: Education, Training and Development for Health-care Staff in NHS Trusts, says that education, training and development for the 600,000 health-care staff in NHS trusts are key to meeting patients' needs, improving the quality of care, supporting clinical governance and modernising NHS services. However, the average NHS trust invests over £1 million per year in education and training for its (health-care) staff, but training needs are often not identified or planned for.

One-third of staff in trusts visited had not had their training and development needs identified and one-half did not have a personal development plan (PDP). Health improvement programmes have not yet influenced the training planned or provided by most trusts, and training needs across a service or trust are often not systematically identified. One of the reasons for this is that education and training for trusts' health-care staff are funded from a variety of sources. About one-half of the costs are met from national levies and other funds committed to higher education. These funds can only be applied to certain purposes; national levies, in particular, can only be used for staff groups specified by the health departments. Other education and training, such as in-house provision and training purchased from organisations other than higher education institutions, are mostly funded by NHS trusts out of normal revenue.

There is a fivefold variation in spending between trusts, partly reflecting the priority they have historically given to training. Registered nurses and midwives in some trusts have more than ten times as much higher education-based training available to them as those in other trusts. Some groups of staff experience poorer access than others; for example, nursing auxiliaries and assistants and part-time staff. One in five trusts had used less than three-quarters of the post-qualification nurse training available to them.

The report says that trusts need to work with higher education providers to improve uptake and appropriateness in the majority of trusts: one-third or more of nursing staff had not updated their skills in basic life support. Trusts also need to make training more accessible, for example, for those staff who cannot easily be released from their job, and to ensure that they have sufficient appropriately trained mentors/assessors for staff undertaking NVQs and for other learners.

It also says that individuals need to take responsibility for their personal development and share what they have learned with others. Managers need to agree PDPs with all their staff and create opportunities for on-the-job development.

Taking staff development seriously is not merely about having good management systems. Commitment at board and senior level is needed to engender a culture which values and expects training and learning, where all individuals and managers recognise and act on their responsibilities for education, training and development. The board needs to have an overview of resource use and to performance-manage training and development issues.

Further information: Information about the report can be found on the Audit Commission Web site at: http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/ac2/SSfirst.htm, from where you can also download a copy of the full report.