Workforce development and support in north east London
Personalised care involves new ways of working and new models of care to address health inequalities and support better outcomes for local people and communities. This is about early intervention and prevention and being person-centred, using quality conversations, giving time, and taking strengths-based approaches.
Personalisation is, of course, everyone’s business. In addition, a set of specialist personalised care roles have been introduced over the last four years into primary care to help local people access the non-clinical support, care, and advice they need, focused on what matters to them. The three additional personalised care roles are social prescribing link workers, health and wellbeing coaches, and care coordinators.
How NHS North East London is helping
At NHS North East London (NEL) we recognise that the health and care workforce is our greatest asset in delivering high quality personalised care to local people. We are committed to expansion and retention of this workforce, skills development, and talent management to deliver the best possible service.
Our enabling work focuses on:
- developing and co-designing NEL system-wide offers on training, learning and development to support coordinated continuous professional development for the personalised care roles
- creation of role-specific networks to provide peer support, and forums to share and promote good practice
- identifying what is common and core across our system – taking a do it once and well approach
- providing subject expertise and support
- place-based advice and guidance to primary care networks and general practice
- working collaboratively with training hubs and primary care system leads
- continuous high-quality engagement with our frontline teams at place and neighbourhood
- advocacy, influencing and championing personalisation.
We have forged strong networks and partnerships locally, regionally and nationally, and hold good workforce intelligence data that supports an inclusive way of working. We have developed deep insight into the development requirements and conditions needed for the personalised care workforce in NEL to thrive and be retained.
Our goal is to support the growth and development of a confident and skilled multi-professional workforce embedded in multi-disciplinary teams.
Workforce development offer and headline achievements
Social Prescribing Link Workers
- Regular NEL Workforce Enabler Group and Social Prescribing Managers Network.
- Peer support networks for social prescribing link workers.
- Supporting place-based networks and communities of practice for social prescribing.
- Establishing a supervision offer for social prescribing link workers
- Social welfare and guidance training and fuel poverty training for 100 social prescribing link workers.
- In 2022, established the pioneering Emerging Leaders Programme for NEL link workers. 11 link workers from across NEL graduated and the programme won the social prescribing workforce initiative of the year at the 2022 #LinkWorkerDay2022 Awards. The 11 link worker leadership graduates and the social prescribing leadership group have been pivotal change agents for social prescribing in NEL. Another cohort will benefit from the programme this year.
- Published Waltham Forest deep dive study into social prescribing and personalised care workforce in PCNS.
- Partnered with the London Cancer Alliance to enable more than 40 social prescribing link workers to undertake motivational interviewing training run by a specialist working with people living with and beyond cancer.
Care Coordinators
- Supporting training and development needs for care coordinators in partnership with NEL primary care.
- Held first care coordinator system-wide workshop in 2022.
- Supporting place-based care coordinator development
- Promoting deployment of care coordinators to support high intensity users of services
- Partnership with City and Hackney Neighbourhoods – developing whole-place approach to care coordinators in the anticipatory proactive care pathway
Health and Wellbeing Coaches
- Facilitate a thriving north east London wide health and wellbeing coaches peer network.
- Strong support offer to primary care networks.
- Comprehensive rollout of Personalised Care Institute accredited training and supervision to all health and wellbeing coaches in north east London – direct impact on retention.
- Commissioned King’s College London to carry out first system wide evaluation of the health and wellbeing coaches – published in 2022.
Wider Work
- Comprehensive promotion of Personalised Care Institute training across north east London.
- Secondary care social prescribing pilot with Barts Health – for people in cardiac rehabilitation after a heart attack who are experiencing social deprivation.
- Partnering with north east London Cancer Alliance on personalisation.
- Developing personalisation work with end of life/palliative care providers in north east London
- Strong support to primary care networks for proactive social prescribing
To find out more about workforce development support for personalised care in north east London or join one of the networks or courses, please contact NEL strategic workforce lead, Gita Malhotra.