Core Skills Framework
At the Core of It
October sees the launch of a new Core Skills Framework across NHS organisations in the region. The Faculty were appointed to provide educational consultancy for this important partnership project that will have such a positive impact.
NHS organisations recognise the need to standardise statutory and mandatory training. The Cheshire and Merseyside Teaching Primary Care Trust Collaborative, together with the strategic support of NHS North West and the Skills for Health Academy, produced and adopted a Core Skills Framework to address this.
In order to achieve consistent, universally recognised training, the framework determines a standard set of learning outcomes and delivery standards for 9 core skills required by organisations. These skills are recognised throughout the healthcare sector and include, for example, infection prevention & control, fire safety and conflict resolution.
Rationalising standards in this way will reduce training duplication and facilitate easier movement of staff within the NHS, thus promoting greater workforce flexibility, whilst freeing up capacity of Learning and Development functions within organisations.
The Faculty were selected by the partnership to provide educational consultancy advice, guidance and expertise in curriculum planning and educational design in order to ensure educational quality and support the practical delivery of the framework.
Upon appointment, the Faculty facilitated workshops to ensure that the materials produced reflected the needs of the organisations involved. The packages are, therefore, based on a core consensus reached by working closely with specific subject experts from across NHS organisations in the North West. The sharing of best practice in this way has resulted in an end product that meets required learning outcomes, whilst still providing enough flexibility in delivery to address the differences within organisations.
“The success of this project is undoubtedly down to the collaborative approach taken,” says Menna Harland, Academic Lead, Practice Learning “it’s resulted in a package that is flexible enough to work within our varied organisations, whilst still assuring quality and standards of training to meet the needs of employers”.
Content owner: Katherine Geer
