Outputs for Workforce Transformation Projects 2021-2022
2021-22 Workforce Transformation Projects
To support the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan and ‘We are the NHS: People Plan 2020/21 action for us’, the HEE mandate is focused around developing a 21st century workforce with the right skills, values and behaviours to ensure high quality care for patients. Central to this support is also the opportunity for HEE to work with stakeholders to act as an enabler for local workforce transformation initiatives.
System wide and individual partnership projects were welcomed to support:
The initial launch of a specific project or programme of work
Scale and spread of an already established project or programme of work
Robust evaluation of a current project or programme of work
To read more about each of the current projects, please click on each of the tabs below
Organisations and systems were given the opportunity to bid for funding to support one of the following workforce transformation initiatives through a formal procurement process with focus on:
Mental Health Simulation Training For Pharmacy Workforce In Secondary Care
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Background
There is a well-known gap from undergraduate to clinical practice in pharmacy around interactions with people living with mental illness. The NHS Long Term plan highlights the need to develop services and workforce in different sectors to provide the right level of care for people with mental illness (integrated care). Therefore, pharmacy staff must gain confidence and competence to support people with mental illness. Simulation training provides invaluable opportunities for participants to reflect on how they interact with mental health patients and MDT, providing the skills to manage potentially stressful and emotive situations they are likely to encounter in healthcare settings.
Project Aim
ELFT specialises in mental health and community health services and led this transformation project. Neighbouring acute trust Barts Health NHS is part of North East London integrated care systems (ICS).
The primary focus of this project was to increase the pharmacy workforce’s confidence in supporting and caring for patients with mental health illnesses by being inclusive. The focus was on developing soft skills, values, and behaviours such as communication skills when supporting people with mental illness or their carers. Additionally, the training was developed to reduce stigmas around mental illness and empowers team members to provide a safe, effective, and equitable service.
The aim of the project was to develop a minimum of 5 simulation scenarios via collaborative co-production with service users and multi-disciplinary team members. The next step was to pilot and then run these scenarios around mental health, including learning disabilities and substance misuse. Learners included pharmacists and medicines management pharmacy technicians from ELFT and Barts NHS Trusts and the training took place in person at ELFT’s experiential learning centre.
Project Objectives
To be more familiar with mental health conditions including within a substance misuse & learning disabilities context.
To build confidence in formulating treatment plans in mental health.
To be able to have effective communication (verbal and non-verbal) when interacting with people with mental illness.
To gain confidence in talking to patients in distress.
To gain confidence in taking appropriate history.
Outputs
The following documents are outputs of this project.
Simulation Scenarios and briefs – This is available for educational leads only through Pharmacy London Moodle site.
Conference Posters – To follow.
Project Team
Name
Organisation
Role
Andrea Okoloekwe
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Accountable Officer
Simmy Daniel
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Project Lead
Development and Evaluation of Simulation Training for PRP and PTPTs
Kings Health Partners, Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust, Day Lewis Group
Background
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out how pharmacy professionals will provide increasing levels of clinical care to patients. With these evolving roles, there is a need for innovative training models to enhance individual and team performance. Simulation training is widely used in other health professions, giving learners opportunities for deliberate practice in safe environments. Evidence suggests it provides trainees with powerful and transformative learning experiences that influence behaviour and fill knowledge gaps.
This project builds on the successful and recently completed HEE sponsored "Development of Simulation Training for PRP and PTPTs” project.
Project Aim
Our aim was to develop an educational infrastructure across both primary and secondary care to support simulation training for trainees in both sectors of practice.
We developed 6 additional simulation scenarios and delivered simulation training events to 50 trainee pharmacists from primary care. As well as this we trained new simulation facilitators from both primary and secondary care. The aspiration for this training package was for it to be shared and used more widely across the region.
Each training event included a pre and post course survey of learners and facilitators followed by a follow-up survey, and these were used for ongoing faculty and curriculum development as well as the overall evaluation of the project.
Project Objectives
Develop a blended learning programme to train new simulation facilitators from both primary and secondary care to support simulation training.
Deliver simulation training events for trainee pharmacists from primary care and where possible have mixed sessions with both primary care and secondary care trainees.
Expand the existing pharmacy simulation training curriculum by developing additional simulation scenarios which explore new areas such as responding to symptoms, clinical assessment and duty of candour.
Outputs
The following documents are outputs of this project.
Facilitation Trainers Training Package – This is available for educational leads only through Pharmacy London Moodle site.
Simulation Scenarios – These are available for educational leads only through Pharmacy London Moodle site.
Final Project Report – To follow Autumn 2023.
Conference Posters – To follow.
Project Team
Name
Organisation
Role
David Taylor
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Accountable Officer
Kai-Loke Chan
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Project Lead
Richard Pudney
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Project Lead
Implementation Plan To Enhance The DMS Service And Improve Clinical Competencies Of Our Ward Based Pharmacy Technicians
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Background
Part of the NHS Long Term Plan is to ensure better treatment for cardiovascular patients and prevent premature deaths for people with heart problems. In order to ensure these specialist patients are optimally cared for we need to enhance the clinical service our medicines management pharmacy technicians (MMTs) provide through training and education.
At Kingston we are keen to expand the use of the Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) beyond the referrals to community pharmacy we currently make for patients discharged with compliance aids e.g., Monitored Dose Systems (MDS). Our Trust was one of the first in the Southwest London area to implement PharmOutcomes to make these referrals and we believe there are significant benefits to our patients in expanding the referral service we can offer. Currently Pharmacy Technicians are not involved in making DMS referrals. We propose that our Pharmacy Technician workforce is further integrated into a clinical setting by training them to identify specific patients and making referrals.
Our initial focus was referrals for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and heart failure patients that are newly started on cardiac drugs. Cardiac patients require regular monitoring such as up titration, amendment of doses and are also started on several drugs with a polypharmacy risk due to harmful effects and interactions. Feedback from the medical admissions team highlighted multiple cardiac readmissions that would benefit from Pharmacy Technician input and community pharmacy referrals on discharge.
Project Aim
The aim of this project was to expand the use of the DMS service for cardiac patients newly started on ACS or heart failure medicines and enhance the clinical competencies of our MMT workforce. Benefits of this project included:
Patients on newly started ACS or heart failure medicines were counselled and referred to primary care on discharge. This will increase compliance and patient safety which will reduce hospital re-admissions due to medication related harm. Patients and relatives were asked to complete a patient satisfaction survey after counselling has been given, to confirm how useful they have found the information provided to them on discharge.
Enhancing our DMS service supports the smooth transition of care between secondary and primary care.
Advancing the training for our pharmacy technicians will expand their clinical roles and will allow them to provide greater support in a patient facing roles, which will provide increased job satisfaction.
Project Objectives
Design and develop guidance and training programmes to ensure the ward-based pharmacy technicians are appropriately trained to provide the DMS service patients newly started on heart failure or ACS medicines.
For ward-based pharmacy technicians to appropriately refer patients newly started on ACS or heart failure medicines via PharmOutcomes to their nominated community pharmacy.
To deliver training and learning.
Outputs
The following documents are outputs of this project.
Poster to be presented at APTUK Sept 2023 – To follow.
Project Team
Name
Organisation
Role
Judith Foy
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Accountable Officer
Roshni Thoppil
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Accountable Officer
Kunali Patel
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Project Lead
Sima Pankhania
Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Project Lead
Developing A Mental Health Training Programme For Community Pharmacy
Maudsley Learning, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Background
This project’s key focus was on developing the Pharmacy workforce, which strongly aligns with the HEE LaSE Pharmacy team 2021/22 business priorities, NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24, the NHS People Plan and NHS Long Term Plan priorities for pharmacy workforce, education, and training across London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Pharmacists have been identified as having huge potential in aiding the NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/2020. However, they remain neglected in training provision, unsure exactly how to connect with the wider healthcare system, and often not supported directly to work with mental health.
Project Aim
A key aim of this project was to provide added value by developing a mental health training programme of complementary resources to support the treatment, prevention and promotion of skills for the pharmacy workforce and meet learners’ needs through online simulation training, masterclass, and digital resources. We aimed to encourage collaboration and sharing of best practice to fit with local organisations and ICS level priorities through an innovative approach.
By the end of the project, we aimed to have developed and delivered 4 Simulation training courses and 4 Masterclass sessions to around 208 pharmacists across London, Surrey, Kent and Sussex. An evaluation of the programme and full report will explore learner experience, impact and sustainability. In addition, we looked to disseminate our work as a submission to a relevant conference or journal.
The project represents a unique collaboration between an NHS Trust, Kings Health Partner trusts, Academic Health Science Centre, SE and SW London ICSs, and a Local Pharmaceutical Committee.
Project Objectives
Develop the current pharmacy workforce to meet the changing skills requirements of new service models by delivering high-quality education, supporting trainees to gain skills and awareness for adults with mental illness, severe mental illness and those at risk of suicide.
Support quality and outcomes improvement throughout the programme, involving Senior Consultants, Subject Matter Experts and established pharmacy networks to design and deliver the programme, ensuring that evaluations allow continuous improvement.
Encourage increased understanding through multi-disciplinary and peer learning to contextualise the role that pharmacists can play in providing mental healthcare.
Foster sustainability by encouraging continued learning through our virtual learning hub.
Outputs
The following documents are outputs of this project.
Project Team
Name
Organisation
Role
Tom Gray
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Accountable Officer
Soumitra Burman-Roy
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Project Lead
Olivia Scott
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Project Team
Tom Gray
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Project Team