Health and Social Care

Designing education and training to deliver health and social care integration

November 28, 2014 by Linda White No Comments | Category Uncategorized

Everyone understands that the principles of integration underpinned by legislation alone do not guarantee the successful integration of services. Cultural change and quality leadership are also vitally important.

Integrated care delivery is unlikely to happen at the necessary pace and scale unless those implementing it are provided with opportunities and support to put new, integrated ways of working into practice and, where necessary, to develop additional knowledge and skills.

Building leadership, trust, collaboration and a common vision amongst key stakeholders are key. It is essential that frontline workers, first line managers, as well as strategic managers, have the necessary values, skills, knowledge and behaviours to motivate and inspire people around them to deliver person-centred care and outcomes.

As NHSScotland’s national education, training and workforce development board, here are some ways in which we, NHS Education for Scotland, often in partnership with other organisations, are currently helping to make this happen:

We are working with a range of partners to develop easily accessible education resources that will help the workforce to keep up to date on the rapidly changing landscape of integration. They will also help staff understand the language, legislation and professional implications as they begin to work within new structures and cultures.

Together with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), we have offered to work with the new Joint Integrated Boards to use an Appreciative Inquiry model of analysis to create strategic changes and identify the learning they need to help achieve the national Health and Wellbeing Workforce Outcomes which are that:

• People who work in health and social care services are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide and feel engaged with the work they do.
• Resources are used effectively in the provision of health and social care services, reducing waste and duplication, ensuring more efficient time management.

We are developing a Practice Guide to Integration Joint Board members in their role and help them to shape new relationships, put in place governance and set the tone and ways of working that reflect the spirit of inclusive locality-led planning and delivery.

With SSSC and the Royal College of General Practitioners, we have submitted a funding proposal to the Scottish Government to develop and deliver an Integration Leadership Development Project for the Primary and Social Care workforces.

As a member of the Public Services Collaborative Learning group, we are focusing on:

• Leadership Exchanges – this programme pairs up senior leaders across the wider Scottish public services to improve creative and resilient leadership capacity at minimum cost.
• Scottish Coaching Collaborative – this extends access to coaching at work and provides a matching serviced for leaders at all levels to work with quality assured, competent and capable coaches.
• Building Organisational Development Capacity across the health and social care workforce.
• Dialogue Community of Practice – providing opportunities for people to learn about dialogue practices and become more skilful and resilient under pressure as they lead on complex adaptive changes.
• Pioneer Programme – a test of change which examines how we can understand and replicate at scale the conditions, qualities and practices that enable collaborative leadership to flourish.

For more information on the role of NES in integration, contact Robert Parry.

Comments