Ask
That the Government:
- Requires Health Education England to establish a ‘laboratory’ approach with PU PSMD to develop new training models and pathways that support and prepare future professionals to work in a fully integrated healthcare environment.
- Works with Plymouth health partners to influence the national model for the numbers of junior doctors and other health specialists required for the area going forward.
- Clarifies its intent in relation to the harmonisation of terms and conditions for staff working in health and social care organisations that undergo integration.
Context
The Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (PU PSMD) have an excellent track record and national and international reputation as forward-looking exemplar training institutions. Working with partners across the Peninsula, the Schools provide training in almost every medical discipline, with a strong focus on preparing professionals to work in a fully integrated healthcare environment. Building on this, the Schools and partners want to further promote and develop the emphasis on an integrated care culture, by influencing and co-designing new national models for training pathways.
In addition, the institutions would welcome the opportunity to be part of any national re-assessment of the numbers and allocations of junior doctors. Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is the largest hospital in the South West Peninsula, providing comprehensive secondary and tertiary healthcare, and is the region's major trauma centre. With an immediate catchment population of 450,000 and a wider peninsula population of almost 2,000,000 people who can access specialist services, the hospital plays an absolutely vital role.
The growing population, ageing demographic, and rurality of some parts of the geography covered, are all factors that should determine the size and skills of the whole healthcare workforce going forward. Partners are keen to engage with Government in this conversation to help shape the thinking around resource allocation and to help develop models that more closely reflect the needs of the area, in a national context.
Plymouth has a good track record for pioneering the integration of health and social care services, bringing organisations together to provide high quality, seamless care. A series of national reports and local reviews have highlighted the need to resolve differences in staff terms and conditions to “create the right incentives for integration and joint working in local systems”. Where staff have been through a TUPE arrangement to bring organisations from the NHS, Local Government and other sectors together, there is a need to address disparities, not just in pay scales but also other terms and conditions to create the right culture and working environment.
Proposals
- Develop new training models and pathways that support and prepare future professionals to work in a fully integrated healthcare environment.
- Develop a new model which better reflects the workforce requirements of the peninsula.
- The new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategic Commissioning Intentions for Plymouth and the Western System set out the collective priorities for the area over the next few years.
- There is a proposal to issue a single contract under these Commissioning Intentions, and this would require the issue of disparities to be addressed.
Offers
PU PSMD are the ideal institutions to work with Health Education England on this initiative, being credible, highly competent and trusted deliverers of high quality training that have embraced integration as a core part of their ethos.
Benefits/Outcome
A fully integrated healthcare environment and workforce that meets the needs of a changing population.