Government announces new education and training
New measures to improve the training, values and education of all NHS staff have been announced by Health Minister, Dr Dan Poulter.
The measures, which will be backed by a budget of £5 billion, have been published in the government’s mandate to Health Education England, a new arms-length body set up to give NHS training and education unprecedented focus and importance.
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said:
“The staff working in our NHS are our health service’s most precious resource, and we must do all we can to ensure that our staff have the right values, training, and skills to deliver the very highest quality of care for patients. Today’s mandate to Health Education England, backed by a £5 billion budget will help our many dedicated frontline staff to further improve their ability to care for patients as well as enabling our NHS to train the next generation of doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants.
“As people are living longer with more complex medical and care needs, so must we ensure that our NHS workforce has the right skills and values to provide more care in the community for older patients as well as to give each and every child the very best start in life. Plans for the future training and recruitment of our NHS will lead to better working lives for staff and better care for patients.”
The commitments for Health Education England include:
- Better care for people with dementia and with complex needs;
- Clear national workforce plans; and
- Better recruitment and training;
Professor Ian Cumming, Chief Executive of Health Education England, said:
Health Education England exists for one reason and one reason only: to improve the quality of care delivered to patients by ensuring that our workforce has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours, and is available at the right time and in the right place.
Our mandate from the Government sets out clearly the plans for education and training that will be the cornerstone for the delivery of high quality, effective, compassionate care, by recruiting for values and training for skills. Our £5 billion budget will allow us to recruit, train and develop a workforce that will deliver improved care to patients.
