Opportunities for development

• Organisations can encourage staff to undertake a Quality Improvement (QI) project, service evaluation, service audit or research study project in their service to improve patient care or staff experience. NHS Trusts should have a QI Team which offers QI training – staff members can check their Trust’s intranet to find out more.
• Consider what is important in helping staff to develop within the workplace - organisations can help staff members identify any specific trainings or Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses they would like to enrol in.  Line managers and supervisors can discuss staff goals in their yearly appraisal and on-going line management / supervision meetings to identify development objectives.
• Organisations can communicate internal secondment opportunities or funded training opportunities via their Trust Intranet or local mailing lists.
• If staff members are not able to access funded opportunities suiting their interests, organisations can encourage them to take initiatives through setting up a Workstream, Forum, Special Interest Group or Network to focus on these.
• Primary care NHS staff members also can book in a consultation with a career coach - further support on this offer can be found here NHS England » Looking after your career. There may also be mentoring schemes within the workplace for staff members to access.

• Learning and development opportunities should be available to diverse staff populations to promote equal opportunities and reduce discrimination in the workplace. Equality, diversity and inclusion data should be regularly reviewed, discussed and acted upon at all levels of service, and this data should be shared with staff. In the NHS Staff Survey 2021, when asked if the employees organisation acts fairly with regards to career progression /promotion regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age, 58.7% of white staff answered in comparison to 44.4% of staff from other ethnic groups. 
• Joining a Staff Network can help staff improve awareness of discrepancies in equal opportunities and provide a forum to support staff and tackle inequalities. For example, NHS staff from ethnic minority backgrounds can seek career coaching here.
• Teams, employers and organisations should take part in celebration events, to illustrate the shared values of these events with the organisation. Some examples of celebration events could include Black History Month, Trans Day of Visability or Diwali. Visit our Keeping Well events calendar
• Embedding staff voices in service design and delivery -  Employees’ views can help to shape a service and allow room for changes to occur which could contribute to improved care. Some ideas of facilitating this could include holding regular open forums with staff members to share their views or administering staff surveys and discussing results with the team. A collaborative approach can help a team to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement within a service and problem-solve these in addition to key actions necessary.

• Establishing and reviewing job plans – Organisations should ensure that each staff member has a manageable and balanced job plan which fosters growth and includes allocated time to engage in opportunities for development.  Job plans should be reviewed as part of the appraisal process and include a focus on development.

Courses funded by Health Education England

Health Education England has commissioned Maudsley Learning to deliver a series of programmes nationally to meet these growing demands. These courses are free to book and open to all healthcare professionals working for the NHS in England.

They cover a range of topics including eating disorders, managing challenging situations, skills for health conversations, and many more. Candidates can book onto more than one course, however, are encouraged to book courses most relevant to their practice. Programme runs from January 2023 until May 2023. Learn more and book your free place.