Community Education Provider Network Success

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital led a successful bid for an education network.  Key partners in the bid include The Royal Marsden, social services teams from the three local boroughs, the Clinical Commissioning Group, Macmillan Cancer Support, Bucks New University, Central London Community Healthcare, Trinity Hospice and Skills for Care.

Health Education North West London (HE NWL) is working to ensure that the whole NHS workforce in North West London is able to bring “the highest levels of human knowledge and skill to save lives and improve health” (NHS Constitution 2013). Their fundamental aim is to improve the health of our population, and patient outcomes and experience by strategically investing in and shaping education and training for staff.

The new network will be hosted by Chelsea and Westminster, with Head of Multiprofessional Education Yvonne Robertson, acting as lead co-ordinator for the establishment and development of the network.  The successful bid submitted to HE NWL was a proposal to establish a community learning network by implementing a multi-professional, experienced-based learning programme for bands 1-5 healthcare workers from a range of care providers.  The aim is to improve their skills and confidence in caring for patients as they approach the end of their life.

Yvonne Robertson comments: “The network will enable us to share skills and expertise and help develop staff to improve care.  By working along the whole pathway we can improve the experience here at Chelsea and Westminster and improve the overall journey for patients.”

The team will be presenting their successful proposal at the Health Education England conference for the launch of the Community Education Provider Networks.