UK - Skills for health sponsors skills development award

Citation

(2007), "UK - Skills for health sponsors skills development award", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhs.2007.21120bab.006

UK - Skills for health sponsors skills development award

Keywords: Healthcare improvement, Healthcare education, Personal development

Skills for Health has sponsored the Skills Development prize at the Health Service Journal awards. The awards – now in their 25th year – recognize excellence and achievement within the healthcare sector.

The winners of the skills development category were HealthTec, an innovative multi-agency partnership which is providing young people in the south Birmingham area with the opportunity to increase their knowledge and practical skills in a range of health and social care settings.

An interactive centre provides the hub of this initiative which is focused on providing a series of authentic healthcare settings which simulate the practical experiences of fictitious patients (e.g. an older person’s living room, the back of an ambulance, an accident and emergency bay). In this way pupils from Year 8 upwards are able to experience a unique combination of vocational and academic learning and at the same time gain first hand knowledge of the latest healthcare technologies, healthy lifestyles and patient choice. The centre offers participants the opportunity to gain practical experience in a purpose-built environment and to supplement this with work placements and mentor support within a real health setting.

Learning about employment options and opportunities in this way enables young people to make informed choices about future careers and to gain the maximum benefit from their time at school whether they choose to follow vocational or academic routes of learning in later life. Work is also under way with EdExcel to develop new curricula in science, health and social care and sports studies. The initiative will also be ideally placed to support the new Diploma in Society, Health and Development.

The centre itself was initially funded by West Midlands Strategic Health Authority with support from sponsors Bristol Maid. The partnership overseeing the development and implementation of the HealthTec initiative is made up of Birmingham and the Black Country SHA, Birmingham City Council, The Oaks Collegiate of secondary schools and with the support of other local hospitals and schools.

Criteria for the Skills Development Award include ambition, innovation and new ways of learning. The panel of judges included Mike Pyrah, Chief Executive of East Cheshire Primary Care Trust, Professor Bernard Crump, Chief Executive of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and John Rogers, Chief Executive of Skills for Health. Initial applications were short listed to five finalists attended in person to present their projects and achievements to the panel with the winning entry announced at the Awards ceremony. The judges were particularly impressed by the innovative partnership work, links with public health and equality agendas coupled with the link to qualifications and awards which they felt gave the HealthTec initiative “a ‘wow’ factor capable of attracting young people to healthcare”.

The Awards themselves are presented at a high profile event, held this year at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London and attended by Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health. HealthTec were presented with their Award by Chris Hannah, Chair of Skills for Health. The other finalists were:

• •

  Department of Health and Royal College of Radiologists who were highly commended for their radiology integrated training initiative (R-ITI).

• •

  Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, in partnership with Hull University, for a virtual reality training package which simulates a life-size radiotherapy suite.

• •

  Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust’s performance improvement team for a training programme delivered to more than 800 staff to improve service quality and make financial savings.

• •

  University Hospitals Leicester Trust for the development of a support programme for staff who work with older people to improve their skills, knowledge and competence and improve the experience of older service users.

Dave Beards, Collegiate Co-ordinator at The Oaks Collegiate Academy summed up the feelings of the HealthTec partners: “Receiving the HSJ Skills Development Awards was a great honour for everyone involved in the HealthTec partnership, we are delighted. This could not have been achieved without the fantastic support of West Midlands Strategic Health Authority”.

There are plans to extend the HealthTec initiative to include another two centers which will enable this ground-breaking project to reach more young people and help to prepare them for their part in the workforce of the future.