PLANS FOR THE 'UNIVERSITY FOR THE NHS'

All staff to have opportunity of gaining professional qualifications whilst working

22 November 2002

Plans that will transform the learning and career opportunities for NHS staff were today published for consultation by the Department of Health, as part of the Government's drive to establish a new corporate university of the NHS - the NHSU.

The proposals outlined in the consultation document, Learning for Everyone, aim to establish a university for the NHS - to make learning a right for everyone and to put learning at the heart of improved healthcare.

The new proposals will open up new learning opportunities for all staff. The plans include:

The opportunity for all NHS staff without a professional qualification to start on a foundation degree pathway within 5 years of joining the NHS. Foundation degrees are two-year, employer-led degrees geared to meet vocational needs. People will start on this pathway at a point that is in line with their level of achievement and ability.

Junior scholarships for 14-16 year olds which will provide young people, especially those from disadvantaged or socially excluded backgrounds, with the opportunity to consider career opportunities they might otherwise feel are out of reach or previously not considered. Details of this scheme will be worked out with LEA's, Head Teachers, parents and local NHS organisations.

Junior and senior fellowships for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. These fellowships will provide opportunities and support for research and development to gifted clinicians - both those at the start of their careers and senior practitioners.

Speaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) seminar in London, Health Minister John Hutton said:

"The NHS needs to attract more people to a career in health. New style foundation degrees will give NHS staff the opportunity to study for a foundation degree within 5 years of joining the health service. They will start at the level that suits them and the skills they acquire will be practical and relevant to their work.

"Junior scholarships will encourage those coming up to school leaving age to come and 'earn and learn' in the NHS. We must open up the prospect of new careers inside the NHS to those sections of our community that are rarely, if ever, to be found working in the fields of either medicine or in the wider spectrum of healthcare sciences. Working and learning in healthcare must in future open up new opportunities to achieve the occupational or professional qualification that matches a person's own desires, aspirations and ability. Regardless of class or status. Irrespective of background or birth."

Professor Bob Fryer, Chief Executive said:

"NHSU will make learning available to everyone working for and with the NHS at every level, including those who may not have experienced education since leaving school. Our focus will be improving care for patients by providing learning that will be used to make a difference.

"Over the next three months we are consulting with staff, patients, education providers and all those who have an interest, and with whom NHSU will need to work very closely in order to deliver our plans. We want NHSU to be shaped by people in healthcare, for people in healthcare."

The plans published for consultation today also propose the NHSU becomes the first fully recognised public sector corporate university in the UK, with its own degree-awarding powers, contributing to the goals of the NHS and underpinning its values. Staff will benefit from academic standards associated with university status.

Learning and development will result in improved services for patients. It will provide staff with the skills and experience they need to support them in their roles and enhance their career opportunities. This will improve quality, morale, recruitment and retention. All this will contribute to improved patient care.

The publication of the Development Plan marks the beginning of an extensive consultation exercise. Ideas, feedback and opinions gathered will contribute to the NHSU's first Strategic Plan, due to be published in Spring 2003, which will feed into the preparation of the official launch of the NHSU in Autumn 2003.

Notes:

1. Copies of the Development Plan: Learning for Everyone are available by calling 0800 555550 or:

2. For further information or to contribute to the consultation you can write to NHSU Consultation, Room 301A, Skipton House, 80 London Road SE1 6LH, email at [email protected] or on the website at www.nhsu.nhs.uk. The consultation will end on 21 February 2003.

3. The principles of the NHSU were first announced in 2001. The ideas were then carried forward and developed in the document Everyone: introducing the NHS University, which was published just over twelve months ago. The document set out the initial thinking for NHSU as well as the plans to appoint a Chief Executive and Vice Chancellor Designate for this very new kind of university.

Professor Bob Fryer took up the Chief Executive post in the early part of this year. Since then, he and his colleagues on the NHSU Design and Implementation Team, have been working out the detailed approach and proposals for NHSU that are now set out for consultation in Learning for Everyone.

4. NHSU will provide training and development that is based on the needs of the patient, developed with patients, carers and staff. It will also work closely with colleges of further education and universities which already provide vital education and training services to NHS; and will form strategic partnerships with organisations such as the Open University, learndirect and the e-Universities initiative.

5. Media enquiries only to Alicia O'Donnell-Smith at the Department of Health media centre on 0207 210 5222 or Tamsin Rosewell at  NHSU on 0207 972 3824.