Regional priorities

Most HEE colleagues work closely with the local health, care and education partners in our seven regions which mirror those of NHSE&I. A key focus for our regions over the coming year is supporting the birth of new statutory ICSs as they begin to take shape, outline their structures and identify their core responsibilities.

HEE has a core role to play with ICSs in supporting workforce planning, transformation and quality at a place and system-based level. Regional clinical leadership via postgraduate deans and heads of nursing are key to delivering both our core business of supporting learners and meeting our objectives for medical education reform and workforce growth. The objectives in this Business Plan are priorities for our regional teams, although they might well be implemented in ways that are specific to that region. Regional teams will also have priorities driven by their own unique geography, populations and culture and these are described in detail in each Regional Delivery Plan.

HEE regions will work with and through ICSs via a series of managed projects and programmes and recognising the continued contractual partnerships directly with providers and universities. All ICSs and their providers are asking themselves two key business questions relating to the workforce:

1. Do we know where our future workforce is going to come from?
2. Will our staff have the skills they need?

To enable ICSs to answer ‘yes’ on behalf of their constituent providers, regions will work with each ICS through all the programmes in their regional delivery plan to:

• Plan ahead, rethink design – combining both planning the demand for and supply of all clinical roles and skills with the potential for new roles and new ways of working, linked to service transformation and redesign.
• Manage and assure the education supply pipeline – including working with universities and placement providers on predominantly undergraduate supply and working with employers on the education and training and progression of postgraduate doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and scientists, including education and placement reform and skills development, ensuring all trainees have a great place to learn.
• Support the transition from education to employment – working with those involved to maximise opportunities for getting the right people in the right place and providing them with a great place to work in the region.

As we deliver our HEE programmes we will work through our ICS-aligned Workforce Transformation teams to connect with programme capacity that is operating at ICS level, ensuring we work in a way that is supportive of ICS priorities, is connected with what partners are doing and maximises collective impact on the workforce challenge.