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Health Education England staff reflect on a decade of achievement
23 March 2023
As Health Education England prepares to merge with the new NHS England, HEE staff are looking back proudly at ten years of innovative and far-reaching public service.
HEE assumed its formal powers on April 1, 2013, with responsibility for NHS recruitment and training.
It will shortly merge with NHS England to form a more streamlined, effective NHS, exactly ten years to the day since its inception.
In that decade HEE has delivered year on year, implementing major reforms to medical education, introducing numerous new health career paths and repeatedly breaking records on recruitment.
The cumulative impact of these ten years is more than 104,000 new doctors, 125,000 nurses, 165,000 allied health professionals, 17,500 pharmacists and 6,500 dentists and dental practitioners, contributing to the net growth of NHS clinical staff.
HEE has achieved and surpassed targets for the recruitment of doctors and nurses, in the last year alone breaking GP trainee records and remaining on track to deliver 50,000 new NHS nurses.
In addition, the new nursing associate profession developed by HEE has seen 11,000 recruits in just the last two years. HEE has led on the recruitment of 115,000 apprentices across a huge range of health careers since 2016 and seen enthusiastic uptake for new blended nursing degrees offering learners maximum flexibility.
Among many other highlights, HEE has:-
- Produced the ground-breaking Topol Report, ‘Preparing the healthcare workforce to deliver the digital future,’ which was met with worldwide acclaim;
- Supported 23,000 nursing students who augmented the NHS COVID response;
- Led initiatives to improve working conditions for junior doctors;
- Launched the world’s first medical doctor degree apprenticeships, with 200 starters;
- Created the online NHS Knowledge Hub which, for the first time, enables the workforce to access all learning resources in one place with a single search.
This is just a fraction of the achievements by dedicated colleagues at Health Education England. You can find out more about HEE’s work and legacy here:-
Dr Navina Evans, HEE Chief Executive and Chief Workforce Officer, NHS England, said: “We have so much to be proud of in HEE and we will carry that pride with us as we move into the new NHS England.
Marking 10 years of HEE is the perfect time to come together, acknowledge what we have accomplished and thank one another before we begin a new chapter.
“I personally want to thank every single one of our HEE colleagues and partners for their contributions – we have made, and will continue to make, a real difference to the people we serve.”
As HEE bids goodbye its vital work will continue within the new NHS England. Restructured parameters will allow that work to grow, to adapt to rapidly-changing technology and to meet the evolving needs of patients with renewed clarity and vigour.