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Our Chief Executive, Ian Cumming, welcomes learners across England
Contents
21 September 2015
You can find a transcript of Ian's message to learners below:
Dear All,
Welcome to the healthcare family and the start of your training which I hope will bring you a long and rewarding career working in health and healthcare.
Over 30 years ago, I started my training to become a scientist in the NHS. I’m now really proud to be the Chief Executive of Health Education England (HEE), the NHS organisation responsible for the education, training and development of the health and healthcare workforce in England.
HEE exists for one reason: to improve the quality of healthcare by ensuring that the NHS workforce has the right number of people with the right skills, values and behaviours. We spend £5bn a year to achieve this objective – including paying for some or all of your training (depending on which course you are on).
Throughout your selection process you have demonstrated that, as well as meeting the academic standards required to enter your chosen course, you possess the right values and behaviours to care for patients. As you embark upon your training, my advice to you is keep these at the forefront of your mind and remember to always place the patient at the heart of everything you do. These values are absolutely integral to maintaining a positive and caring culture. And also whilst learning, make sure that you continually challenge yourself – we need a culture of reflection and learning and of respect and understanding.
It’s a really exciting time to be embarking on a career in health and healthcare with major technological advances allowing us to develop radically new ways of working with an ageing population. In addition, the population that we serve demands more from us, and no longer accepts a system that isn’t responsive to their needs.
HEE has 140,000 learners in the system at any one time and each of you are a brilliant resource as our ‘eyes and ears’ of the system. There will be challenges and you may have experiences that test your values, and where you have real concerns, we ask you to speak up – it is your duty to both the people that you care for and your profession. Please watch our ‘Raising Concerns’ video that explains how to do this. As well as perhaps seeing practice that could be improved, you will undoubtedly also come across some really fantastic practice, work with inspirational leaders and tutors – please tell us about this as well so individuals can be recognised.
We value your feedback on your experiences, both in higher education and clinical settings. Please take the opportunity to share your experiences with us. You can keep up to date on all our recent developments by visiting the HEE website or connect with us via:
Following a career in health and care is a decision not to be taken lightly. I hope you were inspired by the opportunity to take up a career that offers variety, development, a lifetime of learning and most importantly, the chance to make a real and tangible difference to people’s lives.
I wish you all every success in fulfilling our collective ambition to deliver excellent care to patients now and in the future.
Kind regards,
Professor Ian Cumming
Chief Executive
Health Education England