2nd National Annual Learner Assembly

When we started this work we knew that the voice of the learner in the NHS is critical to making improvements. We committed to having an annual Learner Assembly.

What we did

The 2nd Annual National Learners Assembly was held on 27th May 2022. This event supports HEE’s strategic priority to promote inclusion. HEE’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Navina Evans, and senior healthcare leaders were keynote speakers and facilitators. This event, inaugurated in 2021, is a collaborative platform. The 2022 Assembly expanded to a full day, utilising a bespoke online event portal featuring themed breakout rooms. The key aims of the Assembly are to provide a platform for learners at all levels and senior HEE leaders to engage in discussion of experiences of training in the NHS and work together to provide solutions and for learners to share best practice, build a supportive community and provide networking opportunities. This virtual event had 389 delegates register, with 270 accessing the platform live during the event and over 300 accessing the platform overall.

The platform launched five days prior to the event and on-demand content, including the videos from presentations on the main stage, was available for six months post-event The ethos of the day was to prioritise active discussion. Speeches on the main stage were followed by longer themed breakout rooms which enabled interactive and personalised discussion. The day was divided into two complimentary halves. The morning session featured three keynote speeches from senior leaders, Professor Namita Kumar, Dr Navina Evans and Professor Liz Hughes with Mr Piers Wilkinson. These were followed by two sets of three themed breakout rooms of forty five minutes each. Participants had free choice to attend one of the three rooms on offer. The afternoon session was for doctors and dentists in training who have done exceptional work in EDI to showcase their work. Participants then had the opportunity to spend further time asking questions in interactive breakout rooms. In total there were eighteen speakers in the afternoon across eleven topics. A virtual networking space was provided where delegates could find and speak to each other as well as a document library of shared files to help guide future doctors and dentists in training.

What we learnt

This is an exciting movement for change, and shared understanding is important to have these conversations. We understood that we need to be comfortable having uncomfortable conversations to make progress. Leaders should be authentic and compassionate role models for all, but equity needs us to all care and be actively involved. Shared stories bring data to life, although policy is not made by anecdote, so both need to work together. Many doctors and dentists in training have difficulty raising concerns and we heard this from a number of delegates. Clearer pathways are useful and we will work on highlighting these, but we understand that cultural change is required to make significant progress. Discrimination costs the NHS money and affects patient care. We may need to shift our focus from ‘equality’ to ‘equity’. We understood that minority professionals, especially international medical graduates, are not applying for positions of leadership and need to be explicitly encouraged to apply for these roles. Only 5% of healthcare colleagues report disabilities and many who have invisible disabilities do not report these. However, these individuals encounter significant challenges working in the NHS. Finally, encouraging educational supervisors to consider the variation in backgrounds of their doctors and dentists in training supported by specific unconscious and implicit bias training.

What we will do

• Continue to hold an annual National Learner Assembly

• Use this as a collaborative platform for interested healthcare professionals

• Keep making tangible progress in EDI by successfully using the existing HEE Quality Framework

• Specifically encourage those of protected characteristics into positions of leadership

• Improve awareness and pathways for raising concerns and feedback mechanisms where concerns have been raised

• Use the information we receive from learners to inform a strategy to keep it relevant