Supporting continuing professional development in the North West as part of the Long Term Workforce Plan

Supporting our NHS staff in the region to have the right skills and training and in turn help deliver excellent care is something that the Workforce Training and Education Directorate at NHS England has been working on very hard.

Over the past year the directorate distributed five small Public Health Small Grants to help deliver the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to train, retain and reform our workforce. The grants are aimed at supporting continuing professional development of the workforce.

• £3,550 was given to the North West Ambulance Service to deliver making every contact count training sessions to staff health and wellbeing officers and champions who support their 7,000 workforce. The aim is to upskill colleagues on health and health inequalities.
• The Royal Society for Public Health was given £7,500 to develop a pool of sub-regional trainers across Cheshire and Merseyside to increase physical activity levels of service users and patients across the health and social care system.
• £6,240 was provided to Change Grow Live in Knowsley for its “get to Know My Liver!” project. The funding is being used to train more nurses to use Fibroscan machines to early identify alcohol-related liver disease and motivate people who would normally not engage to reduce drinking.
• South Warrington often sees medication requests for people with dementia and spikes in general medical appointments. £7,020 was given to the South Warrington Primary Care Network to support people with dementia to live well in the community, ensure their carers feel supported and reduce hospital admission for people with dementia.
• Rochdale Borough Council was given £7,090 to co-produce a grassroots inclusive system leadership programme that represents the diversity and diverse needs of the borough.

For more information, contact Nick Lowden, Project Manager for Public Health.