The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Building on Success - Future Directions for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland

Shaping the Future
8. Career Pathways and Continuing Professional Development

Valuing and supporting staff in lifelong learning is a clear commitment of Our National Health and Learning Together. Both initiatives recognise the importance of equipping staff with the skills and knowledge to work flexibly in support of patients and which enable them to grow and develop within the organisation to realise their full potential.

8. Career Pathways and Continuing Professional Development

Lifelong learning

Lifelong learning is an essential requirement for all practitioners in a modern health and social care environment. It therefore requires both a personal and a corporate commitment.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) was established in April 2002 to support education, training and lifelong learning in NHSScotland, initially for Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacists, Psychologists, Nurses and Midwives, and in the near future for AHPs; ultimately, the aim is for NES to cover all NHSScotland staff.

This positive development will foster a multi-professional and 'people-centred' approach to learning and working. It will also bolster professional identities and the strengths and the qualities of uni-professional training in Scotland, where appropriate. AHP leaders and stakeholders will be involved later in 2002 in a summit to consider appropriate support mechanisms and an action plan to include AHPs in the work of NES.

The new NHS Learning Bank and the Scottish University for Industry, better known as Learn Direct Scotland, will underpin and promote access to lifelong learning opportunities for all health and social care staff. Technology will also be exploited to support innovative virtual learning, including the development of the NHS eLibrary and the NHS Learning Zone website. These learning opportunities will have particular advantages for those who might otherwise be unable to access similar opportunities for professional development, such as AHPs and support staff in remote and rural areas.

>> RARARI has funded a three-year internet-based Podiatry CPD project involving the five Podiatry Services in the North of Scotland. The development of 10 fully accredited online modules will enable staff to complete these programmes without having to travel from remote or island locations, which is time consuming, costly and often problematic for single-handed practitioners. <<

Multi-professional learning

AHPs recognise the need for better multi-professional education to underpin effective team working, both at undergraduate and post-graduate level. Some universities and professions are already taking the initiative in this area.

The Integrated Human Resources Working Group (IHRWG) undertook a scoping exercise to review the ways in which multi-professional and multi-agency training can be promoted within NHS Boards and Trusts and Local Authorities as part of the Joint Futures initiative. Over 1200 staff participated in a range of seminars held in different parts of Scotland as part of this process. The IHRWG report was published in May 2002, and its recommendations about joint training, both 'on the ground' in local partnerships and nationally in educational bodies, are currently being considered by the Scottish Executive and all stakeholders with a view to implementation in Autumn 2002.

This will also be a key area of interest for NHS Education for Scotland in their quest to promote the skills and attitudes that support multi-professional working and to encourage multi-professional education and development within NHSScotland.

>> Robert Gordon University has developed a multi-professional team working module and Queen Margaret University College has established multi-professional problem solving activities for AHP students. <<

Professional regulation

The introduction of the new Health Professions Council (HPC) to replace the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM) as the professional regulatory body for AHPs in April 2002 was enacted by the Health Professions Order 2001. This order was approved by Privy Council of the Westminster Parliament in February 2002.

The HPC will focus primarily on safeguarding the health and wellbeing of people using the services of AHPs. The principal functions of the Council will be to establish standards of education, training, conduct and performance of members of the relevant professions, and ensure the maintenance of these standards.

Continuing professional development for State Registration

Professional codes of conduct require AHPs to ensure clinical competency has been updated through ongoing continuing professional development (CPD). The work plan of the HPC will include a consultation process on the provision of evidence of continuing learning and development to enable practitioners to remain on the State Register.

A UK-wide project has been established to develop an outcomes-based approach for AHPs to demonstrate competence through CPD. All the AHPs within this document are represented in this Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) led project, which will inform the work of the HPC and is due to report later in 2002.

Regulatory issues for AHPs working in Social Care are now also influenced by the requirements of the Scottish Social Services Council.

Developing learning plans

Continuing professional development is both an individual and corporate responsibility. Learning Together specified that every member of staff should have a personal development plan, which would be reviewed annually. Wherever possible, Organisational Learning Plans should also support protected time for learning activities, as recommended by professional bodies.

AHPs have made good progress in supporting practitioners with their personal learning plans.

>> A CRAG AHP survey revealed that 85% of AHPs had a Personal Development Plan in 2001. <<

The commitment to lifelong learning set out in Learning Together is underpinned by a commitment to support for staff in enabling them to perform their role effectively. It is essential that AHPs build strong foundations of learning for staff of all grades, beginning with induction and clear role expectations, through to in-service training opportunities and structured supervision and appraisal of performance. These beneficial practices are the expectation of every new graduate and should by now be standard practice in the majority of AHP services.

Career pathways

Career pathways of the future need to reflect the diversity and flexibility required in modern health and social care services. Changing needs and changing practices, including advancing technology, need to be recognised in the opportunities available to staff. This raises a number of significant challenges in terms of service planning, individual career plans and in acknowledging the scale and pace of change for all health and social care professions.

Extensive opportunities are evolving for AHPs to follow varied and challenging career pathways. Changes in the multi-professional workforce may also impact on the shape of future clinical opportunities. For example, the Wanless Report (2002) found that:

>> ... the existing evidence suggests that between 25% and 70% of doctors' tasks could be undertaken by nurses or other health care professionals. The evidence suggests that, while maintaining or reducing costs, this could improve care outcomes, suggesting scope for improved productivity. <<

Better career opportunities have the potential to impact beneficially on recruitment and the retention of experienced practitioners. AHP Consultants will also bring added value to the delivery of modern flexible services across primary and secondary care. Their key contributions will be in national priority areas such as services to children, older people, people with cancer, CHD, mental health and chronic diseases such as diabetes. They will provide leadership within their clinical specialties to support the clinical governance agenda, working within and across multi-professional teams. They will utilise their expertise in specialist interventions and rehabilitation, and through extended scope of practice, which will significantly enhance the patient journey.

Consultant and specialist practitioner roles, public health practitioner posts, and research, education and combined practitioner roles offer potential for expert practitioners to fully develop their clinical careers.

Possible Clinical Career Pathways

Developing Support Workers

AHP Support Worker roles have been developed by many, but not all, of the professions. Support Workers play a valuable role in the delivery of services and in many areas have extended their skills to support the delivery of enhanced patient care. Many are keen to expand their knowledge further and some wish to progress towards state registration.

Arrangements are in place to facilitate this for some of the professions, but the need to give up employment to undertake training is often a barrier for existing Support Worker staff. There is therefore a need to develop alternatives to the traditional path of full-time study leading to registration, a move which would also support the development of practitioners in remote and rural areas.

The education and training needs of Support Workers who do not wish to pursue state registration in the professions should not be forgotten, however. Employers should make appropriate arrangements to ensure that Support Workers are offered opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge base to improve practice.

Developing competencies

Clarifying role expectations is fundamental to job clarity and satisfaction. Support Workers who participated in the national consultation exercise were universally enthusiastic and committed to the contribution they make to service provision. However, many Support Workers faced challenges through inconsistency of expectation from their professional colleagues. They therefore found that their role could vary considerably depending on how the restrictions or flexibility of their responsibilities were interpreted by individual practitioners.

Guidance on competencies for Support Workers have been developed by the professional bodies to assist in clarifying their many and varied roles. General core competencies for all healthcare Support Workers in Scotland have also been established through a project undertaken by the Strategic Change Unit at the Scottish Executive Health Department. New recommendations from the Pay Review Body also allow Support Workers to be given incremental recognition of training received through SVQ modules.

These opportunities could support departmental redesign, management of change and effective reconfiguration of existing staff resources, freeing up valuable clinical time and giving added job satisfaction for professional and support staff

>> A Dietetic Assistant post has been introduced at Dr Gray's Hospital, Elgin. This has supported improved implementation of nutritional care with better support for patients and staff and has raised the profile of nutrition and Dietetics at ward level.<<

>> In addition it has helped to reconfigure the workload of qualified Dietitians, enabling them to use their expertise more effectively in the service. <<

« Previous | Contents | Next »