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Deans demand central role in commissioning of education
Health academics want a major say in decisions on training provision, reports Petra Kendall-Raynor
The Council of Deans of Health (CoDH) represents 85 universities across the UK and aims to ensure the voice of academia is heard during the shake-up of health education commissioning in England.
The organisation's new chair, Ieuan Ellis (pictured), has a tough job on his hands. Professor Ellis, a chartered physiotherapist, was vice chair of the Council of Deans of Health (CoDH) for three years before becoming chair two months ago. He says it is as yet unclear how education will be commissioned in the future.
Currently, England's ten strategic health authorities (SHAs) determine where to invest the £5 billion central budget for healthcare education and training.
SHAs are due to be abolished in 2013 and the Department of Health wants employers to take greater responsibility for planning and developing the healthcare workforce.
Health Education England (HEE) will be established next year as a special authority to provide a national overview of the delivery of all healthcare education and training.
The body will allocate funds for education training to proposed local skills networks established by healthcare providers.
But Professor Ellis believes there are still big questions to be answered on how education and training commissioning will work.
'We need to know how the HEE will interact with local skills networks and the extent to which governance arrangements between HEE and each network will ensure a consistency of approach to education and training commissioning,' he says.
The local networks are to take on many SHA functions, including commissioning of education and training. The DH claims HEE will hold networks to account for their investment and delivery against workforce commissioning plans.
Professor Ellis, who is dean of the faculty of health and social sciences at Leeds Metropolitan University, says the transition process must be a smooth one.
He uses the government's target of 4,200 new health visitors as an example of the need for HEE to have effective oversight of the new local networks.
Partnership working
'What if the delivery of the national target falls short by 50 per cent?' he asks. 'How will the HEE ensure that the target is ultimately delivered?'
Professor Ellis argues for a system in which higher education institutions work alongside employers in the local skills networks: 'The networks will be primarily focused on education and training.
'It will be crucial for universities delivering health professional education to be represented on the boards of networks to deliver effective co-production of the workforce.'
As the radical overhaul of education commissioning takes place, Professor Ellis says the CoDH will do its utmost to put its members' views forward.
A DH spokesperson says the department has listened to concerns from organisations on its reforms.
'We continue to work with stakeholders and will publish more details in the autumn'.
analysis: august 24 :: vol 25 no 51 :: 2011
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