New NHS Agenda

The NHS is the main supplier of medical services in the UK. Oxfordshire Skills for Health supports NHS organisations and their staff in Oxfordshire.

 The development of Oxfordshire Skills for Health in 2001 coincided with a major NHS initiative around lifelong learning. In autumn 2001, the Department of Health had declared, ‘There is increasing evidence that lifelong learning, as part of good employment practice, lies at the heart of effective organisational performance.’ The DoH’s NHS action agenda included

• A five-year plan for human resources
• The NHS University
• Skills development for non-professional staff through NVQs and NHS Learning Accounts
• Protected time for learning for all staff
• Appraisal systems and personal development plans for all staff
• Equitable access to learning for all staff (including contract staff)

The focus on all staff was significant. ‘Prior to the advent of NVQs in the late 1980s, there was no formal training or qualification for support staff. In many places there was no training of any kind beyond mandatory health and safety related training.’

More Staff, Working Differently, the promised five-year Human Resources plan, soon appeared. In place of the rigidly hierarchical and heavily demarcated workplace of the past, it promised a much more flexible and responsive one built around a ‘skills escalator’, guaranteeing access for all to training and development – on the premise that this would release previously untapped energies in the workforce, especially among lower paid staff.

Positive as this agenda for a more inclusive and equitable workplace was, it brought challenging targets for organisations used to ignoring their lowest paid staff. Oxfordshire Skills for Health’s expertise, and its willingness to engage with organisational issues, has been particularly welcome in this context.