Learning and development

The development of our workforce is key to delivering caring, safe and excellent services to our patients. Our Trust is committed to offering development and learning opportunities for all employees. No matter where you start with the Trust, you will have access to extra training and be given the opportunity to progress within the organisation.

You will receive an annual personal review and development plan to support your career progression.

You will be encouraged to extend your range of skills and knowledge and take on new responsibilities through the career framework. The career framework has been designed to improve career development and job satisfaction for NHS employees. Many employees take on additional responsibility within their own area, while others retrain and move in to different roles.

We provide access to a wide range of learning and development opportunities. These include clinical and professional development, vocational qualifications and leadership and management development.

These are supported by library services at three locations and through reciprocal arrangements with other trusts.

Our Learning & Development Centre offers excellent training facilities for our staff.

We also deliver training sessions at other sites across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire to enhance the accessibility for everyone.

The Flyer Programme

We have developed the flyer programme for newly registered nurses and AHPs. The programme has preceptorship at its heart but provides staff the opportunity to gain academic accreditation during the first preceptorship year, with the chance to gain further accreditation in their second year of qualifying.

The flyer programme framework has been developed with service leads, building on an evidence base provided by the Department of Health, Health Education England and regulatory bodies.

Mentorship and Practice Learning

We are a teaching Trust that provides many opportunities for learning safely in practice. The Trust is committed to supporting pre and post-registration learners from a wide range of professions.

The Learning Environment Leads and Clinical Practice Educators work in partnership with many universities, practice assessors/mentors and students to provide high quality learning environments, support and excellent learning opportunities.

The Trust is highly committed to developing its staff through Continued Professional Development. It has robust systems in place to support registered practitioners to access Mentorship/Practice Assessor courses to become NMC approved mentors or Allied Health Professional educators, therefore meeting regulatory, professional and revalidation standards.

All practitioners are encouraged and well supported to become mentors/practice assessors after successful completion of their Preceptorship Programme. Funding and access to Mentorship/Practice Assessor courses is available to staff to suit individual learning needs.

Clinical Supervision

We recognise the value of clinical supervision in ensuring that our staff feel supported and developed to carry out their work in a safe and effective manner, improving the health of the populations we serve whilst looking after the wellbeing of our staff.

Our Learning and Development team offer a range of development opportunities from e-learning programmes to help staff get the most out of supervision to masterclasses for more experienced clinical supervisors. We have an on-line recording system which will enable staff to access their own personal records of supervision to support their continuing professional development and to provide evidence for their professional revalidation requirements.

Leadership, Team and Individual Skills

Our training covers all levels of staff and is delivered using formal development which may be sourced from:

• In-house programmes
• SHA coordinated programmes
• Higher Education Institutes (Oxford Brookes, University of Bedfordshire or University of West London)
• Specialist providers of professional bodies

Development requirements are identified on the basis of your needs and the needs of the organisation and patients through your Personal Development Review (Appraisal) with your manager.

We have courses covering a variety of areas:

• Self-Development Administration
• Business Skills
• Management
• Leadership Development
• NHS Leadership Academy

Health Care Assistant / Support Worker Induction and the Care Certificate

All new non-registered clinical staff will receive an induction to the Trust that enables them to complete or refresh the Care Certificate.

The Care Certificate is a national certificate, which was introduced to provide the public with assurance that the staff looking after them have been assessed as having the correct introductory skills, knowledge and behaviours to enable them to provide safe, compassionate, high quality care.

The Certificate consists of 15 standards assessed in practice by completion of a portfolio. Completing or refreshing the Care Certificate, your local induction and having support from your clinical team will enable you to build on your existing skills and develop skills and behaviours needed for a successful career with Oxford Health.

The Care Certificate will help you contribute to the Trust achieving its values of being Caring Safe and Excellent.