UK Health Minister Gets View From Nhs Front Line
The new plans follow a back-to-the-floor work-shadowing exercise conducted by the Health Minister throughout the second half of 2006.
Over this period, Andy Burnham spent time with a variety of healthcare professionals, including an emergency response paramedic, a Community Practice Nurse and a hospital porter, to get an insight into the day-to-day experiences of staff and understand, first hand, what it feels like to be at the front line of healthcare.
Andy Burnham's findings were published recently and will help inform Ministerial thinking as health plans are developed in future.
Andy Burnham said:
"When I was appointed as health minister, I was asked to consider developing a strategy for better engagement with staff on our programme of reform of the NHS. I decided that the only way to address this task was to get out and listen to staff.
"Throughout the second half of 2006, I spent 7 days work-shadowing staff doing a series of different jobs in the NHS. It has been a refreshing and inspiring experience, both reassuring and challenging in equal measure.
"It was reassuring because all of the staff I met spoke of considerable progress in the National Health Service in recent years. But it was challenging because staff have a sense of uncertainty about the future and real concerns to which we need to provide answers.
"The NHS is changing, but the structures to help staff through changing times have not always kept pace. I hope this report will be the start of a continuing dialogue I hope to have with the NHS about how staff can be better supported through change and we can all work together to deliver a first class NHS of the future: one that meets the needs of patients and safeguards the values and principles that we all hold dear."
The report has led to new proposals that will now now be taken forward, including:
* Work to manage rising patient expectations - developing a clear set of proposals to encourage better patient responsibility, informing the public of the actual value of the NHS services they are using.
* Further support for the NHS workforce including: consideration by the Social Partnership Forum of the merits of a voluntary local scheme to offer a short-term graduate guarantee to nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals and whether this should be piloted in one area. consideration of what additional support can be offered to staff facing new roles as more care is delivered in the community and outside hospitals; and a review by the NHS Staff council of how Agenda for Change is benefitting NHS staff on lowest pay in terms of pay and access to training. * Proposals for an NHS Constitution: The Department's Stakeholder Forum will consider plans to develop a binding expression of NHS core values in a Constitution for the NHS that could lead to adoption in 2008.
It also sets out a commitment to empower staff to lead change. Looking ahead beyond 2008, there will be a shift in emphasis from target driven, top down management to a greater locally driven focus on priorities and use of resources.
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Article adapted by Start Sanatate from original press release.
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1. The report is available on the Department's website at http://www.dh.gov.uk
2. During this exercise, Andy Burnham spent time with the following healthcare professionals: an emergency response paramedic, an A&E Nurse, a hospital porter, a Community Practice Nurse, a Bed Manager, a Junior Doctor, a hospital cleaner and a GP. Over the coming months, Andy Burnham has plans to shadow a health visitor, dentist, pharmacist, and senior consultant, among others.
For further information please go to:
UK Department of Health
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