Key News
NHS Menopause Pilot
The Menopause Optimal Pathway Tool (OPT) has been developed by the NHS Menopause Improvement Clinical Reference Group to help non-expert primary care professionals to manage the menopause with confidence. We are inviting you as one of a small number of interested practices to take part in piloting this important NHS development.
For further information and background to the pilot there is a one-page document attached.
Senior Leader Degree Apprenticeship
The University of Wolverhampton will be offering a Sept 2024 intake for the Senior Leadership Apprenticeship (SLA). The Business and Health routes will both be available for applications. This course is designed to be a collaboration between the employer, the University of Wolverhampton, and the employee. With an aim of supporting the skills and development of individuals who are, or who aspire to be, professional senior healthcare leaders. The Apprenticeship is suitable for clinical or non-clinical staff, working in healthcare settings,
To find out more please come along to their FREE employer live webinar via Eventbrite on the 4th March 2024 12.00 – 13.00.
Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub – New Starters
We would like to welcome Kelly Dewis and Tracey Pittaway to the Training Hub team. Kelly and Tracey are the newly appointed Nursing Associate Practice Educators for the Training Hub. Their main role will be to support and promote the Nursing Associate role within General Practice.
For more information on Nursing Associates, please see our ‘Nursing’ section of the newsletter.
Please join us in welcoming them to the team.
PMA Apprenticeships
CWTH is making £10,000 available to support the 5% employer contribution to new non-clinical apprenticeships, commenced via PMA from July ’23 to February ’24 following our collaboration. This can support one apprenticeship per practice on a first come first served basis until this funding is drawn down, potentially funding 40 places. CWTH will work with PMA to manage the invoice and payment aspects.
We are proudly working in collaboration with the PMA to support the recruitment, training, and retention of non-clinical leaders and administration staff.
If you are looking to recruit a new apprentice or upskill an existing team member, please complete the short survey.
PLT – Medical Education Team
Primary Care in Practice
Primary Care in Practice (PCiP) is designed to help navigate the world of Primary Care sharing insights into Population Health, Integrated Care Systems, Primary Care Networks and Finance in primary care. It will also cover leadership and coaching and mentoring.
This programme is open, free of charge to everyone new to Primary Care in Coventry and Warwickshire. The sessions will be held live, hosted by local GPs Maria Ceurstemont and Sarah Hall. They will be held as a combination of virtual sessions (through Zoom) and face-to-face sessions.
The second Primary Care in Practice session will be held on the 17th January. To join this session or for more information, please contact crgpa.education.cwth@nhs.net
Upcoming Lunchtime Learning Sessions
Health and Wellbeing
Registration Open – Putting your wellbeing first
Have you ever had one of those days when everything just seems to flow? You power through your to-do list; unexpected curveballs are quickly triaged and dealt with; even colleagues in panic mode aren’t enough to dent your serene demeanour.
OK – they might not happen as often as you’d like… But the good news is, there ARE ways to tap into that feeling of being “mentally fit” at work – even when things get challenging.
December’s Work Well Webinar with Dr Rachel Morris is on How To Stay Mentally Fit At Work.
In this interactive webinar, we look at how you can take control of your wellbeing, avoid the ‘Vortex of Busyness’ and stay mentally and physically fit at work using principles from positive psychology.
We’ll examine the wellbeing factors that keep us re-energised so that you can work at your best even through challenging times.
You’ll learn:
- How we get sucked into the Vortex of Busyness
- The key wellbeing factors which protect us from burnout and keep us mentally fit
- How to do a simple wellbeing audit to improve your mental fitness
The live session is taking place on Thursday 7th December at 7:30pm UK time.
When you register, you’ll also get access to recordings of the previous trainings and lots of other resources.
Supporting you with lifes ups and downs
If you work in general practice, a federation or alliance across C&W – you can access Vivup for free!
You must register using the organisation name ‘Coventry and Warwickshire -General Practice…’ to have access to all of the relevant benefits and features. Vivup offers lifestyle savings for supermarkets and high street shopping, to utility bills and retailers in your local community & Health and Wellbeing support through self-help workbooks, podcasts, a 24/7 confidential line and free and impartial support for queries on your utility bills, debt and manging your money.
To sign up for this, please click here and fill in your details. Please remember to select ‘Coventry and Warwickshire – General Practice, PCN, Federation and Alliance Staff (CWIPC)’ when selecting your organisation. | Registering on Vivup – Flyer
Training & CPD
CPD Funding – 2023/24
We would like to take this opportunity to remind you to encourage your eligible staff to use their £333 CPD funding by the end of March 2024. Please review the range of training and education sessions available via the Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub calendar which can be found here
Training and CPD Calendar
Our calendar shows upcoming training and education events for all workforce roles across Coventry and Warwickshire.
Browse the calendar by date or search by keyword, then click on the event to find out more information, such as the location, times, cost, and how to book!
Upcoming Courses
Some of the latest courses offered from the Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub is below. To view all of our courses, please visit our training calendar.
- 11th December 2023 – The Role of the HCA and TNA in General Practice
- 8th & 15th December – BBO 2 Day Introduction to Asthma – Please make sure you can attend both days of this event.
Mary Seacole Local Programme – Cohort 37
The Mary Seacole programme is an innovative and inspirational leadership development programme from the NHS Leadership Academy. Specifically for those newly in or aspiring to be in a formal first time leadership role, the six month-long programme has been exclusively designed and developed for people working in health and social care.
The Mary Seacole programme is fully funded by Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub.
For more information, and to view key dates for the next cohort, please click here.
Learning and Development Opportunities
Mentoring Scheme – For GPs, PMs & Nursing Staff
Regular mentoring can help you with a range of professional issues.
You might like to chat with a colleague about your role and get support with career development, discuss how to handle a working relationship or ask for well-being advice.
For information on each of the mentoring schemes we run, please click on the links below
New to Practice Fellowship – GP/GPNs
Are you a GP who has recently qualified – or a Practice Nurse who has recently joined the Primary Care workforce?
The New to Practice Fellowship provides you support to transition from training to employed members of the primary care team.
For information on each of the mentoring schemes we run, please click on the links below
ARRS News
FCPs – Do you want to complete your Roadmap Supervisor Course?
As you may be aware, the current NHSE Roadmap Supervisor (RMSV) Training course is no longer being offered. The Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub is commissioning a one off RMSV course for those FCPs who have completed their stage 2 Roadmap.
CWTH Roadmap Supervisor Bank
The Coventry and Warwickshire Training Hub and Lantum are pleased to announce an exciting project for all First Contact Practitioners (FCPs) and First Contact Practitioner Road Map Supervisors (RMSVs) in the Coventry and Warwickshire area.
This CWTH project offers RMSVs a £50 per hour payment for offering supervision to FCPs. For more details, please click the button below.
Intimate Examination Assessment Day
We were delighted to host the first CWTH Intimate Examinations Clinical Skills Day on Friday 20th October. The Session was held for Allied Health Professionals from across Covenetry and Warwickshire including Physician Associates, Paramedics and advanced clinical practitioners.
The session was facilitated by our Physician Associate Ambassador, Emma Lomas and Paramedic Ambassador, Richard Tennant. With the support of MEducate, who provided Associate Clinical Educators, which deliver a unique training experience in ‘examining real people with live feedback and tuition’.
The half day training event introduced the delegates to clinical assessment skills including breast, pelvic and digital rectal examination. The event was fully booked and those who attended received a high level of training to take back to their practices, and develop their skills with support in practice. It was a resounding success with very positive feedback.
We hope to run additional similar days in the new year and welcome anyone who has not received intimate examination training as part of their degree, post graduate qualification or previous employment to join us next time.
GP News
Managing the Frail Patient in the Primary Care Setting – Dr James Gaywood – First5 GPs
Our next First5 Event will be hosted by Dr James Gaywood, a Consultant Gerontologist at UHCW. This evening session will aim to discuss the management of frail patients in the community.
International Medical Graduates
The aim of the IMG Scheme is to create awareness for IMG GPs that there is support specifically targeted to cater to their needs post-CCT, to create opportunities for networking with colleagues/peers who share similar experiences, and to encourage them to access wider Training Hub offers.
You can subscribe for future updates from the IMG scheme by clicking here.
Parental Leave Support Network
The next support circle is on the 23rd of January, starting at 10am at Kenilworth Methodist church. Please join the WhatsApp group if you are a GP who is on parental leave or just returned to work, so we can share parental advice and learning events.
For more resources around parental leave, please visit our webpage.
GPN News
Nursing Team – Contacts
The GPN Retention Fellows will be actively involved in various aspects of general practice nursing to aid in the implementation of retention initiatives. To contact them, please see below.
First5 – Nursing
Are you in the first five years of GP nursing or nursing associate role?
If so, we would love to hear from you. My name is Ashley and I am the First 5 Fellow, I would like to share opportunities available to you as a new to practice nurse/NA.
For more information on the First 5 – Nursing programme, or the opportunities available to you, please get in touch using the button below.
Late-Career Nurses – Flexible Retirement Options
Are you thinking about retiring and returning to practice? NHS pensions have released a webinar on flexible retirement options which can be found here.
Did you know that NHS pensions also do monthly presentations with Question & answer sessions on:
- All schemes – Understanding the NHS Pension Scheme and its benefit
- All schemes – Your Annual Benefit Statement explained
For more information on these options, presentations and more, please download this document.
Nursing Associate Practice Educators
We would like to introduce ourselves. We are Kelly Dewis and Tracey Pittaway and are the newly appointed Nursing Associate Practice Educators for the Training Hub.
We both started our journey as nursing associates in 2018 as only the second cohort of nursing associates in Coventry and qualified in March 2020. Our journey was a difficult one as the role was little understood, having only two other qualified Nursing Associates within general practice and there being uncertainty around what we would and would not be able to do. It is safe to say that the boundaries are a little clearer now and the role is becoming increasingly popular, with surgeries becoming more aware of how valuable Nursing Associates can be to the workforce.
Whilst the role of Registered nurses and Nursing Associates are similar the NMC has a defined difference in the scope of practice as can be seen here.
Nursing Associates are registered with the NMC, we have a pin number, we revalidate every three years and are subject to a yearly registration fee to ensure we remain on the register. Nursing Associates are accountable for their actions, just like Registered Nurses.
Our day-to-day work is within general practice, we run our clinics just as the practice nurses do, this includes treatment room provision and following further training, we also support the delivery of the immunisation schedule and cervical screening campaigns, thus enabling the Practice Nurses to focus on the more complex patients and long-term conditions.
Our main aim is to support and promote the Nursing Associate role within General Practice, we are available to both Student Nursing Associates and newly qualified Nursing Associates. We can be contacted via email and would be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Kelly – Kelly.dewis@nhs.net
Tracey – Tracey.pittaway@nhs.net
NextGen Nursing Careers Expo
On Saturday 18th November, some of our GPN team attended the NextGen Nursing Careers Expo at Fargo Village in Coventry. Helen and Kay from our team attended the event to raise awareness of General Practice Nursing as a first-destination career for the next generation of nurses.
