New network seeks to fill gap in training and development

New network seeks to fill gap in training and development

My Health Skills will allow professionals to drive content and share best practice

Training and continuous improvement were central to the Francis and Cavendish reports. However, solutions that have an impact on behaviour and delivery of relevant skills take time and commitment to implement. They require patience, leadership and passion to deliver change through people, and need more than a knee jerk reaction to the current or next Mid-Staffs.

Launching on Monday 11 November, our new network, My Health Skills, will provide a platform for professionals looking to continue their own learning and development online, encouraging those who are passionate about workforce transformation to share best practice, resources, access information and provide a platform to voice their opinion.

The Cavendish review had two guiding principles, defined by the author as "reducing complexity and bureaucracy and going with the grain of what the best employers are already doing".

My Health Skills allows professionals to share the good practice Camilla Cavendish observed in her 14 short weeks on the frontline.

The sector is approaching the point where knowledge can be accessed in real time, yet we are afraid to use social media type solutions in the workplace for learning. My Health Skills challenges that stance.

Current networks supported in the NHS, including those run by the NHS Leadership Academy and NHS Employers, do cover some organisational development issues within their agenda. Training and development is not their raison d'être however. Networks built around a specific disease area also often feature an educational component, but again their focus broadly on everything which impacts on the specific condition. Of course, some training aspects are common to all conditions, for example the importance of good communication skills at all points on a patient's journey.

Open to all UK healthcare practitioners, as well as patients and carers, My Health Skills allows members to create and share a personal profile, who can then pursue specific interests by joining or creating a group. These groups may be open or closed and are monitored by an administrator. The current design is simple, allowing the membership to really shape what it becomes. We've responded directly to the feedback of the 3,000 members who joined following our soft launch: as a result, My Health Skills is easily viewed on a smartphone, and we are looking at ways to allow members to share documents along with best practice and discussion.

Funding for the network has been provided by the UK Commission for Education and Skills through their Employer Investment Fund 2 programme. Powered by Skills for Health until the end of March, it is a membership model, allowing us as healthcare professionals to cover what is on our minds, rather than what other people dictate as important.

The great advantage of the virtual environment is that there is room to cover all interests: My Health Skills fills a current gap in specialising on training and development within the healthcare workforce. If you want to be part of the change, join us and register this week at myhealthskills.com (@myhealthskills).  Guardian

Sharon Ensor is project lead for My Health Skills