Allied Health Professions Education and Workforce Policy Review: National Strategic Oversight Group minutes: February 2022

Attendees and apologies

Attendees:

• Carolyn McDonald, Scottish Government
• Jessica McPherson, Scottish Government
• Anne Wallace, Scottish Government
• Kimberley Lynch, Scottish Government
• Abby Campbell, Scottish Government
• Michela Black, Scottish Government
• Rebecca Wright, Scottish Government
• Lyndsay Turner, Scottish Government
• Kay Sandilands, HR Director, NHS Lanarkshire
• Karen Wilson, NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
• David Wylie, NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
• Anita Simmers, Council of Deans of Health
• Fiona Coutts, Academic Heads
• Duncan Condie, Scottish Funding Council (SFC)
• Joan Pollard, Scottish Directors of AHPs (SDAHP)
• Alistair Reid, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS)
• Jamie Hunt, The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• Alison Keir, Allied Health Professions Federation Scotland (AHPFS)

Items and actions

Welcome and introduction 

The aim of this group is to work collaboratively in relation to AHP education and workforce and CAHPO asks the group to commit to participating. 

The plan is for the group to meet every 6-8 weeks with the aim of agreeing draft recommendations by the end of this year. 

We are currently exploring student representation for the group.  

Backgound to the group and to the review

The scoping work the AHP team have carried out in preparation of the review was presented along with a presentation from David Wylie on Current AHP Workforce Data.

Re data, it was noted that we may be limited in that we don’t have a broad picture across the private and third sector, however there are discussions being had with partners about having a data set out there that could be used by any employer of AHP in the public sector. This would make it possible for SG to access this. 

Although we do not want to drift into workload when looking at workforce, it is important to note how these feed into each other and that they cannot be kept totally separate. 

We want to be able to project where we want to get to and have the ability to project into the future from a HEI/student perspective. 

It was noted that education and workforce need to be aligned.

CAHPO highlighted the importance of having everyone on the group understand the pieces of work being done across different areas to ensure that existing work feeds into the review. 

Role of this group and scope of the review

The output of the Review is to produce a report for Scottish Ministers that outlines recommendations that should be taken forward. It will be the role of this group to identify, agree and explore key areas of focus, and to consider what the recommendation should be in relation to those.

The suggestion of having subgroups formed to explore key issues was widely agreed by the group, as were the key areas of focus. 

The funding subgroup might be one that is included in all other areas of focus. Academic clinical careers/research is a really important area as this is a focus of the CNO. It may also be that this subgroup does not begin immediately, but starts in a few months. 

There is a space within the area workforce and recruitment and it is suggested that this is filled with Health Care Staff Legislation/Workload for now but that this can be flexible. 

Placements is one area of focus and it was stressed that this does not cover acute only but rather this is an opportunity for all key stakeholders to feel part of this work. 

There may be some rewording of terminology as the current areas were a result of initial scoping. For example ‘placement’ has been changed to ‘practice learning’ and ‘simulation’ has become ‘alternative placements.’  

There was discussion about whether or not Research should be on hold as it was felt that we weren’t in a position at the moment to progress on this issue at the moment.

Terms of reference

TOR will be sent out to the group with the aim to sign these off at the next meeting. 

Members are asked to think about whether anything is missing or should be removed and if the TOR is clear. 

Actions: 

• members to make us aware of anyone else that you work with that may be better placed to attend certain meetings to share their knowledge and expertise – this is ongoing, and suggestions are welcome as we move through this work
• group to virtually sign off TOR once these are issued along with slides from the presentation - by next meeting 
• send any pertinent work or papers already done on any of the key areas of focus – as soon as possible, SG team to pull together
• members to volunteer to chair or be involved in the subgroups by next meeting, and consider if any others should be involved – as soon as possible, by COP Tuesday 8 March 2022
• SG to link in with Fiona Coutts and Anita Simmers to discuss next steps in progressing student representation