Guidance for Upskilling Funding (previously known as CPPD)

For the non-medical workforce (nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, physician associates and patient facing support

workforce)

Updated December 2018

Contents

1. Background..........................................................................................................................................22. Principles underlying this guidance......................................................................................................2

3. Application process..............................................................................................................................24. Funding Allocation...............................................................................................................................3

5. Scoring Matrix......................................................................................................................................36. Exclusions, Restrictions and Advisory Information..............................................................................3

7. Training Needs Analysis and Evaluation Processes............................................................................48. The Funding Process for Approved Applications - For applications which have been approved........4

9. Appendix A - National & Local Priorities …………………………………………………………………...510. Appendix B – CEPN Funding Application for registered professionals...............................................6

11. Appendix C – CEPN Funding Application for Non-registered staff…………………………..…..........712. Appendix D - Invoice Template ……………………………………………………………………………..8

1. Background

Mid Downs Community Education Providers Network (CEPN) has delegated authority from Health Education England, Kent, Surrey & Sussex (HEE KSS) to manage upskilling funding from HEE. Funding has been significantly reduced in recent months in line with the government’s comprehensive spending review. As a result, the CEPN believes that a more rigorous and transparent process is required to manage the use of these funds.

HEE KSS have stipulated that upskilling funding should be prioritised to support education that clearly demonstrates benefit to patient safety and patient experience through the development of staff.

This will require a shift away from ad-hoc uptake of courses to the development of more structured pathways both for qualified staff and support workers. This is in line with the recommendations of the Shape of Caring1 review. There is evidence that structured career pathways contribute to the retention of staff and a reduction of serious incidents.

This document identifies a process which Mid Downs CEPN will adopt to manage funding to ensure prioritisation, approval and fair allocation of funds for Mid Downs primary care staff. Key priority areas for upskilling funding, identified by HEE KSS are listed in Appendix A.

2. Principles underlying this guidance

a) Mid Downs CEPN’s aim is to support learning and development of the primary care workforce in order to ultimately improve quality patient outcomes.

b) Mid Downs CEPN will coordinate a fair and equitable process for the allocation of upskilling funds. These are intended as a contribution towards furthering personal and professional development within Primary Care, and should be in conjunction with the employer’s contribution. It is the responsibility of the employer to support the learner with appropriate access to study time and development opportunities in order to embed and consolidate learning.

c) Mid Downs CEPN will be required to demonstrate that upskilling funding supports local service transformation, particularly in the context of Sussex & East Surrey Sustainability and Transformation Programmes (STPs), Five Year Forward View (FYFV) delivery plan and HEE regional priorities.

3. Application process

In order to submit a funding request, an applicant and his/her manager should provide the following:

a) A copy of the course flyer.b) The course application form.c) A completed CEPN funding application (Appendix B – Clinical Staff; Appendix C – Non-Clinical Staff).

The training agreement asks for the following:

d) How the proposed learning meets the current and future job requirements. e) That the learning and development need has been identified and recorded in the individual’s appraisal. f) How the learning and development is aligned to local and national priorities.g) How learning will be disseminated in the practice and/or Network.h) How the future workforce is supported in the learner’s practice and/or Network.

Applications to be emailed to: hsccg.mid-downs-cepn@nhs.net. Must be returned as a word document NOT a PDF or a photo. Applications submitted in this format will not be reviewed.

1 https://hee.nhs.uk/our-work/shape-caring-review

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4. Funding Allocation

Aligned to the CEPN’s strategic objectives, applications will AIM to be funded on the following basis; however, this is subject to availability of funds from Health Education England:

a) 100% funding for Mentorship Modules (including accredited and non-accredited mentorship courses) and the Introduction to GPN Module

b) 100% funding for commissioned academic pathways (subject to funding available from HEE) e.g. Advanced Clinical Practice, Community Specialist Practice (GPN) and Non-Medical Prescribing (additional shortlisting and interview process required)

c) 100% of funding to be offered if the applicant is a ‘live’ mentor and is actively engaged in external student nurse placements.This approach is being adopted in order to adhere to the HEE (2015) district nursing and general practice nursing education and career framework (level 5) which states that it is essential that the mentorship qualification is viewed as a pre-requisite to all other post-registration academic training

d) 0% of funding if the applicant is a mentor but is not actively engaged in student nurse placements OR the practice is not currently hosting external student placements in their practice

e) 0% of funding if applicant is a registered nurse and does not hold a mentorship qualification

5. Scoring Matrix

Each request will be jointly approved by a Primary Care Workforce Tutor and a the CEPN Clinical Chair using the scoring below.

A total of 10 points is necessary to meet the minimum requirements for approval.

Please note, although we would like to approve all funding requests, training budgets are being reduced year on year and we cannot therefore guarantee that all requests will be granted. However, they will be at least considered, and rejected applications will be returned with feedback as to why they have not been successful.

6. Exclusions, Restrictions and Advisory Information

a) Financial support covers course and exam fees where applicable. Practices should look to make maximum use of any alternative funding streams before using upskilling funding.

b) Upskilling funding may not be used to fund backfill for staff to attend education and training.

c) Upskilling funding may not be used to fund hotels, catering, travel or any other costs outside the delivery of education and training.

d) Upskilling funding may not be used to fund facilities, infrastructure, catering and venue hire.

e) Upskilling funding may not be used to pay for study leave. Study leave remains the decision of the line manager/employer

f) Upskilling funding may not be used to pay for statutory and mandatory training, or conference places

g) Upskilling funding may not be used to pay for agency staff training and development.

When an application for funding is not supported, the CEPN may suggest alternative resources to help achieve the learning. These may include journals, networks, accessing e-learning packages and peer to peer learning.

Should an applicant, or their line manager, wish to appeal against any decision in relation to funding allocations, they should do so in writing to the CEPN Clinical Chair, Dr Terry Conaty, and email terry.conaty@nhs.net stating the grounds for their request. The appeal will be reviewed by a panel consisting of a local GP Tutor and one of the HEE KSS Programme Directors.

This will be presented to the CEPN Executive Team who will consider whether the assessment criteria were correctly applied and the process followed fairly and in accordance with this procedure. The final decision in all circumstances rests with the CEPN Executive Team.

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Both the applicant and their line manager will be notified of the outcome of this review and changes will be made to any funding levels or payback, as appropriate.

7. Training Needs Analysis and Evaluation Processes

a) In order to remain aligned to both local and national priorities, the CEPN will be using the data from the GP Workforce tool and supporting an annual Training Needs Analysis (TNA) across East Surrey, Crawley and HMS GP practices. This will provide information relating to the current workforce and educational priorities. The GP Workforce tool and TNA is vital to help identify and prioritise requirements for future funding allocations and provide a fair and transparent process for the allocation of upskilling funds.

b) The CEPN will request an evaluation from each training and development opportunity that is funded. This information will provide a record of the benefits achieved from the funding investment (This information will also inform decisions about future commissions). The CEPN Board will be provided with this feedback in order to continuously assess and improve the quality of the education delivered to the Mid Downs primary care workforce.

c) The CEPN will request the individual and line manager to complete an evaluation 6-12 months after completion of learning to look at return on investment (ROI).

8. The Funding Process for Approved Applications - For applications which have been approved:

a) Practices will initially be required to pay the training fees directly to the training provider.

b) On successful completion of the training, the CEPN will reimburse the agreed training fees back to the practice at the end of the nearest quarter

c) In order for practices to receive reimbursement, the practice will need to send the following confirmation to the CEPN hsccg.mid-downs-cepn@nhs.net - the delegate completed the training - a receipt of the purchased training- a copy of the course evaluation to CEPN

d) Invoices must be sent directly to Wakefield using the invoice template in Appendix D.

e) If practices are unable to fund the training in advance, the CEPN may look to see how they can still support the application.

f) Training that has not been completed i.e. exams not sat, or work not submitted, will not be reimbursed.

g) Training will not be reimbursed unless practices have received prior written notification that their funding application was successful.

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9. Appendix A – National and Local Priorities

When planning the use of this funding, it is essential to demonstrate that it is supporting local service

transformation, particularly in the context of our Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs).  It is

imperative that there is a clear ‘line of sight’ between patient outcomes, service improvement and the identified education needs of the workforce.

For the application to be considered it must be therefore be aligned to one of the following priority areas:

 

HEE Regional Priorities1. Developing the Support worker

2. Upskilling for extended & advanced roles in priority service areas

3. Supporting patient safety and person centred care

4. Supporting Career progression

5. Enabling apprenticeships

6. Promoting Prevention

7. Workforce Modelling and Redesign

 

Local priorities in Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs)STPs may require a range of changes to service provision, from whole system reconfigurations to relatively

minor changes to local services. We would expect the workforce impact of the local STP to be reflected in

each provider’s strategic training plan with consideration given to how education and training will be used to

support its implementation.

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10. Appendix B – CEPN Funding Application for registered professionals

I undertake to attend the full course of study and take the relevant exams at the end of the course (if applicable). If I leave East Surrey, Crawley, Horsham & Mid-Sussex CCGs whilst taking the course, or within the two years of obtaining the qualification, then I understand that I will be responsible for repayment of all or part (at the discretion of the CEPN) of my training expenses. A minimum of 10 points is necessary to meet the minimum requirements for approval.

Name: Practice name:

Course title:

Course Level:

Length of course:

Cost:

Start date:

Course Provider:I confirm that I have read this guidance and understand that restrictions may apply as detailed above

Manager’s signature:………………………………………..…Date:……………

Applicant’s signature:…………………………………………..Date:……………

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Funding Criteria Please provide a detailed response

CEPN score CEPN comments

Learning and development need has been identified, agreed by manager and recorded in applicant’s appraisal

(Max 2)

Please describe which of the following priorities this application supports (see Appendix A):

-HEE regional priorities (please specify which one)

-Local STP priorities

(Max 2)

How will best practice be shared across your practice/Network?

(Max 1)

Does your practice support student placements?

Y/N

Please state which professional groups:

-Student Nurses (Scores: 2)

-Other learners but not student nurses (Scores: 1)

Practice NursesDo you hold a mentorship qualification?

Y/N

Date last of Update:

(Max 2)

How many student nurses have you mentored over the last 12 months?

0= scores 0

Greater than 1=scores 2

APPROVAL Y/N

CEPN representative names Score (Min 10 to be approved):

Date:

11. Appendix C – CEPN Funding Application for Non-registered staff

Prior to approval, applications will be shared with Locality (CHMS) and Network/Service Integration Managers (ES) to scope the need across the CEPN, to ensure training is delivered in a structured way. A total of 10 points is necessary to meet the minimum requirements for approval.

Name: Practice name:

Course title:

Course Level:

Length of course:

Cost:

Start date:

Course Provider:

I confirm that I have read this guidance and understand that restrictions may apply as detailed above

Manager’s signature:………………………………………..…Date:……………

Applicant’s signature:…………………………………………..Date:……………

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Funding Criteria Please provide a detailed response

CEPN score CEPN comments

Learning and development need has been identified, agreed by manager and recorded in applicant’s appraisal

(Max 1)

Please describe which of the following priorities this application supports (see Appendix A):

-HEE regional priorities (please specify which one)

-Local STP priorities

(Max 1)

Can this training be delivered through an Apprenticeship Programme?

Y/N -No (Max 2)

-Yes (no score)

How will best practice be shared across your practice/Network?

(Max 1)

Does your practice support student placements?

Y/N

Please state which professional groups:

-Student Nurses (Scores: 2)

-Other learners but not student nurses (Scores: 1)

How will this learning support practice/Network resilience, e.g. free up clinical time?

(Max 2)

How will this learning be used to support integrated working, e.g. working with other providers?

(Max 2)

APPROVAL Y/N

CEPN representative names Score (Min 10 to be approved):

Date:

12. Appendix D – Invoice Template

INVOICE

To: From:XXKMYALLNHS Crawley CCG09H PAYABLES L715 PHOENIX HOUSETOPCLIFFE LANEWAKEFIELD WF3 1WE Telephone

Invoice No. Invoice Date:

Date Description Total

INVOICE TOTAL DUE £0

Please pay invoice total due by bank transfer to:

BankAccount NumberSort Code

Invoice Payable To:

Remittance e-mail:

Before submitting your Invoice please check it complies with the following:● Clearly quotes the full and correct Payables Address of the NHS Organisation receiving the goods / services● Clearly states if it is an Invoice or Credit Note● Provides clear details of the organisation submitting the invoice and includes the remittance address● Provides clear details of all Goods / Services billed● Quotes the NHS Purchase Order (PO) Number, where applicable, or the Trust Contact Name● Is legible● Has a valid Invoice Date (Tax Point) and Invoice Number● Clearly states the Payee● Has the correct VAT calculations (handwritten invoices in particular)● Invoice adds up correctly (handwritten invoices in particular)● Includes the relevant supporting information, for example, timesheets.

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