Training Hubs are central to NHS England's plan for the primary care workforce: enough trained staff, with the right skills and NHS values, in the right place at the right time. They are widely recognised for what they contribute, but their priorities, activities and maturity vary a great deal from one system to the next.
The common operating framework was introduced to strengthen Training Hubs and give assurance about their functions, governance, stakeholder relationships and operating models, at both system (ICS) level and locality level. A health check tests a hub against it.
Our experience
Community Matters has worked on Training Hubs since they began in London in 2014. We have set up or run hubs in Barking, Havering and Redbridge, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington, Newham and North East London, engaged at locality and ICS level on programmes tied to clinical workstreams, and managed primary care workforce work plans. Today we programme-manage the North East London and Camden Training Hubs for NHS England. We know what good looks like because we are measured against it ourselves.
What a health check covers
- Infrastructure: team, capacity, systems, data and finance
- Governance: accountability to the ICB and NHS England, host arrangements, boards and reporting
- Core functions: as set out in the common operating framework and related guidance, from placement capacity and educator development to recruitment, retention and CPD
- Stakeholder relationships: PCNs, federations, trusts, universities, local authorities and the voluntary sector
We bring in an experienced team, share knowledge and skills as we go, and work closely with the hub's stakeholders rather than around them.
What you get
The hub mapped against a maturity matrix, with the evidence behind each rating, and a clear road map showing how the hub can reach greater maturity: what to do first, what it will take, and how to show progress to commissioners.