Running Training Hubs for NHS England
Training Hubs are the NHS's local engine for the primary care workforce: placements, educator development, new roles, CPD, recruitment and retention. We have set up or run seven of them across London since 2014, and today we programme-manage two on behalf of NHS England. It is one strand of our work, alongside consultancy and apprenticeships.
North East London Training Hub
Commissioned by NHS England and delivered in partnership with Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC, the NEL Training Hub supports general practice and primary care across Barking and Dagenham, City and Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. Community Matters provides the programme management, education and training leadership and much of the delivery team, with programme managers aligned to each borough.
- Commissioner
- NHS England (London)
- Partner
- Tower Hamlets GP Care Group CIC
- Since
- Contract awarded 2024
Camden Training Hub
Part of the North Central London Training Hub, the Camden hub supports the general practice and wider primary care workforce in the borough: induction for new clinicians, CPD, immunisation and clinical skills training, Team Camden events and workforce planning with Camden's Primary Care Networks. Community Matters programme-manages the hub on behalf of NHS England.
- Commissioner
- NHS England (London)
- System
- North Central London
- Our role
- Programme management and delivery
What a Training Hub does
National policy expects Training Hubs to support workforce planning, develop and commission education, secure training capacity and help with recruitment and retention. In practice that means:
Placements and educators
Expanding undergraduate and postgraduate placement capacity in general practice, and approving, developing and supporting the educators who supervise learners.
CPD and clinical training
Commissioning and running training for GPs, nurses, pharmacists, allied health professionals, physician associates and non-clinical staff: from immunisation and cytology updates to menopause, wound care and leadership programmes.
New roles and apprenticeships
Supporting PCNs and practices to introduce and embed new roles, and connecting them to funded routes such as apprenticeships and conversion programmes.
Recruitment and retention
Fellowships, peer support, return to practice and induction programmes for international medical graduates and newly qualified professionals.
Workforce intelligence
Annual workforce development and training needs surveys, workforce data and reporting that shape what gets commissioned, and the KPI and end-of-year reporting NHS England requires.
Partnerships
Working with ICBs, trusts, councils, universities, the voluntary sector and national programmes, and hosting innovation projects such as practice educator roles and neighbourhood workforce development.
Track record
Training Hubs since the beginning.
We have worked on Training Hubs since they began in London in 2014 as Community Education Provider Networks, setting up and running hubs in Barking, Havering and Redbridge, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington, Newham and North East London. That depth is why systems ask us to health check their hubs, and why NHS England trusts us to run them.
In 2025 a quality improvement project supported by the NEL Training Hub won two national HSJ Patient Safety Awards: Patient Safety Team of the Year and Primary Care Initiative of the Year.
If you are a commissioner thinking about how your Training Hub is hosted, or a GP federation or PCN wondering how to work with yours, we would be glad to talk.
Tell us what you're trying to change
A programme that needs managing, a service that needs evaluating, a team that needs developing. Describe it in a few lines and we'll come back within two working days.