DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service on
The Department of
Health is inviting applications for partnerships between health,
social care, education and business sectors to become Health
Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs) , which will deliver
high quality care to patients, it announced today.
The £10million cash injection will fund the cost of setting up
these new clusters, which will bring together organisations from
across the NHS, higher education, industry and other public and
private sector organisations.
The clusters will improve the knowledge and skills of NHS staff,
by providing best practice education and training for nurses,
doctors, dentists and the full range of professions in all
healthcare settings. This in turn will quickly bring the latest
innovations in care and treatment, including new medicines and
devices to NHS patients.
Health Minister Lord Darzi said:
"I encourage
organisations from all relevant sectors to apply to become Health
Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs).
"HIECs are special partnerships that draw on the wealth of
skills and experience of their members to improve the development
of high quality care and services by quickly bringing the benefits
of research and innovation directly to patients.
"These projects will attract and encourage the best talent
who can recognise and rapidly adopt new and innovative healthcare
and treatment."
Dr Moira Livingston, Strategic Head of Workforce and acting
Postgraduate Dean and Director for North East SHA said:
"HIECs are an exciting opportunity for us to work together
locally across health, education and industry.
"They'll help to drive up quality standards in
education and training and ensure fast adoption of innovation for
the benefit of local people.
"The flexibility of the HIEC model means that we can link
with our regional vision and develop HIECs in ways which are
appropriate and specific to our local area.
"The clusters are much more likely to be successful as
they
build on work we've already done to develop our
regional strategy with our local clinicians."
To help applicants the Department of Health has published a guide
'Breakthrough to real change in local healthcare: A guide for
applications to create Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs)'.
The guide marks the start of a period of informal discussion with
prospective bidders over the next four months, leading to a
national selection process in September this year.
Ends
Notes to Editors:
1. For media enquiries please contact the Department of Health
Newsdesk on 020 7210 5221.
2. Further information and a copy of the guide can be found at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_098887
3. The HIEC concept was originally developed by a group of
leaders from the NHS and university sector during the NHS Next
Stage Review as one of the ways to deliver high quality
healthcare. This led to proposals in the final report High
quality care for all and A High Quality Workforce published by the
Department of Health in June 2008. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_085825
4. HIECs offer a way of separating the commissioning and
provision of education, a move that was also recommended by the
NHS Next Stage Review as essential to ensuring effective high
quality training. This commissioner / provider split is already
operational for some healthcare professions and is in progress for
postgraduate medical and dental education. The overall
responsibility for commissioning education will remain with the
strategic health authorities (SHAs) and the current commissioning
functions of the postgraduate deanery should remain with the SHA.