New Types of Worker - Identifying the skills and knowledge needed by people leading self care learning activities for social care and health
Identifying the skills and knowledge needed by people leading self care learning activities for social care and health
EPP C.I.C (Expert Patient's Programme Community Interest Company)
Context/Background
The Expert Patient's Programme (EPP) has been running since 2002. It is a user-led organisation which helps patients take charge of their own health. It helps them to work in partnership with health professionals, so that they take an active, rather than passive role in managing their own health and treatment.
The EPP C.I.C (Community Interest Company) is a Social Enterprise which came out of the EPP to deal, in particular, with the following:
The Aims and Objectives of the Activity
To develop by October 2008 a list of competences or skills which are needed for tutors to successfully run EPP courses. This will not only be useful to tutors of EPP self management courses but also to health and social care professionals generally.
The Plan
To work with and use the knowledge of other bodies (such as the Department of Health, Expert Carers, academic advisors).
To do a wide range of desk research.
To evaluate approaches used by tutors in the field.
To work with partners to produce a final report and a strong, high quality framework of skills.
What Happened
Studies of what is already happening in this way of working were made through desk research and from evaluations from tutor groups. Training already in use, which empowers and puts users and carers in control of their health were used as models. The skills needed for this approach were analysed in several national workshops.
Findings were used in a national meeting of tutors with long-term conditions, and health and social care providers, to co-design a set of competences required for successful delivery.
A report was given on the Co-Design workshop.
What was Achieved
All went to plan
See report - Self Managed Learning Competences in Health and Care Report of the Co-Design Workshop
and the skills - Competences for Training in self management for people with long term health conditions
What Helped and What Hindered
What helped - The founder organisation (EPP) was very much in favour of the EPP C.I.C. work and also had confidence in its members, stepping back and letting the work be user led once it had clearly set the agenda.
It also helped that the EPP is a large, established organisation, from which help could be drawn when it was needed.
What hindered- Some health professional have a traditional view of themselves as the experts, with the patient seen in a passive, non-expert role. This mindset, however, is now becoming less and less the norm.
What We Found Out
From feedback we found that 3 things were all equally important for a course in self management -
- The course content
- How well the group could work together to set achievable goals and to solve problems
- The quality of the tutor - the skills or competencies needed
These skills or competencies felt to be needed of a self management tutor are now laid down in the Competencies framework.
Evaluation
The research and evaluations proved very helpful, so that a useful skill framework list, with explanations, has now been produced for tutors and also other health and social care workers.
What New or Changed Skills do People Need to Work in This Way?
See the skills/competencies.
The skills can and are now being taught to future tutors, who work in pairs as a complementary team.
The mindset of more traditional health professionals needs to change so that health and social care staff move towards seeing themselves as resources and mouth pieces for the patient.
The Future
We are seeking accreditation for the competences. This will probably come from the Open College Network or City and Guilds.
We are rolling out the competences framework, nationally, and continue to evaluate our work.
Contact details -
Brendan O'Rourke (Training Manager)
brendan.o'rourke@eppcic.co.uk
020 7922 7860
Date
18.3.09
