HSST Monthly Memo (June 2021)

Message from Dr Owen Driskell, HSST Training Programme Director

June, and the sun has been out even if we haven’t been as much as we might have hoped.

It has been an extremely busy time at the School overseeing recruitment and assessment in the STP and HSST, but we are on track. This year there are over 100 HSSTs being commissioned.

This month’s newsletter highlights the opening of NETS (the National Education and Training Survey). It is run by HEE to assess training for all healthcare students – healthcare scientists, doctors, nurses, dentists etc. It is important to take part in the survey which offers the potential to improve student placements on our programmes, and also to support the raising of the profile of healthcare science across HEE.

We can all take the opportunity to reflect and improve. Look out for upcoming training events in the events section on our website in the coming weeks and months.

The HEE National Education and Training Survey will open again on Tuesday 22nd June

The National Education and Training Survey (NETS) is the only national survey open to all healthcare students across all clinical learning environments.

The survey is run by Health Education England (HEE) as part of our work to improve the experience of all students and trainees working and training in clinical services across the NHS and beyond.

The survey opened this morning (Tuesday 22nd June) and takes just 10 minutes to fill in. Your feedback will help placement providers to make real changes to improve the student experience.

Drop-in sessions for trainees and supervisors

We offer regular drop-in sessions which provide a means through which trainees and training officers can speak to members of the School directly to access their expertise and guidance.

The drop-in sessions are offered on a regular basis and are themed to maintain focus for particular areas of support or guidance.

The discussions are confidential and usually offered on a 15 minute basis per person. Any issues not resolved or requiring follow up will be logged and further meetings arranged to address unresolved issues.

Click here to find out more about our drop-in sessions

Below are the dates for our upcoming drop-in sessions:

• 30th June – Training support, scientific support
• 25th August – Training support, scientific support

Click here to find our drop-in sessions timetable and event joining links

Stakeholder review for STP Health Informatics curriculum content

From 25 June we’ll be be asking stakeholders for feedback on the drafts of the new STP Health Informatics curriculum content.

We’ll be asking stakeholders to take a look at the curriculum and provide feedback through a survey. The process should take around an hour.

Feedback will inform the final curricula and will help to shape the future of the Health Informatics Scientist Taining Programme.

Click here to find out how your can provide your feedback for the STP curriculum review

Training support

How the School will support you during your time on the programme?

We are committed to providing support to trainees and education providers in delivering and completing the training successfully. We provide a wide range of services including:

• curriculum content
• assessment
• education
• digital systems
• quality management of training

We offer professional support and guidance for trainees and training officers who may be experiencing issues or challenges by providing advice, offering a framework of policies and processes to support changes to training and signposting to support resources.

What policies are available to help me if I need to make a change to my training?

The two main policies that may be able to help you if you are experiencing problems are:

• Exceptional Extenuating Circumstances policy
• Transfer of Training policy

Click here to find out more abut how the School will support you during your time on the programme

Do you have any advice to share?

We are looking to develop and improve awareness of the support available to trainees during their programmes and to offer guidance to training officers so they know where to turn to offer or seek the appropriate support where it is needed.

We would like to create a number of podcasts with current and former trainees and training officers about their experiences, what worked well, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. The podcasts will be part of the ongoing development of resources available to trainees and trainers and we feel that your voice will be most powerful in guiding others on the programme in terms of when and how to seek support.

The podcasts will be completely anonymous and managed via informal chat with a member of the School and conducted remotely. We will ensure that the discussion does not make any personal circumstances identifiable but will explore more broadly the key issues experienced and how they were or could be resolved. We will work with you to agree the final product and then will make the podcast available online. We may also use them as an educational resource during our Train the Trainer and induction programmes to further improve awareness of how to support trainees.

The experiences could be broad ranging from:

• Training planning
• Training environment
• Health and wellbeing and pastoral support
• Managing statutory leave and training e.g., maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave
• Professional relationships
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• Seeking changes to training e.g., extensions, deferrals, step off, career breaks, transfer, early employment
• Part-time training

If you think you have an experience that you would like to share and could benefit other trainees or trainers then please do get in touch by emailing us at nshcs@hee.nhs.uk, we would love to hear from you.

Missed a previous edition of the HSST Monthly Memo?

We’ve published copies of the Monthly Memo for STP trainees and training officers on our website.

Click here to view previous editions of the HSST Monthly Memo