Practice and PCN managers are being asked to nominate one member of their team to undertake free NHS England care navigation training, which starts on 10 July.
The virtual training programme has been launched to support the delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, which committed to training 6,500 staff – one person from every practice in the country – in care navigation skills.
NHS England said practice and PCN managers should register ‘the most appropriate staff member’ to undertake the training. This will usually be reception staff and care navigators who are involved in triaging requests.
Managers have been urged to book nominated individuals as soon as possible as NHS England expects the free programme to be popular with spaces filling up quickly.
The foundation level training is for those new to care navigation (see box).
The goal on completion, according to NHS England, is that individuals will feel confident in communicating effectively with patients and members of the multi-disciplinary team. They will also be confident in signposting to the most relevant clinician or local service, depending on patient needs.
Individuals will be expected to attend three sessions and this time should be protected.
Practice managers with questions about the programme can email [email protected].
An advanced training offer will be available at a later date and for those with experience of care navigation and ‘who can support and embed it into practices and networks for sustainability and standardisation,’ said NHS England.
Care navigation training at foundation level
The objectives of the training are:
- to enable participants to understand the purpose of care navigation and the impact it can have in improving population health
- define the role and boundaries of care navigation
- develop understanding of the wider determinants of health and importance of Making Every Contact Count
- support participants to understand the purpose of the Directory of Service (DOS) and useful local partner organisations
- build confidence in signposting patients to local services.
