The launch of the new Personalised Care Institute (PCI), a virtual organisation for evidence-based personalised care training, is set to redefine standards for evidenced-based education and will look to reach 75,000 health and care workers by 2024.
Convened by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and funded by NHS England and Improvement, the PCI will offer workers from across health and care sectors access to accredited personalised care training and development.
Many health and care professionals already incorporate personalised care at the heart of their work, with recent evidence showing most patients felt involved in decisions about their NHS treatment. However, further expansion of personalised care has been identified as target area of growth, providing even greater control to more people.
Personalised care was identified as a key target of the NHS Long Term Plan, which is committed to ensuring 2.5 million people are given personalised care by 2024 – alongside the training of at least 75,000 clinicians.
The launch of the PCI will play a key role in realising this ambition, supporting health and care workers to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to provide personalised care. It is set to receive £2.2m in funding over the next five years.
Delivered virtually, health and care professionals will initially be able to discover the new curriculum for personalised care training, specifically developed for the PCI, as well as the first eLearning course - 'Core skills for personalised care' - with more courses to be added soon.
Training providers interested in joining the PCI will also be able to find details on its accreditation scheme.
Underpinned by a robust quality assurance and accreditation framework, the PCI training programmes will focus on a number of personalised care topics in particular:
- Shared decision making
- Personalised care and support planning
- Social prescribing and community-based support
- Supported self-management
Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of GPs and Personalised Care Institute Chair, said: "At the core of the Personalised Care Institute is the individual caregiver-patient relationship – a one size fits all approach in healthcare simply isn’t fit for purpose. As such, the courses accredited and offered by the PCI will further equip healthcare professionals so that we can offer patients care which suits their individual needs and expectations.
"Evidence shows that, when compared to those who aren’t involved in their healthcare and conditions, personalised care leaves patients more satisfied and more likely to take up preventative interventions. Remarkably, evidence also suggests that patients who are in control of their health are more likely to live longer.
"We know that new training programmes for roles within primary care networks are constantly being developed and the PCI will quality assure and accredit training programmes ensuring that health and care professionals are accessing the best courses available.
"Therefore, we hope that users will find this virtual hub useful and that it will help colleagues across the NHS and care sectors attain professional development goals. Even the smallest of changes to clinical working practices, can make a significant difference to our patients."
James Sanderson, NHS England Director of Personalised Care, said: "Personalised care gives patients greater control over their own NHS treatment and support, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their health.
"This new Personalised Care Institute will bring thousands of health and care practitioners into action, so more than 2.5 million people will receive personalised care by 2024 as set out in our NHS Long Term Plan."
