Rethinking Health: Hope for the Future Campaign calls for health staff training to focus on prevention as well as cure
Today, the Rethinking Health: Hope for the Future campaign hosted an event at the House of Lords with senior NHS and healthcare leaders, students, academics and policy makers to discuss how the education and training of health professionals must evolve to deliver the ambitions of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan.
The Rethinking Health campaign, led by healthcare students and trainees, and backed by leading health experts, is on a mission to transform how we educate the doctors, nurses, and health professionals of the future so they can provide the care and support that people need to live longer, healthier lives.
Lord Nigel Crisp chaired the roundtable discussion which explored what practical steps can be taken to focus training more on keeping patients healthy and not just treating them when they are sick through prioritising education on issues such as population health and health creation. The group discussed how they can collaborate to make this happen and the insights will be used to shape a policy white paper to guide change in the coming months.
Read more about the campaign aims in the British Medical Journal paper.
NHS Charities Together hosts the campaign by providing administrative and income generation support. CEO Ellie Orton OBE says:
“Reform in healthcare must be supported by reform in education and support for NHS staff if we want to transform the NHS and make sure people get the healthcare they deserve. It is positive to see trainees and students leading the charge to redesign their own education and training. Happy, healthy, empowered staff are the beating heart of our NHS and they have one of the toughest jobs in the world. We are proud to support them through this campaign, our Workforce Wellbeing Programme, and through our work with the wider NHS charity sector to champion healthcare staff and invest in health creating environments which put patients at the heart.”
The campaign members believe big changes to how we train and educate the future generation of doctors and nurses are fundamental to build a healthier society and transform the NHS.
Campaign member, Dr Bogdan Chiva Giurca says:
“Rethinking health highlights a simple but urgent truth: We cannot redesign health systems without first redesigning how we educate those who work within them. Tomorrow’s health professionals must be trained not only to diagnose and treat disease, but to understand prevention, community assets and the wider determinants of health. If we embed these principles early, we create clinicians who are equipped to build health, not just respond to illness.”
Interested in shaping the future of health education?
For more information about how we support NHS staff through funding, partnerships and wellbeing initiatives, visit our Workforce Wellbeing Programme.
