NCH&C rated Gold for Clinical Learning
Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) is proud to be rated Gold for the quality of its clinical learning environment. This new accreditation reflects our commitment to providing high-quality support to students and learners.
Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) is proud to be rated Gold for the quality of its clinical learning environment. This new accreditation reflects our commitment to providing high-quality support to students and learners.
Earlier this year, NCH&C took part in ‘What Does a Good Clinical Learning Environment Look Like’ a pilot project in the Norfolk and Waveney ICS area, coordinated by Health Education England (HEE).
To award the accreditation HEE which since April 1 merged into NHS England, conducted a thorough review of the information and resources we provide students and learners, shadowing learners on our wards and teams, and meeting with our executive leadership team. The evaluation considered patient safety, clinical governance, clinical education, and equality, diversity & inclusion.
NCH&C’s Director of Nursing & Quality, Carolyn Fowler, shared her delight at the trust’s new accreditation:
“Achieving Gold accreditation for our learning environment is a huge accomplishment for NCH&C and we are very proud of our staff. This symbolises the value we place on all learners we support in our trust and the commitment of our staff to ensure everyone has a good learning experience. A good learning environment is essential to providing a skilled and compassionate workforce and high-quality community health and care for many years to come.
“Thank you to all the learners and managers who took the time out of their busy schedules to take part in the review and who support our learners every day. Thank you to all our practice educators, assessors and supervisors of students and apprentices for ensuring the clinical learning environment we deliver at NCH&C is of the highest quality.”
NCH&C’s Gold accreditation aligns with the East of England Clinical Learning Environment Strategy, launched in September 2022. The strategy aims to grow the capacity, capability, and quality of learning in the region through efficient, effective, and sustainable systems that support practice learning, with strong and effective partnerships between education and service providers.
Lynne Fanning, Head of Clinical Education & Research at NCH&C, said:
“We are thrilled to receive this recognition for our Gold-standard clinical learning environment, which supports our ambition to be a leader in research and education in a community setting.
“Our curious and continually-learning workforce is our biggest asset, so we hope that this new accreditation will encourage more students and learners to choose NCH&C, both as an educator and later as an employer.”
Jenny Hannington, Deputy Regional Director of Workforce, Training and Education, NHS England East, said:
“I am delighted that Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust has achieved a rating of Gold through the ‘What Does a Good Clinical Learning Environment Look Like’ framework. This is a fantastic achievement for all staff, educators and learners at the organisation.
The quality of the education experienced by learners will have a direct impact on the quality and safety of patient care now and for many years to comes and will influence supply of the healthcare workforce which is so fundamental to delivering high quality care. This is why it is so important to ensure that all learners have access to high quality clinical learning environments throughout their training.”