Health Education England leaders meet staff, students and service users

Having met with the Vice-Chancellor, the guests joined a lively debate with Faculty of Health Studies staff, students and service users.

Dean of the Faculty of Health Studies Dr Pam Bagley opened proceedings, giving an overview of the Faculty and our work with HEE. Dr Sarah Smith then described how we are embedding Dementia into the Undergraduate curriculum, giving the professors an example of how education providers are responding to the mandate from HEE that all pre-registration students qualify with at least basic dementia awareness skills and knowledge.

The session then became an open discussion forum, where the staff, students and service users in attendance had the opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns and raise suggestions directly.

The wide-ranging debate covered many important, timely issues, including:

• The background to and development of values based recruitment.
• The importance of service user involvement in education, and how to replicate on a national scale the well-established initiatives at the University of Bradford and elsewhere
• Changes to and innovations in the Undergraduate curriculum, and the growing importance of transdisciplinary working
• Person-centred care in Dementia, and the need to increase the knowledge of Dementia in every role associated with the healthcare sector in order to raise standards of care
• The responsibility of health professionals to challenge unfit practice wherever and whenever it is found
• The future of the NHS in a changing environment, and the Health Education England roadmap for the future

Ian and Nicki found it very useful to have the opportunity to meet students and service users and see how the work of HEE is reflected on the ground.