SDN: Welcome to the Yorkshire and Humber Skills Development Network
For several years, NOE CPC has partnered with the NHS Skills Development Network (SDN) to provide procurement professionals with training, events, and workshops. As part of our #LearningMatters month, we spoke with Nigel Booth, Head of Skills Development, Yorkshire and Humber, who gave us an overview of SDN and the types of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities they provide to NHS organisations.
The Skills Development Network (Yorkshire and Humber) is, effectively, a “not-for-profit training club” for NHS Finance, Procurement, and Informatics Staff, paid for by an annual subscription. Organisations pay a levy based on the relevant employee headcount and there is no further charge for attendance at the learning and development events. More formal courses and qualifications are charged separately; according to the costs incurred in providing the course or qualification in question. In order to keep costs down we regularly review our trainer and venue options, trying to source in-house speakers (including NOE CPC) and NHS venues wherever possible, to ensure we are getting the best possible value for money.
The programme provides tailored learning and development events to support CPD in Finance, Procurement, and Informatics. Attending events also provides an excellent opportunity for delegates to interact and network with colleagues from other organisations.
With the recent changes in the structure of the NHS and the focus now on integration, it is essential for organisations to have the right people with the right skills and knowledge to help drive us all forward and to facilitate the delivery of excellent patient care. Every year we have a Strategy Day at which all organisational leads in the three areas meet to share ideas and training requirements for the programme for the following year based on their own internal training needs analysis. This way we ensure that we largely deliver what the organisations require.
The programme delivers high quality, cost-effective bespoke learning, and development events, in technical and non-technical subjects, for staff at all levels. Working in close partnership with our training providers we have very successfully adapted to using online learning platforms as well as face-to-face delivery. We continue to offer a mixed portfolio of online and face-to-face events; run in convenient locations to ensure that all staff across Yorkshire and Humber can access them easily. Our events range from full day events to ‘Masterclasses’ which are 60–90-minute online sessions. These courses may be offered once initially, with the option to offer more if they prove to be very popular.
The Skills Development Network operates in a similar way in all NHS regions in the country and as well as training and development events there is a considerable amount of free-to-use materials and online training available via our website NHS Skills Development Network (NHS SDN)