The Nuffield Trust have released their report titled: Reshaping the workforce to support new models of care. Their executive summary states it ‘is a huge opportunity, but
also a huge organisational development challenge – particularly with regard to the
non-medical workforce. We argue that organisations need to begin with a deep
understanding of patient needs, and then train, recruit and skill the workforce to
meet those needs. This report explores how organisations can do this, and the benefits
that would result.’

Click on the link to access the report

For HEI’s it state that advanced practice roles should ‘typically’ have a two year Masters qualification. The Health Education England National Framework also gets a mention and the need for ring fenced funding. See below:

The report states there are a number of important areas where national support is needed. Based on
their research they would recommend the following:
– the Health Education England budget and specialist workforce planning expertise
should be protected by ring-fencing monies to support local workforce redesign
– national competence frameworks are needed for staff in extended and advanced
roles
– there should be a dialogue between the professional regulators and system
regulators to ensure that there is no ‘regulatory gap’ and that new and extended
roles have safe governance arrangements
– Health Education England should work with NHS Improvement and the Care
Quality Commission to ensure that planning assumptions, new workforce models
and inspection requirements are aligned and clearly communicated
– the Department of Health should review the current legal indemnity
arrangements for primary care staff with new and extended roles to find ways to
make legal indemnity easier to obtain and more affordable
– the underlying needs analysis for, and impact of, workforce redesign should be
a national research priority
– Health Education England should consider how it can support the dissemination
of good practice examples.

As Chris Inman from Birmingham City University points out there are parts of the report that read is if the Nuffield Trust has just come up with these roles and rather typically, when AP is mentioned, there is scant attention paid to regulation. However, it’s good to see a call for the DH to review legal indemnity for primary care staff.