Publish date: 26 May 2023
An end-to-end transformational reform in the education, training and career pathways for cancer support workers, nurses and allied health professionals supporting people affected by cancer both now and in the future, has launched a regular bulletin and will host a webinar next month explaining how it can support health professionals in cancer.
NHS England’s Workforce Education and Training team has developed the career pathway, core capabilities and education framework for those providing care to people affected by cancer.
Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance (CMCA) was at the heart of preparations for ACCEND – which launched the framework in January 2023 – which has three key components: career pathway, education and training, and the capabilities in practice for all seven levels of practice in cancer:
- Supportive
- Assistive
- Pre-registration
- Registered
- Enhanced
- Advanced
- Consultant
The overall purpose of the ACCEND programme is to provide clear and transparent guidance and direction on the knowledge, skills and capabilities required by all of the cancer support workforce, nurses and allied health professionals who care for people affected by cancer in generalist and specialist cancer services and roles as part of multi-professional teams across the four UK nations.
A new cancer workforce education and training hub is ready for launch next month (June) which will be a one-stop shop for the whole cancer workforce who support people with a lived experience of cancer.
The ACCEND hub has been developed to provide a ‘go to’ place where healthcare professionals can find resources, e-learning, linked to the Career Pathway, Core Cancer Capabilities in Practice and Education Framework. The ACCEND hub will provide resources, information, education and training to support skills and capability building as well as career pathways.
Now, the first bi-monthly ACCEND e-bulletin has launched, with details about what is happening within the programme and across its workstreams. You can read it here.
CMCA’s John Gale, ACCEND Supportive and Assistive Lead, said: “We are really pleased to be able to share the tools the ACCEND programme has developed and it is working with Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance to see how this is to be implemented in practice.
“Hopefully, it will spread the word about the workstreams, how the programme is progressing and highlight areas in which colleges across our region can get involved in.”
The ACCEND programme will be hosting a webinar on 6th June, the first of a series of webinars to share more about the programme, with each session spotlighting a certain area.
This first session will introduce the newly launched ACCEND Learning Hub, hear from programme Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) Professor Geeta Menon and ACCEND Co-Leads Libby Potter and June Davis.
To register please click here.
For more information, contact ACCEND@hee.nhs.uk.