In the beginning there were CEPN's
Training hubs started out in the East Midlands approximately 3 years ago when they were called Community Education Provider Networks (CEPNs), commissioned by Health Education England (HEE).
HEE’s idea was a simple one – if more pre-registration medical students and nursing students had placements in primary care then more of them would look for a career in primary care when they graduated. So, HEE invited expressions of interest from groups of practices to make that happen and the first CEPNs were born!
A little later HEE realised CEPN wasn’t the catchiest of names for these new organisations, so the name was officially changed to Training Hubs.
What did Training Hubs do?
As mentioned, the brief was simple: increase the number of pre-registration placements year on year. Training hubs largely did this by acting as a conduit and influencer between practices and Higher Education Institutions and student placement numbers did increase year on year.
What has changed?
In 2019 HEE looked at training hubs and decided that they could do more and become more central to primary care workforce planning. The official definition of a training hub became:
“Training hubs are designed to meet the educational needs of the multi-disciplinary primary care team, and bring together NHS organisations, community providers and local authorities.”
So what does that actually mean?
Training Hubs will work with the STP to act as a direct resource for PCNs in terms of 3 main areas.
- Continuing to develop undergraduate and postgraduate placements in primary care
- Supporting the development of educational programmes tailored to the specific needs of PCNs
- Supporting a better understanding of workforce needs and options within primary care