The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust has announced its role as one of the eight early adopter sites of the NHS’s new National Competency Framework (NCF) for the recruitment and development of data professionals, designed to “professionalise the data and analytics workforce within health and care and create a vibrant culture within the wider workforce” through collaborative work to standardise what data professionals are, what they do and their development.
With national roll-out of the scheme expected to be completed by March 2024, the early adopters including Clatterbridge will be able to have an impact on shaping the scheme. NHS England’s Transformation Directorate notes that the early adopter sites are examining how they can utilise the framework, developing implementation plans and logic models to evaluate success and challenges of adoption. An interactive online resource is in development, with the sites using a spreadsheet version of the framework to support implementation in the meantime.
Clatterbridge participated in the launch event at the Annual Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts Conference, where advice was provided for other organisations ahead of the framework’s national roll-out.
Paula Pickford, chief data officer at Clatterbridge, said: “We’re delighted to have been accepted as an early adopted of the new NCF. This proves our commitment to recruiting, developing and nurturing talented data professionals within our team here, as well as the data and analysis profession as a whole. Collaboration is key to the success of the NCF and it’s been a privilege to support and guide other healthcare organisations as they begin their own rollout of the scheme.”
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS FT published its first innovation strategy earlier this year, outlining how innovation is set to be designed into patient care.
On the digital, data and technology (DDaT) workforce, government ministers recently rejected calls to “allow NHS England to move away from Agenda for Change pay scales when recruiting Data, Digital and Technology (DDaT) specialists to ensure it can recruit and retain the people that it needs”, following the recommendation set out in the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on digital transformation earlier in the year.
