Training milestone sees more primary care staff enhance their skills

More than 1,000 training places have been made available to primary and community care staff, helping them enhance their skills with the support of a dedicated team.

Swansea Bay’s Primary and Community Care Academy was established in 2023.

It provides and directs staff to a range of education and training opportunities, either face-to-face or online, to help them develop their skills.

Now, the team has reached a milestone of providing more than 1,000 training opportunities to Swansea Bay staff.

Pictured: Academy manager Rhian Jones, Academy clinical lead Rachel Brace, education and training development officer Jessica Beer, and Sharon Miller, Associate Service Group Director for primary and community services.

Sharon Miller, Associate Service Group Director for primary and community services, has led the establishment of the Academy in Swansea Bay.

She said: “I am delighted that we have reached this milestone.

“Staff working in primary care are at the forefront of the NHS and it is important to support their development and allow opportunities for them to develop their skills as we deliver more services closer to home.

“We intend to continue to build on this success and provide many more training and educational opportunities going forward.”

The Academy aims to support and develop the primary care workforce, which is made up of GPs, pharmacists, optometrists, dentists, nurses, allied health professionals (AHPs) and more.

It enables staff to access training opportunities on a range of clinical topics, such as women’s health and diabetes.

The team also directs staff to training on non-clinical topics too, including health and safety training, making every contact count, dealing with violence and aggression, and more.

Kelly Di’iulio (pictured), a practice nurse at The Grove Medical Centre in Uplands, is just one of the staff members who has developed her skills thanks to the Academy’s support.

She completed a Diabetes MSc (Master of Science post-graduate degree) thanks to the Academy’s allocation of Enhanced and Advanced funding from Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW).

“It has been one of the most valuable training courses I have completed throughout my nursing career,” she said.

“It significantly developed my knowledge of diabetes, particularly in relation to associated cardiovascular and renal risks, and reinforced the importance of delivering holistic care.

“Patients now ask to see me specifically, which reflects the growing trust in my knowledge and clinical practice.

“Patients now benefit from more proactive, informed, and personalised care, with improved access to monitoring technology and more timely interventions.

“From a service perspective, the training has supported enhanced team capability, improved efficiency, and strengthened the overall quality of diabetes management within the practice.”

It is hoped that by helping staff to enhance their skills, they will be able to provide a wider range of services and interventions for patients in the community.

Rhian Jones, Primary and Community Care Academy Manager for the health board, said: “We are helping to make education and training more accessible for staff and have supported more than 1,000 places on courses that may not otherwise have been available.

“We have enhanced services and increased the number of practices who access training, and I think the impact for patients and staff is huge.”

Primary care and community-based staff can contact the Academy for information on training and education opportunities by emailing sbu.pccacademy@wales.nhs.uk.

Rachel Brace, the Academy’s clinical lead, said reaching the milestone of delivering more than 1,000 training places was a significant achievement.

“Promoting multi-professional working is key to delivering the shift towards more preventative, community-based care,” she added.

“The Academy aims to create opportunities for staff to learn collaboratively and think differently about how care is delivered.

“We are proud to have supported over 1,000 members of staff in their career development in a way that reflects the reality of modern primary care that is flexible, team-based, and focused on population health rather than single-profession delivery.”