The Multi-profession Education, Learning and Development Committee (MELD) is responsible for implementing the Trust’s Education Strategy. It is operationally responsible for ensuring that education translates into a better trained and qualified healthcare workforce. This involves defining and influencing delivery, commissioning and innovation for Education, Learning and Development (ELD) for employees of the AHSC.
MELD is accountable to the Healthcare Education Board which in turn is accountable to the Trust Board via the Governance Committee. The MELDC therefore focuses on ELD:
• Needs analysis within the context of relevant internal and external factors.
• Innovation and research.
• Communication to both internal and external customers.
The MELD’s mission is to:
• Ensure that an ELD needs analysis of employees is conducted annually and prioritised in line with the education strategy.
• Promote multi-profession education opportunities especially along patient care pathways and review the results of all internal ELD monitoring and external inspections with action plans, ensuring that resource commitments have been clearly identified to resolve the issues raised.
• Provide a conduit for information about educational initiatives or course development.
• Encourage innovation and research in the field of education and review innovative ways of reporting and assessing the impact of ELD activity.
• Maintain links with external bodies for effective benchmarking and harness opportunities for joint bids and those available through emerging advances in learning technology.
• Ensure a vibrant web presence for education to tie in with the three-fold mission of the AHSC and ensure good communication between professional groups and the CPGs.
• Promote a single repository for all ELD activity that can be easily accessed by all employees, promoting educational opportunities.
These goals are achieved through meetings which take place three times annually, with representation from:
• Chair – Director of Education
• Associate Director of Nursing (Education portfolio)
• Head of Midwifery
• Associate Director of Education
• Associate Director of Finance
• Associate Director of Organisation Development
• Clinical Programme Group Heads of Education x 7
• Senior representative - Postgraduate Medical Education
• Senior representative - Undergraduate Medical Education
• Senior representative – Other Healthcare Professionals
• Senior representative – Pharmacy
• Senior representative - Healthcare Scientists
• Manager – School of Professional Development (ICL)
• Senior representative - Recruitment and Assessment centres
• Senior representative - Statutory and Mandatory training group
• Senior representative - IT Training
• Senior representative - Operational management
• Healthcare Education Office representative (secretary to MELDC)
Other departments and external partners who are invited to attend as required include:
• Unions
• Communications
• Equality & Diversity
• Simulation & Skills lab group
• ICT and Education group
• HIEC partners
• ICHSA professional leads
Put simply, the MELD enables the AHSC to involve members of multi-professional workforce in issues related to education. With the modernising healthcare careers agenda, it is clear that professional education and career structures are evolving rapidly. The MELD enables us to review the implications of various national initiatives and examine the operational implications.