Programmes

The Coaching for Health programme across North West London began in March 2016 and, since then, we have trained hundreds of health professionals from across the eight boroughs. In addition to previous trainings we have run in the area, it means there are over 500 health professionals who have received the core Coaching for Health programme over the last few years.

The feedback from the courses has been almost universally excellent. Three months after the training, all participants are using the skills they have learned, and half of participants are using them regularly. The perceived impact is significant not only on patient empowerment but also staff enjoyment of work (and hence well-being and resilience)

The programme is part of the NWL Collaboration of CCGs vision for integrated care and the aim is to equip participants with the skills to effectively encourage self-management, pursue person-centred care and reduce unnecessary admissions.

In addition to the two day course, the programme has been designed to reflect the Delivery Template we co-developed with the Tavistock Institute for Health Education England, on how to best encourage the approach across an institution or area. It is based on the finding that leaders and champions are the most effective catalysts in encouraging the uptake of this approach, and hence it segments the audience into four areas (adapted from research on the scaling and diffusion of approaches – Albury, D. (2015)) – from ‘unaware’ to ‘leaders and champions.’

The NWL Coaching for Health programme was designed to include activities which meets the needs of each audience, while also supporting them to move to the next ‘inner’ audience. Ultimately this helps develop more leaders and champions of the approach while also supporting them to foster the approach in their area or institution.

Practically, this has involved a series of additional activities, aside from the two day foundation course, including: refreshers, masterclasses, regular communications, leadership networking, reflection sessions and webinars. In addition, we have run a ‘Train the Trainer’ and quality assured 10 Trainers to deliver the programme to wider audiences.

The Coaching for Health programme across NWL is integrated with other complementary programmes such as PAM (the Patient Activation Measure) and the Care Navigator programme. PAM is included in the training and a number of Care Navigators have been participants.

Feedback from participants to date:
“Very enjoyable course with great leaders – as a clinician it was nice to have a clinical person leading who had an understanding of the issues we were asking about.”
– Advanced Nurse Practitioner

“Very relevant to my work, brilliantly presented, very practical giving me knowledge and a chance to practice skills that I will be able to apply at work and in life.”
– Occupational Therapist