Yorkshire & Humber Generalist School

Enhancing Generalist Skills for Foundation doctors - February 2024

Introduction

Health Education England (now part of NHS England) introduced the Enhancing Generalist Skills (enhance) programme in 2022, and made the programme available to all Foundation doctors in England in August 2023. This page describes the regional offer for Foundation doctors in Yorkshire and the Humber. You should read it in conjunction with the national Enhancing Generalist Skills website to ensure that your information is current.

 

What is the Enhancing Generalist Skills (enhance) programme?

enhance is a professional development offer for all health and care professionals (both clinical and non-clinical) to equip them with the additional generalist skills required to deliver excellent person-centred care across the evolving complexities of the health and care system.

The programme covers areas of direct patient care, such as person-centred practice and complex multi-morbidity, plus areas relating to the wider health and care system such as population health, system working, health inequalities and environmental sustainability. Leadership development is integral to the programme.

For Foundation doctors this programme has been mapped to the Foundation competencies, and is an alternative route to meet those competencies. Completion of the Foundation enhance enable programme will allow participants to gain a certificate of contextual leadership which may help with specialty applications.

Full details of the enhance offer for Foundation doctors can be found on the national enhance website.

 

What are the options for participation within Yorkshire and the Humber?

• enhance enable for Foundation doctors is a self-directed learning programme consisting of six modules including a contextual leadership module. Participants can download a workbook from the enhance Learning Hub, and will complete a self-assessment before and after the learning. There is a form to reflect on your learning, which can be uploaded to Horus. Your educational supervisor can sign off your achievement using a checklist downloaded from the Learning Hub.
• enhance explore is available for those who wish to cover the programme in more depth.
  
  • A limited number of enhance explore Foundation posts are available at the time of application to the Foundation Programme via Oriel. These posts include protected time for an enhance explore programme of learning, and specific placements with increased exposure to areas of generalist interest. Currently, within Yorkshire and the Humber, there are three enhance explore posts in Hull, and three more posts will be starting in Northern Lincolnshire in 2024.
  • Participation in the regional enhance explore trailblazer programme, the Humber Generalist School, is available for Foundation doctors based in the East (Hull, York, Scarborough, Scunthorpe and Grimsby). This is a significant commitment, involving a twelve-month educational programme, and therefore is not recommended until F2 when there is study leave available to help. If you are interested in participation, please see our webpage for further information, and seek individual advice from the trailblazer lead (hyp-tr.enhance.yorkshire@nhs.net). The programme is place-based and is not currently available in West or South Yorkshire, although there are developments underway in both these areas. This page will be updated when these are available.
  • Following a successful pilot programme to include enhance themed Bridging the Gap days in Yorkshire, it is hoped that these will be developed further to allow Foundation doctors across the region to gain more understanding of the issues covered in the programme.

 

Is enhance mandatory for Foundation doctors?

No, participation in enhance is optional and voluntary. Participants should discuss their intention to participate with their educational supervisor.

 

What guidance is available for Foundation doctors and their supervisors?

The national enhance website has a series of guides and videos for Foundation doctors and their supervisors. The programme is evolving, so the latest guidance should always be consulted.

 

I am a Foundation doctor and have completed one or more modules of the enhance enable programme via self-directed learning but have not completed the whole course. Can I still get a certificate for my portfolio?

Individual module certificates are available, and we would recommend that you obtain these as you go, to prevent problems with rotations or changes of supervisor. You should:

1. Complete the enhance enable module workbooks, including self-assessment forms before and after each module.
2. Complete the reflections for each module on the REAL form and upload to Horus (an electronic form directly available on Horus is under development).
3. Download the checklist for each module and get this completed by your supervisor (make sure your name and GMC number are on the checklist, as well as that of your supervisor)
4. Send the completed checklist to your Foundation Administrator within the Medical Education team who will confirm that all is in order before issuing you with the certificate. The Foundation Administrator will retain the checklist. They will also keep a record of certificates issued, which will be shared with the national enhance team and/or the regional trailblazer lead.

 

I am a Foundation doctor and have completed the entire enhance enable programme (all six modules) via self-directed learning. How do I get a certificate of recognition for my portfolio?

Within Yorkshire and the Humber, the process for obtaining a certificate is:

1. Complete all six Foundation enhance enable workbooks, including self-assessment forms before and after each module.
2. Complete the reflections for each module on the REAL form and upload to Horus (an electronic form directly available on Horus is under development).
3. Download all six checklist forms and get these completed by your supervisor (make sure your name and GMC number are on each checklist, as well as that of your supervisor)
4. Send all six completed checklists to your Foundation Administrator within the Medical Education team, who will confirm that all is in order before issuing you with the certificate. The Foundation Administrator will retain the checklist. They will also keep a record of certificates issued, which will be shared with the national enhance team and/or the regional trailblazer lead.