Arch Health CIC Workforce development: Case Study

Arch Health CIC Workforce development: Case Study

Arch offers a number of training opportunities for medical students, clinicians and support workers and services working with people experiencing homelessness in Brighton and Hove and nationally. By sharing our expertise it is hoped that there will be a better understanding of inclusion health amongst clinicians, more clinicians wanting to work in inclusion health and a more holistically trained workforce within the homeless sector across Brighton and Hove and further afield.

Arch offers one elective student placement in our team each academic year. This includes experience of all areas of Arch’s work and provides students with an insight into the health inclusion specialism. Participants also gain a deeper understanding of the issues faced by people experiencing homelessness by working with our outreach team in different accommodation settings and on the streets.

Arch GP, Dr Kate Pitt, delivers a co-designed student select component Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) in homeless health, this is an eight-week course delivered several times throughout the academic year. This module has been co-designed, with the Brighton and Hove Common Ambition steering group, made up of people with lived experience of homelessness. This has been very successful in proving the importance of including people with lived experience in student training and the collaboration is now advocating for mandatory training to be included in this area for all medical students at BSMS

Arch and local partners Justlife have delivered teaching on inclusion healthcare, homelessness and drug use and dependence.

Students in training at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (e.g. Nursing students, occupational therapists) can arrange a day shadowing the multi-organisational hospital inreach team.

The multi-organisational Pathway team (from across Arch, SCFT and Justlife) give a talk every month to junior doctors and nurses to build knowledge around health inclusion.

Arch and local partners SCFT deliver talks to the New to Practice primary care scheme locally on inclusion healthcare, homelessness and drug dependence.

Tutorials led by Arch ANP, are aimed at frontline workers (including clinicians), working in homelessness in Brighton and Hove. They offer an expert insight into commonly-faced conditions seen at Arch, and offer guidance on early diagnosis, engagement and support, and signposting to local services, to help prevent complications and deterioration. Topics covered have included diabetes, alcoholic liver disease, wound care, respiratory illness and frailty.

Arch works alongside local partners Justlife and the Frontline Network to hold an annual conference that offers expert training in a host of homeless health topics, as well as the chance to network with those in the city and in the sector.

Students on placement with Arch have reported that they appreciate being part of a small team, seeing how we assess and manage complex patients with tri-morbidity (mental, physical, and dependence issues), and being able to understand the complexities faced by someone experiencing homelessness and a more broad understanding of homelessness.

The initial co-designed student select component was oversubscribed and is due to be delivered multiple times throughout the year. All feedback from students was very positive, with some calling for the training to be mandatory.

The initial online homeless health tutorial was attended by 20 people working within the homeless sector, they are now drawing in 50 attendees.

Over 40 different organisations were represented at the last annual conference. Organisers received the following feedback:

• “Great speakers, fantastic knowledge/experience”

• “Incredible conference. Thank you :)”

• “Always feel very inspired by such a large number of very passionate people”

• “I feel truly enthused by the whole day. Thank you!”

Co-designing medical student training offers students a unique insight into this area of health inclusion and benefits clinicians and people with lived experience who are working together.

The increase in popularity of the online tutorials demonstrates the interest in understanding more about health inclusion issues within the wider sector and that there is perhaps a gap in knowledge in training for Support Workers.

Sending out surveys after the event enables Arch and partners to improve the conference each year. Survey responses enable Arch to understand where gaps in knowledge across the system might be and to plan accordingly.

Arch will continue to provide all of the training opportunities laid out above. Arch will be developing a strategy for training over the next five years. It is hoped that there will be further opportunities for Arch to feed into training and development including more co-design opportunities and reaching clinicians in other cities. In the near future Arch will be looking to develop teaching for nurses and allied health professionals in inclusion health across the Sussex ICS Primary Care Workforce.