Affinity Health at Work are delighted to be continuing our collaboration with East London NHS Foundation Trust on the development of a Competency Framework for Integrated Care.

Over the course of our two previous research projects, we have developed and validated the first empirically-tested Integrated Care competency framework to span a full range of health, social care and allied professions. This framework has been devised with reference to previous research and developed through focus groups, large scale surveys and third party feedback exercises. From this evidence, we know that the competencies identified not only help people feel they are working in a more integrated way, but they also describe their work as meaningful, are more engagement at work, have higher levels of job satisfaction and get more support from their peers who aren't in their immediate team.

In this latest phase of the research we are developing new resources that will help individuals and teams to engage with the competency framework, explore the meaning of Integrate Care in their context and reflect on what this means for their ways of working. This will provide opportunities to explore all of the key competencies across individual skills, knowledge and techniques, working with others and understanding the place of self within the system.

As the statutory requirement for NHS Trusts to be set up as integrated care systems came into force in July 2022, we are hoping these resources will help teams to explore the implications of this at a local level, and start to leverage the positive outcomes for patients and for themselves as members of the health and wider care workforce.

The resources will be piloted during 2023 and then, once reviewed, will be available more widely in future.