Public Health Inter-professional
Learning-enhanced Educational
Assessments - PHILEAS
Dr. Patricia Bond and Dr. Rachel Richards
Acknowledgements
Nine TPHNs are located
throughout England
Workshop Objectives
1.
To explain the concept and principles of the PHILEAS
tool
2.
To demonstrate the application of the PHILEAS tool
Our starting point
Substance Misuse -Alcohol
Smoking in Pregnancy
Teenage Pregnancy
Infant Mortality
Obesity

Widening health inequalities

Major public health challenges
◦ demand:
 a strong interdisciplinary response
 the alleviation of “siloed” workforce planning.

National/regional strategies requiring collaboration and
joint strategic planning and delivery

Innovation, energy and enthusiasm
But...........
Requires a vehicle for ensuring that partner
professions understand and incorporate JSNA
objectives into their professional thinking and interprofessional action into their professional practice
Which requires a re-thinking (and broadening) of our
conception of the wider public health workforce
What is PHILEAS?

An educational assessment tool that
guides commissioners and others
through a simple yet effective process
for identifying the learning and
development needs of any multidisciplinary public health workforce:

Distinguishable from other tools:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Alleviates ‘siloed’ workforce planning.
Utilises group dynamic
Emphasises “ways’ of learning
Role for Commissioners
 Uses the PHSCF
Our Story so far
MAR
OCT
JAN – JUNE
JUNE
OCT
NOV – JULY
MAY-OCT
JAN
2007
2007
2008
2008
2008
2008/09
2009
2010
Principles Behind PHILEAS
•
Meeting population health needs requires a multidisciplinary
team response.
•
The approach taken builds
multidisciplinary workforce.
•
The procedures:
on
the
capability
of
a
– Bring different professional groups and agencies with differing
perspectives into the same conversation about workforce
development.
– Provoke analysis of roles and responsibilities in order to have a holistic
picture of knowledge and skills that are available and needed.
– Encourage participation of representatives from different disciplines
to understanding inter-professional interactions and learning needs.
Connect practitioners
•Jointly construct a community knowledge base
•Model knowledge sharing behaviors
•Model interactive learning through peer interaction
Getting
people
around the
table
Dealing with
agendas
Assumptions
and
stereotypes
Modeling
learning
PHILEAS - the process

Four main stages to the process:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Stimulating engagement
Framework development
The assessment process
Developing opportunities

An iterative and interconnected process.

Equal weight and importance to each stage.

Success of the project overall is crucially dependent the initial
project initiation.
PHILEAS
Approximately 6 weeks
Stimulating
engagement
Key outputs
Success factors
Approximately 6 weeks
Framework
development
Parameters of the work defined
•Awareness raising.
•Buy-in
Approximately 6 weeks
On-going
Assessment
Process
Framework development and
key competencies
•Viable framework
Develop
Opportunities
Inter-professional learning
priorities agreed
Embedding into
organisation
Success depends on:
1.
How the project was initially set up.
2.
Getting the whole system in the room – getting everyone talking
about the same world despite differences in language.
3.
Being prepared to address structural differences between
agencies:

open honest communication.

Promoting mutual respect and prioritising common ground.
4.
Being responsible for setting the overall trajectory but not the
outcome.
Why PHILEAS?

Systematic, evidence based, transparent process to determine
learning and development needs.

Encourages and facilitates strategic buy-in and alignment from the
start, thus facilitating early planning for implementation.

Top down and bottom up engagement.

Supports joint working and planning of services across sectors.

Supports World Class Commissioning competencies at an
organisational and individual level.
Discussion session:
Traditionally practitioners have come with a skills specification that is
derived from uni-disciplinary requirements for professional registration.
Public health strategies require multi-agency engagement and a sea
change in the commissioning process that expects a seamless delivery.
? What are the underpinning principles and key practicalities that need to
be tackled in the requirement for multi-agency engagement and
seamless service delivery of public health issues arising from the move
to JSNAs?
? What are the potential advantages of a process such as PHILEAS to
delivering on new national expectations and requirements as well as
implementing public health strategies?
Contact details:

Dr. Patricia Bond:
p.a.bond@wlv.ac.uk

Dr. Rachel Richards:
rachel_richards100@yahoo.co.uk
• Ginder Narle:
ginder.narle@sandwell-pct.nhs.uk
PHSCF

A tool for describing the skills and knowledge needed for public
health.

A framework for anyone who wants to strengthen the contribution
their organisation makes to the public health function.

A framework for anyone interested in acquiring or developing
competencies and knowledge about improving and protecting the
health and well being of the population, even though this is not their
main area of work.
◦ Uses generic language to facilitate collaboration and coherence across this diverse
workforce, in order to maximise its collective contribution.
◦ Ensure rigour and consistency in skills, competence and knowledge at all levels,
regardless of professional background.
(Public Health Resource Unit and Skills for Health 2008).
Obesity Framework
Level 4
Secondary Care
Morbid Obesity
Service
Level 3
Primary Care Specialist
Obesity Service
Level 2
Community/Primary Care
Weight Management Service
Level 1
Early Intervention and Prevention
Front line Staff (NHS, Council, Vol. Sector), Health Trainers, On-line advice
Exercise on Prescription,
Walking, Cycling programmes
etc.
Leisure Services
Physical activity
Strategy
Commercial
Slimming Clubs
Smoking Cessation
Service
Pharmacy
Services
Tobacco
Strategy
Food Skills Courses,
Food Access projects
Commercial
Slimming on
Prescription
Food
Strategy
Developing opportunities

Rests on how you established your process and bespoke circumstances –
no hard and fast rules

Summarise training and development priorities in relation to the PHSCF
and circulate.

Disseminate findings within appropriate networks

Develop relevant training dependent on need and preferred method of
delivery

Capitalise on opportunities for shared learning

Review relevant existing in-house training and development

Review polices, strategies and care pathways.