Fórsa plots progress on CHO learning sites

Fórsa has written to the HSE outlining five steps it says are necessary to progress the evaluation of nine community health organisation (CHO) ‘learning sites’.

The sites were established as part of a reorganisation of community health services linked to the Sláintecare programme, and will inform negotiations on more durable CHO structures in the future.

Agreement on the process meant the union was able to secure the first review of career pathways for health and social care professionals (HSCP) in over a decade.

Fórsa also reached agreement on Wednesday (30th June) that will establish union councils, comprising each profession, on each learning site, in order to feed information into the evaluation panels.

Agreement on the process meant the union was able to secure the first review of career pathways for health and social care professionals in over a decade.

The union’s head of Health and Welfare, Éamonn Donnelly, wrote to the HSE on 16th June, identifying the five steps, which are:

  1. The HSE needs to update Fórsa on the status of each of the nine learning sites because some sites are more at a more advanced stage than others as the evaluation process approaches
  2. The HSE needs to update Fórsa on the broader independent evaluation, as issues have arisen about the merit of an evaluation proceeding at sites which have yet to “get off the ground”
  3. Fórsa is to present its nominees for the evaluation groups for the nine sites on or after 26th June
  4. In the intervening period, Fórsa will present issues arising from the draft job description for a Head of Discipline (including the corresponding job title)
  5. Arrangements will be made to re-convene at the WRC to finalise the implementation framework for the HSCP Advance Interim Report on career pathways.

Éamonn clarified that the establishment of the 48 Enhanced Community Care Networks (ECCNs) is directly linked to the pandemic response set out in the HSE’s winter plan, which runs until Spring 2022.

While the ECCNs may have similar structural arrangements to the learning sites, agreement on these is temporary and reflects the unique circumstances of the pandemic.

Éamonn added that the application of the nine learning sites remains subject to a WRC agreement from September 2018, providing for a HSE/Fórsa evaluation “on matters arising from the separation of some of the clinical governance and operational line management functions within the learning sites.”

He said the evaluation, in addition to learning from the broader independent evaluation of the sites, will be “key informants” to discussions on more durable CHO network structures.