Professionalisation
This section provides useful links for the following:
- Where to go for more about data and analysis as a profession
- What roles are available within healthcare and how these roles map to data and analytical professions across government
- The work being done to raise the profile of the profession
Professionalisation Update
A regular update for people who work in the field of data and analytics has been produced and is called the Professionalisation Update.
Read the latest issue
Published every two months, it’s your first stop for news on professionalisation of the service including information on the competency framework and beta testing, the Observatory report and the latest training and events. Click on the link to sign up for the next update as soon as it’s out: Professionalisation Update sign up
You can also download back issues of the update on FutureNHS.
National Competency Framework for Data Professionals in Health and Care
Data and analytics should not just drive smarter planning, care coordination and performance management, but should also be supporting staff to deliver transformation on the front line.
To embed effective use of data and analytics, a new draft set of core competencies for health and care data professionals has been developed and tested
The Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts (AphA) has worked with a range of colleagues at NHS England to develop and test a set of core competencies for professionals working across data analysis, data engineering and data science. This work is a key foundation to strengthening these vital professionals.
To date, the framework has undergone two phases of work (Alpha and Beta stage) to test, improve and test again, with input from Davies Furlong Consulting as well as 20 health and care organisations. The Beta testing, which took place over the autumn, has seen over 40 organisations across the country test the framework on the ground.
If you have any questions or would like any more information, please email sarahblundell@nhs.net.
The evaluation report from its pilot programme has now been published together with a booklet to guide users through the draft framework.
Whilst enabling a standard to be set throughout the industry to support in areas such as recruitment, skills development, appraisals and benchmarking, the framework is designed to be flexible in recognition of the wide range of job titles and roles.
Sarah Culkin, Head of Analytics and Data Science, said:
“One thing that was clear from the outset of this programme was that colleagues in the profession were desperate to have an agreed competency framework. Indeed the feedback we received through our Alpha stage has been unanimously positive which puts us in great stead as we head into the next stage of testing and beyond."
Rony Arafin, Chief Executive Officer at AphA:
“We are delighted to have driven the development of this framework and I am grateful to the organisations and individuals who have supported us in our work to date. I invite all data and analytical colleagues working in the health and care sector to start using the framework, we welcome your feedback as it enables us to shape the content so that it is useful and relevant.”
The Digital Data and Technology Capability Framework describes the job roles in the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession across government and provides details of the skills needed to work at each role level.
GAF - government analysis career function framework
The Government Analysis Function (AF) Career Framework describes typical analytical roles which exist across government. It also includes the main skills required to perform each role at varied skill levels.
Pan NHS Data & Analytical framework (Alpha)
Work is currently underway to develop a healthcare-focused data and analysis competency framework; it is led by AphA, who conducted the initial scoping reporting April 2021. The testing framework is currently being developed and is due to be tested across the NHS in autumn and winter of 2021/22, with a draft framework due for release in April 2022. Progress on this work will be reported via the Developing Data and Analysis as a Profession Board. (Please note that this is a link to FutureNHS for which registration is required).
Developing Data and Analysis as a Profession Board
This board brings together key stakeholders from across the health sector to work together to develop analytics as a profession using a consistent, shared and transparent approach, with priorities and actions agreed and developed between key stakeholders.
Association of Professional Healthcare Analysts works to raise the profile of and represent the voice of health and care analysts as a recognised and respected industry expert by providing a professional framework and an established support network.