Social Enterprise Education for Health Care Professionals

Stimulated by policy documents at the beginning of this millenium such as ‘A Health Service for all of the Talents’ (DOH 2000a), ‘The NHS Plan’ (DOH 2000b), ‘Working Together-Learning Together’ (DOH 2001a), and ‘Benchmarking Academic and Practitioner Standards’ (Quality Assurance Agency 2001), The Faculty of Health here at Leeds Met established, in 2006, a pre-registration Interprofessional Learning Programme (ILP) with the aim of enhancing interprofessional working practices within service delivery. This ILP is summatively assessed and embedded in a module in each student’s own professional course.

More recently there has been increasing recognition by the NHS that many aspects of health care provision, particularly reaching groups that do not effectively access existing health care services, can best be met by social enterprises with the aim of reducing health inequalities.

There are currently more than 6,000 social enterprises delivering health and social care within the NHS (State of Social Enterprise Survey, 2009, Social Enterprise Coalition). his number is set to rise considerably with the introduction in 2008 of the NHS Right to Request initiative which provides funding and support for health Care professionals who have the vision and drive to develop, through Social Entereprises (SE’s), better service delivery within health and social care. Consequently there is an need within the present ILP to develop both an awareness of the role of SE’s in service provision and intrapreneurial and enterprise skills.

Embedding enterprise education within the ILP will also enhance employability prospects for those of our graduates who in the present economic climate can no longer assume they will achieve employment within the NHS or those who already have aspirations to develop their own business practice – perhaps in partnership with practitioners from other disciplines.

In addition the Faculty portfolio of courses now includes degrees in Complementary Therapies such as Osteopathy, Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. Graduates in these disciplines participate in the ILP but traditionally establish their own business practices.