Co-Designing a career development and progression framework for palliative and end of life care

Background: In 2019 Marie Curie commissioned the co-creation of a national career development and progression framework (CDPF) for Level 2 to Level 8 clinical practitioners across the organisation. This framework provides a clear pathway for career planning, identified learning and development activities alongside succession planning, and recruitment and retention of staff. CDPF aims to facilitate a sense of value, belonging and investment in people who are at the heart of high-quality end of life care provision.

Aims:

Co-design a CDPF and associated self-assessment tool.

Provide a clear holistic framework of capabilities expected across the clinical workforce to provide consistency in education, training, and development to meet increasing needs and challenges within palliative and end of life care.

Ensure clarity of language and terminology across the CDPF and integration of this within the organisation.

Methods Realist evaluation research was used to identify strategies that work to maximise opportunities for career development across all levels of practice. The CDPF was co-created with front line practitioners using appreciative inquiry and mixed methods to ensure it reflected lived role experiences. Pilot work has been undertaken in various localities across the UK, to refine the CDPF and explore how the CDPF can be implemented across the organisation.

Results: Phase 3 pilot is currently under review, but data indicate that all levels of practitioners value the opportunity to reflect, and to engage in co-creation of the CDPF, and value the organisation investing time and resources to support their personal and professional development.

Conclusion: Palliative and end of life care providers value a well-defined CDPF which they have helped co-create, through various phases of this project. The CDPF is valued in terms of enhancing self-assessment of capabilities, individualising learning, and development opportunities, all to ensure the future needs of the service are enhanced by an engaged and committed workforce.