SWEP – What to do if you are concerned about someone sleeping rough in cold weather

Severe Weather Emergency Protocols (SWEP) are activated in both the winter and summer months to minimize the harmful impact of severe weather on the health and wellbeing of people sleeping rough. Additional emergency and temporary housing provision is given from local authorities at this time. We can all play a part in ensuring that people who are rough sleeping receive the appropriate support. If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough in severe weather, please follow the instructions below to contact Streetlink or your local authority.

StreetLink 

You can contact StreetLink by calling 0300 500 0914, visiting the StreetLink website at thestreetlink.org.uk, or using the StreetLink app. StreetLink is a 24/7 service for reporting someone sleeping rough, but it is not an emergency service.

Important: Call 999 if the person is in immediate danger, needs urgent medical assistance, is under 18 or is with someone who is under 18.

Housing 

You can contact the Housing Department of your local authority directly to find out more about SWEP or to refer someone directly to them.

More information 

How the SWEP protocols work – Crisis UK

SWEP and winter provision – Homeless Link

NEL GP Practice Tailored Apprenticeships – Open for application

We are now taking applications for our GP Practice Tailored Apprenticeships, with cohorts due to begin at the end of April. Please follow the link under each apprenticeship description below to express your interest and secure your place.

 

GP Practice Operational Management Apprenticeship (Level 5)

An opportunity for those looking to enhance their leadership, strategic planning, project management, and operational decision-making skills.

For Deputy Practice Managers, Practice Managers, Business Managers, Operations Managers, Workforce Leads and other operational leaders in GP Practices who want to develop critical management capabilities and support professional progression.

Click HERE for the information video.

Click HERE for more information and EOI

 

GP Practice Community Health and Wellbeing Worker Apprenticeship (Level 3)

An opportunity for those in GP practices looking to develop skills in patient engagement, personalised care, and health promotion, while helping to reduce health inequalities and support community wellbeing.

For Care Coordinators, Social Prescribing Link Workers, Health and Wellbeing Coaches, Patient Navigators, and other non-clinical, patient-facing roles who want to build confidence, capability, and career progression in preventative, person-centred care.

Click HERE for the information video.

Click HERE for more information and EOI

 

GP Practice Business Administration Apprenticeship (Level 3)

An opportunity for those in GP practices looking to develop skills in administration, patient services, and practice operations, while helping to improve patient experience and support efficient service delivery.

For Receptionists, Administrators , Administration Managers , Care Coordinators and other non-clinical staff seeking to build confidence, capability, and progress their careers in primary care administration and operational support.

Click HERE for the information video.

Click HERE for more information and EOI

Funding and Eligibility

  • Programmes are fully funded through levy transfer, which will be facilitated by the training provider – they do not require funding contribution from practices.

  • All employees are eligible to apply, as long as they have been in England or EEA for at least 3 years.
  • English and Maths GCSEs are no longer required for staff over 19.

PCN LEGACY NURSE MENTOR AND NURSING PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT & ADVOCACY OFFER

By NEL Primary Care Nursing PMO

Starting January 2026

The offer brings together two transformative programmes: Preceptorship & Professional Advocacy and the Legacy Nurse Mentor Programme. This initiative is designed to strengthen primary care nurse leadership within Primary Care Networks (PCNs) while providing hands-on clinical education and peer support. Through funded training, structured frameworks, and experienced mentors, we aim to build confidence, enhance skills, and create sustainable leadership models for the future of primary care.

 

For more information please come along to the webinar on Wednesday 7 January 2026 at 19:00pm, Please click here to access the meeting

 

Click here to complete the Expression of Interest by:

CLOSING DATE: 09.01.26 5pm

 

 

Click HERE for more details

HCA DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME 2025/26 – NOW LIVE

HCA Development Programme for 2025/26 is now live.

This programme offers a  range of training opportunities designed to support Healthcare Assistants working across North East London in building clinical skills, confidence, and competence.

The link to the HCA Development Programme web site is HERE.

This is a live calendar, with new sessions added regularly, so please check back for updates.

OLIVER MCGOWAN TIER 2 TRAINING SESSIONS – NOW OPEN FOR BOOKING

NEL now have Tier 2 Oliver McGowan Sessions available for booking across the system!

The initial tranche of sessions begin from the 21st November and go on until the end of January and will be hosted at various trust sites. Further sessions will be released for booking in the new year.

To clarify, every session is open for any eligible member of staff working in NEL NHS organisations regardless of where the session is hosted, so we encourage staff to book onto whichever sessions are most convenient for them. Eg if a session is hosted at Homerton and a member of staff from NELFT wants to attend it, that is absolutely fine.

All of the sessions can be found HERE so please promote these to your staff.

For enquiries, please contact rob.brooks@nhs.net.

NEL TRAINING HUB STATEMENT

We believe everyone deserves to feel valued, respected, and empowered to thrive and in doing so the NEL Training Hub is firmly committed to anti-racism, and our duty to eliminate discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, through upholding the principles of diversity and equity in all our operations, fostering unity and solidarity with our workforce and the wider community.

The diverse backgrounds and abilities within our organisation enable us to model best practices and strive for the highest standards in achieving positive outcomes for all our staff and families across NEL.

We are committed to work in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders who are representative of our communities to enable increasing workforce diversity and supporting access to health and care careers for underrepresented groups, whilst addressing inequalities through training, development and workforce transformation across Primary care.

Equity and inclusion are ongoing commitments for us.

We will continue to listen, learn, and act to ensure fairness, dignity, and opportunity for all.

NEL Training Hub

NEL MULTI-PROFESSIONAL FACULTY GROUP

Supporting High-Quality Education Across the Healthcare Workforce

The NEL Multi-Professional Faculty Group (MPFG) has been established to develop, support, and sustain a high-quality, locally rooted educational faculty for all clinical, workplace, and educational supervisors across the healthcare professions.

We are building a collaborative, inclusive learning community that champions educator development and delivers real impact in practice. Join us in shaping the future of supervision across North East London.

Open to educators across all professions.

Join us for a series of engaging and practical sessions for current and aspiring educators –

all sessions will be held between 1pm and 2pm:

Session 3 – Mon 19 Jan 2026 – Innovations in Supervision Across Professions

Session 4 – Mon 20 Apr 2026 – Managing Difficult or Complex Learners

Click HERE to learn more and register

Pathways into Compassionate Care: Healthcare Support Apprenticeships

Healthcare Support Worker:

The healthcare support worker apprenticeship will develop apprentices who are new to healthcare to be able to provide compassionate care to individuals. They will learn how to carry out well-defined routine clinical duties like monitoring an individual’s conditions (by checking things like blood pressure, temperature or weight), checking on their overall progress, comfort and wellbeing.

This programme is a hybrid one with on and off-the job learning. Monthly workshops will deliver the knowledge which will then be assessed in practice in the workplace.  The education coach will deliver theoretical learning then conduct observations of practice to ensure competency. Apprentices will build a portfolio of evidence.

The apprentice must complete the15 standards as set out in the Care Certificate which is part of the programme unless already covered as part of workplace practices.

Senior Healthcare Support Worker:

The apprenticeship standard provides the apprentice with a high level of skills, knowledge, values, and behaviours that are required of the senior healthcare support worker. On completion of this apprenticeship the apprentice will become competent to fulfil the role as a Senior Healthcare Support Worker.

Specialist pathways are followed for this apprenticeship, designed to ensure competence across a variety of disciplines. Available pathways are Adult Nursing, Maternity, Mental Health, Children and Young People, Allied Health Professional, Theatre and Diagnostic Imaging.

This programme is a hybrid one with on and off-the job learning. Monthly workshops will deliver the knowledge which will then be assessed in practice in the workplace.  The education coach will deliver theoretical learning then conduct observations of practice to ensure competency. Apprentices will build a portfolio of evidence.

The apprentice must complete the15 standards as set out in the Care Certificate which is part of the programme unless already covered as part of workplace practices.

 

For more information and how to apply please contact: bhrut.apprenticeships@nhs.net