Academies

Collaborating with health boards, HEIW established seven primary care academies in 2022.  This builds on the existing HEIW commissioned courses and training programmes for established primary care roles.

What are the Primary and Community Care Academies?

The Primary Care Academy network is a collaborative, agile, multi-professional education and training initiative. It empowers primary care professionals through education; supports innovation; and enhances patient care across communities by developing a sustainable, future-ready workforce. Supported by HEIW and embedded within each of health board, the Academies support both local effectiveness and national consistency in education and training.

Through collaboration with clusters, local practices and national bodies, academies can align training with workforce needs. Strategic goals include improving recruitment and retention, fostering multi-professional collaboration, and ensuring a competent and confident workforce ready to meet future challenges.

The academies are helping to:

• Make community roles more attractive by enabling visible, supported training routes from early education to advanced practice.
• Address rural and underserved areas, reducing health inequalities by encouraging professionals to train and stay in their local regions.
• Improve patient outcomes, thanks to more integrated, collaborative teams trained to deliver holistic, person-centred care.