HEIW champions excellence in education and training for NHS Wales workforce
Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) has set out eight new strategic priorities in its 2025–26 Integrated Medium Term Plan. These priorities align with HEIW’s vision to build a skilled and sustainable workforce to deliver better care and health outcomes for people in Wales.
HEIW recognises the importance of high-quality education and training for all learners, and the positive impact this has on workforce capability. This is evident in priority three of the plan; excellent education and training.
Key areas of priority three include:
• Modernising healthcare education
HEIW is committed to modernising education and training through an agile, future-focused strategy. This approach supports the development of a sustainable workforce by ensuring learners receive high-quality education and training that aligns with evolving technologies and legislative requirements. Ultimately, this fuels the development of a highly skilled workforce and lead to improved patient care.
• Improving clinical training
HEIW will continue to develop the Primary and Community Care Academy Model and introduce a new NHS Wales Accelerated Clinical Skills Training Model. The aim of this is to expedite effective training for staff in key clinical skills through a structured, consistent, and high-quality approach. This will support timely access to consistently high-quality care and treatment for patients. Phase one of this work will focus on endoscopy.
• Opening up opportunities in health careers
HEIW will continue to work with partners to create more inclusive routes into healthcare careers, including apprenticeships and exploring how degree apprenticeships could be developed in Wales.
• Better digital tools for NHS staff
HEIW will continue to roll out CODI, a new system to support the management of professionals in postgraduate training. HEIW will also continue the roll out of Y Ty Dysgu, a learning platform which offers healthcare staff flexible access to training and development.
• Supporting lifelong learning
A new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Strategy will be launched to help NHS staff stay up to date with skill development throughout their careers.
An important focus of priority three is working with partners to develop an Education Strategy for NHS Wales – a first for Wales. This will help shape how the workforce is educated, trained and supported, ensuring services across Wales have the skilled people they need. It will guide commissioning decisions, drive system-wide improvements and support national priorities. The strategy will support adaption to new technology, workforce needs, and changing expectations. The result will be a more flexible, inclusive system with high quality training that meets the needs of both patients and the NHS workforce.
Ian Mathieson, Director of Education Strategy and Transformation at HEIW, said:
“Excellent education and training is a key priority for HEIW. Our workforce deserves quality training that uses the highest quality education models and technologies to boost personal growth and deliver high quality patient services. Our approach will be outlined in the forthcoming Education Strategy. We look forward to the future of education and training and always welcome feedback to support our continual improvement”.
Visit the HEIW website to learn more about the 2025–26 Integrated Medium Term Plan.