Applications are now open for Cohort 6 North Cumbria School of Generalism, delivered by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS FT (NCIC). The School of Generalism is hosted by NCIC on behalf of NHS England North East, and is open to staff working across healthcare organisations in North Cumbria, aiming to equip learners with common concepts, understanding and language to help improve patient care.
The Trust will again be delivering an innovative program giving the opportunity for up to 30 multi-professional, multi-disciplinary, clinical and administrative/management staff to learn alongside each other. They will gain a common language and shared skills to enable them to better understand, navigate and deliver the increasingly complex services required to provide life-time health care to the population of north Cumbria.
North Cumbria School of Generalism one of Health Education England’s Enhance Generalism trailblazer programs, commissioned by NHS England North East as one of 2 place based schools. Now entering our 6th year, the program requires a commitment of 2-4 hours a week, mixed between self-directed and face to face learning as a whole cohort. Results from an impact evaluation survey completed this year by alumni of first 4 cohorts included – 80% felt more motivated, 77% identified improved ability to deliver QI projects – see our poster below.
Dr Ruth O’Dowd, NHS England North East, Head of School for North Cumbria School of Generalism, enhance said: “I am proud that the School is now moving into its fifth year, with some of our earlier learners remaining involved and connected. We are delivering an innovative, place based and localised program bringing together a varied multi-professional cohort from multiple healthcare provider organisations within North Cumbria and to learn together gaining a greater understanding of roles and skills, and NHS literacy to enhance delivery of a more holistic approach to patient care in an increasingly complex environment. We are grateful to Professor Namita Kumar, regional Postgraduate Dean and NHS England education for ongoing support and funding for the School which is part of the NHSE education enhance program.”
Dr John McCullough, Generalist Tutor and former fellow on the programme said: “We are delighted to announce that applications for the next cohort of the School of Generalism are now open. As the programme enters its fifth year we celebrated achievements of previous generalist fellows at our recent Alumni conference. It was inspiring to see how NHS professionals from widely differing disciplines continue to apply generalist principles and skills to enhance patient care in North Cumbria. I can’t wait to meet the next cohort of Generalist Fellows and strongly encourage interested applicants to apply”.
Sylvia Atherton, Generalist Fellow – NCIC said: “My personal hopes for applying and completing this course was to gain a better knowledge and understanding of the course modules especially relational approach, leadership and management, patient safety and human factors which can all have an impact on staff and patients experience. The Generalist School has provided me with the opportunity to gain an insight and understanding of services from the other attendees on the course. The action learning sets were new for me but I have to say that I have really enjoyed them and learnt a lot from the other members of my group – they were a bit uncomfortable at first having to share and discuss any particular issues that you were dealing with but the support and advice from my group has been invaluable”.
Phil Johnson-Blackwell, Generalist Fellow – Cumbria, Northumberland Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust said: “The generalist school has enabled me to create links with the wider NHS, to develop a better understanding of common issues and barriers to projects coming to full completion. The topics are varied for each module and this offer a wide learning opportunity. We are engaged in action learning sets affording the time to process issues and gain supportive feedback on potential solutions.”
To add to the ongoing evaluation and feedback from Fellows, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) were commissioned to undertake a formal evaluation of the North Cumbria School of Generalism program. This evaluation covers the different elements of the Generalism program and as part of the overall findings this evaluation found that “a key strength is the multiprofessional nature of the programme – facilitating the development of relationships across disciplines and leading to shared problem solving, through methods such as the use of Action Learning Sets”.
More information on the year long, part-time fellowship programme can be found in the syllabus below:
Applications will be open until 29 June 2026. This fellowship is aimed at multi-professional (clinical or non-clinical) colleagues from across north Cumbria who are in the performance development phase of their career.
Please complete the application form below, and ensure you have reviewed and confirmed your availability for all fixed learning dates fixed across the year. It is required that your line manager provides a statement of support in your application:
Please return completed applications to [email protected]. Informal conversations and queries welcome.
Further information can also been found on the School of Generalism intranet page…
