Learning Organisations

A Learning Organisation is a practice or group of practices, ideally aligned to a Primary Care Network (PCN), that is approved to host multidisciplinary learners. This approach reduces the number of reapproval visits and audits required while ensuring compliance with the six domains of the NHSE Quality Framework.

NHS England has made clear that organisations should become approved Learning Organisations by 1 April 2028. Although the future funding model is still under review, organisations that wish to maintain site approval and continue hosting all learners who attract trainer grant or tariff funding should begin this process now.

Organisations that are not recognised as Learning Organisations may have reduced access to learners and associated education funding opportunities in the future. To support learners, you must have a process approved by the NHS Quality Panel.

The process can take on average two months to complete. View the application process on the NHS England website.

Please note that after March 2028, organisations that are not approved Learning Organisations will need to develop their own approval process and secure NHS Quality Team approval, creating additional administrative burden and resource requirements.

Training Hub support

The Training Hub can provide dedicated support for Learning Organisations, including but not limited to the following:

• A suite of resources to support your application, including exemplar applications, checklists, template welcome letters/induction information, and more
• Support and guidance, from how to get started, completing your application, answering any queries, and reviewing and providing feedback on draft applications
• Liaison between the PCN, panel members, and NHS England Quality teams to schedule the panel meeting, submit your application, and provide any follow-up information related to the initial learning organisation process.

Download our checklist to help with your application (.docx)

For further information, please email bnssg.training.hub@nhs.net

Resources

• Primary Care Learning Organisations FAQs – NHS England
• Primary Care Learning Organisation Toolkit – NHS England
• BNSSG Training Hub Learning Organisation approval process
• BNSSG Training Hub Learning Organisation approval checklist

Testimonies

“Yate and Frampton PCN recently completed the Learning Organisation Approval process. It was ideal timing for us with 3 of our practices needing to be reaccredited in the near future. We found the process very helpful in that it brought the training teams from the 5 practices together and allowed us to discuss how we each ran our training programmes, learning from each other and sharing best practice. We reviewed the training and admin resources each practice used, helping individual practices to update their resources and processes.

The documentation initially seemed quite onerous, but by creating a Teams Channel to share a master copy that we could all access, we were able to share out the work of completing it.

The panel meeting was very supportive, highlighting areas of good practice and bringing helpful suggestions that could help us develop our training further.

Overall it was a positive experience and I would recommend it.”

Dr Andrew Appleton, Yate and Frampton PCN