SOUTH WEST STRATEGIC HEALTH AUTHORITY
Notes of the South West Technology Enhanced Learning Strategy Group held at
South West House, Taunton on 16 January 2012
Present:
Alan Keyte, Alastair Thorn, Angela Hayday, Clive Gage, Ed Iles, Julie Smith, Kate
Cook, Nick Jupp, Nick Napper, Nicola Healey, Paul Norrish, Pip Bedingfield, Richard
Wortham, Roz Davis, Sarah Robinson, Tricia Ellis, William Tempest, Yvonne Glen.
Apologies:
Darryn Allcorn, Miriam Morgan, Sally-Ann Gabriel, Stephen Downs, Caroline Callow,
Marc Lyall.
No.
Item
1
Welcome, Introductions and Apologies
Tricia Ellis welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2
Introduction, National & Regional Updates and TEL Framework Response
Many changes have taking place in the NHS since our last meeting which impact upon
education and training. The audit trail of these changes include the following:
The White Paper proposals of the Coalition Government of July 2010 – ‘Equity and
Excellence – Liberating the NHS’ underwent a ‘listening exercise’ to gather more feedback
on the proposals for the commissioning of health to be at local level, i.e. through GP
consortia. The future proposals for Education and Training were included in an additional
paper, entitled ‘the Development of the Healthcare Workforce’ which proposed that the
commissioning of education and training should be at local level through Local Education
and Training Boards.
A consultation exercise on the White Paper included the gathering of more information on
education and training from expert panels in Future Forum discussions, led by Prof. Steve
Field. The second report of this Forum can be seen at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh
_132085.pdf On 10th Jan 2012 the Government responded to the Future Forum’s
publication, which can be viewed at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/forum-response/
This response clarified that ESR will be continued to support all organisations to manage
their staff records. Those organisations not using ESR are encouraged to have a
mechanism to manage staff records in a parallel format.
Also on 10th Jan was the publication of the Dept. of Health’s document providing more
information on the new education and training system to be put into place, i.e. ‘Liberating
the NHS: Developing the Healthcare Workforce; from Design to Delivery’.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/01/workforce-response/ This document explains the
remit and responsibilities of the new Health Education England and the regional Local
Education and Training Boards. These new LETB’s and their education and training sub
groups will take many of the functions of Strategic Health Authorities that will cease to exist
in April 2013.
For the South West, the work of establishing the Local Education and Training sub groups
has begun. These groups will identify the workforce planning and education commissioning
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needs for the South West to report to the new Local Education and Training Board. There
will be four groups in the South West to cover 1) Devon & Cornwall, 2) Somerset, 3)
Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset, 4)
Gloucestershire and North Wiltshire. Dorset and South Wiltshire have decided to be a part
of the South Central LETB as they have a greater affinity with those organisations for the
provision of education and training.
Two South West Consensus Conferences have taken place in September and December
to support all healthcare organisations and HEIs in the South West to prepare for the new
education system. The Workforce Consensus Conference presentations can be accessed
at: http://workforce.southwest.nhs.uk/workforce_development/events/past_events_courses
The LETB will receive MPET education and training funding. Although the vast majority of
this funding is tied up in contracts for post-graduate medical and non-medical
undergraduate education, some discretionary funding will be available for the LETB to
spend on specific local education and training needs following consultation with the local
sub-groups. The membership of the LETB and sub-groups has yet to be determined
although it is expected that a Trust Chief Executive will chair the LETB.
Report from the National SHA e-Learning Leads Meeting of 07/12/2011
a) DH Update
Peter Simmonds is the new DH representative at the meetings. The publication of the
Technology Enhanced Learning Framework took place on 11 November 2011. The DH is
planning a formal launch of the TEL Framework, probably in the spring 2012.
b) e-Repository Update
The current contract between MyKnowledgeMap and NHS London (on behalf of the SHA
collaborative) will run until the end of March 2012.
It is planned to replace it with a lower cost, more flexible open source system. The benefits
of the open source platform are that the platform will not sit behind Athens, we will have
greater control over the functionality and there will be increased access for depositing
resources. The NLMS link function will be retained. Organisations that use the eRepository will need to change the URL used in ESR OLM from 1 April. Further details will
be distributed nearer to the date.
c) E-Learning for Healthcare Update
Alan Ryan reported that e-LfH will become part of Health Education England (HEE) once it
has been launched.
The new equality and diversity course is now live. Issues with the pre-assessment module
should be reported to the course provider, in this case clpu@skillsforhealth.org.uk
The safeguarding children level 1 course will be updated during January 2012, with the
level 2 and level 3 courses to follow.
A new e-learning training resource for medical examiners is now available. The course will
help to deliver the majority of the essential training required for newly appointed medical
examiners. Completion of this course will be a mandatory requirement for medical
examiner registration.
The safe prescribing course and the rest of the foundation programme will be on the NLMS
by the end of January 2012.
Dementia and harm free care courses are in the development pipeline and the scope of
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the courses is unknown at present. Nick Jupp will enquire if dignity will be one of the topics
included in the dementia course.
A new portal will be available to learners from late January 2012 that will encompass
registration and access to the learning programmes. Learners will be able to select any of
the programmes from the portal registration screen and will not need to re-register for
individual programmes as is currently the case.
The registration process uses NHS email addresses as an automated validator (addresses
ending in @nhs.net or nhs extensions). Exceptions include dentists (who require their
GDC number), social care organisations (who require the Skills for Health NMDS number),
foundation doctors and hospices. There is an issue with validating former PCT staff now
employed by a social enterprise that does not use NHS email.
The new reporting functionality available from the portal will allow learners to display a
record of their learning activity and the ability to export the report to a csv file or PDF file.
Regional data will be available although it will be anonymised.
d) Skills for Health CLU update
Megan Finney reported the expert reference group process has restarted following a
review in 2010. The CLU is looking for more employer representation on the expert
reference groups.
The NSPCC child protection course has been revised and is now available.
The infection control courses are awaiting final DH sign-off. The new courses cover
infection control principles, prevention and vascular access devices.
The fire safety course is currently being reviewed. Understanding personal safety and
security will be the next course to be reviewed.
Mapping of the courses to CQC and NHS LA requirements is underway and they will also
be mapped to the NOS and KSF over the next 6 months. The CLU is looking to develop
four new courses such as DSE but require funding to commence this work.
All CLU course feedback should be sent to the helpdesk (clpu@skillsforhealth.org.uk).
Feedback is collated and used by the expert reference group as part of the course review
process.
e) OLM e-Learning / NLMS update
The SHA Elearning Leads Group will send a letter to key stakeholders involved with the
ESR re-procurement project. The letter will contain a list of strategic enhancements which
the Leads feel that the re-procured ESR system must deliver if it is to provide a viable
solution for the delivery of e-learning to the NHS workforce post 2014.
f) Quality
The SHA Elearning Leads have been working with Skills for Health on a national quality
standards document that will include a checklist of criteria identifying best practice. This is
due to be published at the end of January. The draft version has been used to evaluate
some Learning4Health learning objects.
Learning4Health
A new Learning4Health catalogue has been published and is available at:
http://workforce.southwest.nhs.uk/nonmedical_education/images/upload/learning_catalogu
e_jan12_4102.pdf
Future learning object commissions and quality discussions will be included at the
Learning4Health conference to be held on 25 January.
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Gloucester Hospital had an issue with their bulk user upload where a system error caused
the upload to fail. This issue wasn’t easily resolved by the service desk and was escalated
to the SHA. The system has been modified and the issue now been resolved.
There is an issue with some of the content on psychosis and non-psychosis where
feedback at the authoring stage was not incorporated.
Train the trainer guides are being written in conjunction with AWP and UH Bristol and will
be shared across the region once complete.
An enhancement was suggested for the option to customise the platform for an
organisation so that learning objects and/or communities could be ‘hidden’. Tricia Ellis
advised that this could be raised at the conference on 25 January.
3
OLM e-Learning Update
2011 has seen a large increase in usage with e-learning course completions more than 3
times higher than 2010. A key driver in the increase was the information governance
course but other courses are now been used more heavily. Nationally in November 2011
there were more than 52,000 e-learning course completions and in excess of 6,000
regionally. 11.5% of learning delivered via ESR is now via e-learning.
New content delivered in January includes the foundation doctor’s programme which
consists of 16 courses linked to their curriculum. The foundation programme includes a
safe prescribing module which would also be useful for nurse prescribers. The module also
covers areas prone to error.
OLM developments due on 31 March 2012 include a login assistance function for nonsmartcard users that will enable users to reset their own passwords provided that the
user’s email address has been entered into ESR. Also a new URP will be introduced that
just allows password resets. Certification functionality will be introduced in September
which can be used to manage compliance especially when used with e-learning.
ESR re-procurement is for the system supplier (currently McKesson) rather than the Oracle
based system itself. Work on capturing user requirements that cannot be developed under
the existing contract is taking place with the national SIGs. Ideas and suggestions should
be send to the South West representative, Diana.sheppard@glos.nhs.uk. One proposal
was for certificates to be automatically provided on course completion.
An employee’s ESR learning history can now be exported.
Arrangements have recently been confirmed for continued ESR Account Manager roles to
ensure organisations using ESR have continuity of support at least until the end of the
current ESR contract – up to 31 August 2014. The support model will however be
changing: there will be one Account Manager covering the current South West and South
Central regions. From 1 April 2012 – 31 August 2014 the NLMS / OLM Account Manager
for South West and South Central will be Paula Spokes (currently NLMS Account Manager
- South Central). Roz Davis will unfortunately be leaving the post of NLMS Account
Manager for the South West on 31 March. The group thanked Roz for her support, advice,
guidance and diligent approach over the past few years and wished her the best for the
future.
4
Mobile Learning – information and group discussions
The TEL Framework mentions new or emerging technologies such as smart-phones,
podcasts and social networking sites.
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Leeds University
iPhone Presentation
A presentation was discussed on how Leeds University had supplied
medical students with iPhones with an unlimited monthly data contract to access learning,
to post assessment data to their e-portfolio and access e-resources such as the BNF and
Oxford Handbook.
Nicola Healey commented that Weston Hospital doesn’t have a good mobile phone signal
to facilitate this approach.
Nick Napper stated that Taunton & Somerset NHS Trust is planning to develop an App for
junior doctors that will provide just in time information rather than e-learning.
Phonegap (http://phonegap.com/about/) was discussed as an example of a tool that allows
apps to be created for multiple mobile platforms.
Adobe Edge (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/) is a new web motion and
interaction design tool to create animated content for websites, using the latest standards
such as HTML5. This tool will eventually replace Flash and will make animated content
available on the Apple products.
It was agreed that case studies would be required as a basis for business cases to pilot
mobile learning in organisations.
A mobile learning interface has been requested as part of the ESR re-procurement
process.
5
Simulation Education – information and group discussions
The TEL Framework defines simulation as any reproduction of a ‘real’ event, process, or
set of conditions or problems. Learners are expected to evaluate and act in the same way
as they would in the real situation, thereby supporting learning in a ‘patient safe’
environment. Simulation is also used for the assessment of the level of competence of
individuals and teams.
Learning is more successful where it is not linear but instead based on a network structure
where decisions take the learner along different paths of learning.
There are pockets of excellence in the South West and the intention is to replicate this
provision across the region. The deaneries are leading the scoping of provision as they are
the providers of medical education. Alex Mills has been leading on this work for the past
year.
A regional meeting will take place on 19 January on the direction of simulation training.
The focus needs to be on whole team working and this approach needs to be adopted
more widely.
Simulation needs to be better resourced in IT clinical system training where a localised,
customised training environment results in a greatly improved adoption and usage of a
new system as opposed to generic training environments.
Challenges to greater usage of simulation are the lack of technical support within
organisations and the lack of training opportunities for people to gain the knowledge and
skills required to implement simulation. An evidence base of the benefits of simulation is
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required to support business cases.
RUH Bath hold some resuscitation refresher training on the ward in a side room and,
without notice, can assess the response of staff as well as their resuscitation skills.
6
Case studies of best practice in the South West
Paul Norrish circulated information on the South Devon Learning Technologies Expo that
will take place on 30 March at Torbay Hospital. Places will be limited to 1 or 2 per
organisation.
Paul also gave an overview of his e-learning champions programme. The champions all
volunteered and are from all areas of the organisation and include matrons, cleaners and
admin staff. Paul has written an 18 page handbook that is given to champions at their
induction training. Paul is also writing an e-learning course catalogue for Trust staff that
contains details of the most popular courses which are colour coded into categories such
as mandatory training and public health. Paul offered to share both of these documents
once they are complete.
The book “Design For How People Learn (Voices That Matter)" by Julie Dirksen (ISBN
978-0321768438) was recommended by Nick Napper.
Nick Napper gave an overview of the Taunton & Somerset Trust MOT for mandatory
training that is currently delivered to doctors via a Moodle platform. Nick is now transferring
the MOT into OLM now that it is possible to create a test that randomly selects questions
from a question bank. Nick offered to write a case study on the MOT project once the pilot
had finished. Taunton & Somerset Trust have an issue with renewal periods as all topics
except fire can be renewed on a three year basis. The question was should they change
the other topics to every 2 years so that all training can be done at once or should the
refresher training be split into fire training every 2 years and everything else separately
every 3 years.
It was agreed that a scoping exercise on mandatory training renewal periods would be
useful.
ACTION for Nick Jupp to create an online survey to capture the renewal periods used
across the region.
7
The future for Technology Enhanced Learning
Innovation could be driven by ideas generated by group members. Ideas could be posted
to an online community and the best supported ideas could be taken forward for
development.
The group agreed that the new meeting format should be retained. The next meeting on 26
March would be a shorter business meeting and will include a simulation education update.
8
Summary and Action Planning for 2012-13
Regional e-learning KPIs would be beneficial and would need to include data from the
different platforms such as ESR, MLE, Learning4Health, Core Learning Unit etc.
Further discussion on simulation education is required and how it can be utilised or
integrated.
Mobile learning could be progressed in stages with case studies and benefits required to
facilitate implementation.
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Further sharing of initiatives such as the e-learning champions programme.
Learning4Health to be a standing agenda item to share best practice.
Facilitate a channel of communications with the LETB and the local education structure to
be shared once available.
Consider facilitating a workshop between Learning & Development and IT people to
discuss barriers and issues.
9
Dates of next meetings
 Monday 26 March 2012 - Meeting Room 2, South West House, Taunton
 Thursday 28 June 2012 - Meeting Room 1, South West House, Taunton
 Tuesday 9 October 2012 - Meeting Room 1, South West House, Taunton
 Thursday 24 January 2013 - Meeting Room 1, South West House, Taunton
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