Sussex NHS IT service saves with e-learning

Sussex Health Information Service (HIS) is using e-learning training services to make significant savings and enhancing training provision for its 400 staff.

The Sussex HIS is the largest in the UK and provides IT and associated services to National Health Service (NHS) member organisations across the county. It also plays a critical role in implementing projects that are part of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) and is managed by the

South East Coast Strategic Health Authority.

The service is using e-learning courses delivered via an online portal from training provider ILX Group to support staff development and career progression within the NHS to provide technology that will, in turn, help support frontline carers in delivering the best possible patient care.

Wendy Dearing, head of Training, Change & Process Continuity and Education Training Development (EDT) for Sussex HIS, said: "Delivering best practice e-learning courses via the ILX portal has really enhanced our training provision."

She said the centralised portal has given the service central visibility of the training access, progress and performance of 25,000 Sussex NHS users, based over 17 sites.

"Access to courses is improved and an internal survey has shown that our pass rate is still as high as it was with the classroom-based approach," she added. "The significant cost savings and the ability to provide more training to greater numbers of staff is a huge bonus, especially for an organisation such as ours."

The HIS has also been able to develop tailored project management training and development using the ILX portal framework, where users must progress through the Association for Project Management Introductory Certificate (APMIC) and the PRINCE2 Foundation to Managing Successful Programmes (MSP).

And the e-learning courses enable the service to ensure staff are trained in competencies that are a requirement of the NHS' mandatory Knowledge and Skills Framework for enforcing personal development and career progression standards.

"The ILX portal is not only helping us to ensure that our staff are effective, but also supporting their development," said Dearing. "If there is a gap between the skills or knowledge that an individual needs for a position 'either their current one or one they hope to progress to' then we can quickly and easily deliver training to that individual, in their own time, at their own pace and at their own desk."

Sussex HIS is also offering its e-learning courses via the ILX portal to its two neighbouring HIS in Kent and Surrey. "The ILX portal has provided us with a way to deliver the benefits of e-learning to our partner organisations, enabling us to share both best practice and cost savings," Dearing added.

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