Going forward with the NHS

Looking at the most recent NHS Five Year Forward View, it’s clear they have their work cut out for them. While important improvements like cancer outcomes and waiting times are welcome, there is an urgent need to tackle other areas including preventable illness, inconsistent quality of care and mental health. A need for greater collaboration between doctors, hospitals and social services was highlighted, to stop patients’ physical and mental illnesses being treated in isolation. With existing budgets and workloads stretched to breaking point, are there any simple, low-cost solutions to take the pressure off some areas?

Effective and accessible training

One actionable target in the report is to increase the number of GPs in training as quickly as possible. This increased intake of medical students will have a direct impact on how training is delivered and monitored. Ideally, students should have the ability to access and complete customised elearning programs from anywhere, existing platforms may buckle and fail with the added demands.

The University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) found their existing elearning program couldn’t meet their or their students’ needs. One of the biggest drawbacks was that their junior doctors and nurses couldn’t access training and resources outside of the Trust, which meant their time couldn’t be utilised efficiently. Added to this was the headache of multiple login details and a poor, overall user experience. For such a large and important NHS Trust, they knew it was a top priority to find a better solution.

After doing in-depth research, UCLH opted for Totara LMS, an open source elearning platform that’s a custom build. Having a system that can be configured to suit and scaled according to need means the Trust can deliver effective and engaging training for up to 10,000 users. For even the least tech-savvy trainer to be able to create and upload new content means that elearning units can be individualised and updated as needed. The junior doctors and nurses can now study from anywhere with internet access and as the system is cloud-based, it means that files and resources can be retrieved and shared with just one login. Lecturers can easily access students’ work and monitor their progress. The upgrade has made for a much improved user experience all round.

Helping budgets go further

When choosing a learning management system that’s fit-for-purpose, apart from must-haves such as ease of use, adaptability and self-service portals, the overall cost must be realistic. Opting for an LMS with a per-user licence fee can be prohibitive for many Trusts, especially as student users are hoped to increase significantly. A more affordable and common-sense solution would be to find an elearning solution with an annual subscription for unlimited users.

It’s clear that the NHS is trying to address the concerns raised in the five year review but with limited spending and increasing demands for a more effective healthcare system, there are no easy answers. Innovative edtech is certainly one area that could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of medical training, which in turn may help to entice more doctors and nurses to join the NHS.