Training and elearning

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Oldham PCT, Greater Manchester

Learning Management System simplifies training administration

Oldham Primary Care Trusts four-strong learning and development team is responsible for the day-to-day running of all staff training at the Trust. It wanted to find a learning management system (LMS) to replace an existing Access database that had been developed by one of the training team but that had certain limitations.

The team hoped that the new system would help smooth the administration of the PCTs training programme. The existing database, for instance, had not been able to generate the course documentation that the team sent out to learners, so joining instructions and other course correspondence had to be typed up manually in Word.

Figure 1. Oldham PCT's Moorside Medical Centre

The old system was also unable to provide certain summary details, as the training teams Education & Training Assistant, Linda Mills one of the new systems core users explained: We needed to improve the management of training, particularly with regard to the monitoring, evaluation and administration of the training programmes. We found it very difficult, for example, to produce summary details like attendance reports. A new, more effective training administration system was required.

Selecting an LMS supplier

The PCT undertook a competitive tender process to find a new LMS that could meet their needs and decided on the CS Group. Its team seemed to understand both our requirements and the way we worked, said Linda, who uses the system regularly to manage training requests and course bookings. We also felt that the CS Group solution, Consensus LMS, could meet our needs rather than requiring us to adapt to the way the software worked.

The whole team found Consensus LMS both intuitive and easy to use. We quickly got used to the new database, said Linda. Its web-based, so its very easy to work through from screen to screen and the ease with which we could access management information was a big improvement.

The PCT now uses the LMS to manage all training for the Trusts 1,100 staff. Every spring, when the Trust puts together its annual training plan (which is then published, for staff to refer to over the course of the year) all the courses can now be recorded onto the Consensus LMS database. Using the LMSs one-click epublishing feature, each course can then be output directly onto the PCTs intranet. It is then easy for the training team to book staff onto each course when a training request is made.

Improved learning management and reporting

The advantage of using Consensus LMS is the amount of information we get from the system, said Linda Mills. When we put together this years training plan, I could provide information about course take-up, what courses had been cancelled and what had run the previous year. This information was then included in the mix to inform this years training plan.

The training officers use the reporting system and advanced search every month to report on the learners who are attending training. Like most organisations, the PCT has a prescribed list of mandatory training that must be delivered in order to ensure good standards of customer service.

For Oldham PCT, this core training includes induction programmes for new staff, manual handling, patient handling for clinical staff, basic life support and fire safety training. It is, therefore, essential to produce good quality, accurate management reports, a process that is facilitated by the new LMS.

The system also has many wider uses: We use the information in Consensus LMS for financial reporting and budgetary management, said Linda. We need to review and compare the costs of courses, trainers and external training. I also use the system to monitor the standards of training delivery via the evaluation summaries we send out from the system.

We've found that the LMS has helped tighten up our administrative processes. In the past, we would spend a lot of time manually creating letters using Word in order to correspond with people about courses. We no longer have to do this, because the system automatically generates joining instructions and other course correspondence for us. As we have become more confident with the system, we have identified new ways to develop its application.

The LMS has given Oldham PCTs training team some real savings by streamlining course administration. It has also made it much easier for the team to access the vital information about both mandatory training and other courses for financial and operational planning. It is now an essential part of the day-to-day running of the training department.

The way the LMS handled the NHS knowledge and skills framework (KSF), part of the Governments Agenda for Change for the NHS was a deciding factor in choosing the CS Group solution, said Linda. Another factor for us in selecting Consensus LMS was the capacity to integrate our course administration functions with the KSF. We have not entered the KSF core standards to the Consensus LMS database yet, but this is one of the ways we have identified that we could develop our use of the system.

We've also considered giving staff access to their own learner histories, but a decision on this has not yet been taken. The real benefit of using Consensus LMS is knowing that there is the flexibility within the system for us to do this if we want to.