Public Servant Lifestyle

The NHS Information Authority has won the award for putting staff on the right road to IT skills.

The Information Authority’s European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) programme has received top marks to pick up the title of e-learning project of the year at the IT Training Awards event.

As one of the biggest programmes of it type, the judges were impressed with the speed of delivery, quality of the service and the capability to support up to 450,000 staff.

Carol Hulm, ECDL Service Manager said: “This is a really good result for all concerned. There has been a tremendous amount of work done to get this off the ground and it has involved many people including Information Authority staff, ECDL co-ordinators and trainers, and suppliers. However, this award is not only about ECDL, it’s about getting an e-learning programme working. The success of this project has shown everyone that e-learning does work and will have a place in learning delivery in the future.”

When presenting the award the judges stated “This is an e-learning project of a scale never seen before. Within this project there is a clear focus on fast-scaling, maintaining quality and ensuring the results are aligned to business objectives.”

Staff

The award coincides with news of a record number of NHS staff signing up for computer training. More than 50,000 doctors, nurses, health professionals and administrators are now on the road to better IT skills.

This is the second time the NHS ECDL scheme, which launched in March 2003, has struck gold. In November it was acknowledged as the ‘online learning solution of the year’ by the World of Learning.

Established as the benchmark for excellence throughout the IT training industry, The Institute of IT Training Awards were set up to recognise outstanding examples of high standards, best practice, innovation and excellence within IT training.

The ECDL offers NHS staff training in basic IT skills and an internationally recognised qualification. The scheme is managed for the Information Authority by a consortium led by Spring IT Training who deliver a national tracking and monitoring service for ECDL registrations and access to the learning and testing materials.

Carol added: “The Information Authority has worked hard with Spring IT Training and its partners to provide a flexible training solution that is able to be used by trainers and individuals, and that takes into account different learning styles.”

The NHS Information Authority is a special health authority and provider of national information and infrastructure services to the NHS. Key services include the delivery of information and knowledge for decision making, support for better patient care through national health record systems, secure network communications and leadership for the development of health informatics professionals.

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