Bringing new IT skills to the NHS

The NHS is implementing new computer systems at an unprecedented rate. Some support is available from system suppliers but the NHS must ensure that the systems are fully supported on an on-going basis.

More NHS staff than ever before are required to have technical skills which they can apply to computer systems used for the provision of healthcare. These health informatics staff are becoming as vital to the NHS as their clinical and administrative colleagues. By providing up to date, accurate clinical information about the condition and treatment of a patient, better care can be provided and outcomes improved.

Because of the scale of the National Programme for IT in Healthcare (NPfIT), the LSPs and health systems vendors have had to bring in large numbers of new IT staff, with little or no previous experience of the NHS or of health systems. For these staff to become effective in this market sector, they require a significant amount of training in the workings of the NHS and healthcare technologies as well as specific health systems.

For a typical NHS trust, the problem is both that they have insufficient IT staff to support the new systems as well as lack of experience with large system implementation projects. Previous implementations of systems such as electronic patient records have been run as stand-alone projects and the supplier has provided the technical expertise to see the project through to completion. The difference with NPfIT is that NHS trusts are receiving multiple systems which must be integrated and the systems suppliers are working to very tight budgets and timescales. This has meant recruiting new technical and management staff, many from the private sector.

Critical skills

Some of the critical skill areas for support staff in the NHS and suppliers are:

• NHS business processes and the patient journey

• Healthcare specific technologies such as HL7 and DICOM

• Specific health systems such as Cerner Millennium, iSoft, GE PACS and HSS RIS

• Project management within the NHS

• Technical support for users

Arguably the most important of these is to understand the business of healthcare provision in the NHS and to relate to clinicians when they talk about the patient journey. Without understanding the process of diagnosis and treatment in the NHS, how can health informatics staff provide appropriate computer systems and correctly prioritise support?

The National Audit Office report released in June 2006, strongly recommended improvements to NHS staff training "to strengthen capability, including project management and IT skills available” and added that "The shortage of such skills is an immediate risk to the timely implementation of the programme, and strengthening capacity in these areas will be a long-term asset for the NHS."

What is the best way to make sure that staff are up to the job?

Staff require training in a range of health systems and health informatics courses covering the skills required to perform their roles effectively. Ideal Training has developed a wide range of health systems and health informatics courses that address these issues. The courses are aimed both at NHS staff and staff within health systems suppliers and LSPs that have responsibility for implementing, supporting and running new health systems. This training provides the knowledge and skills required to enable information to be collected, managed, used and shared to support the delivery of healthcare.

Understanding the NHS ethos

An essential element is in ensuring that staff new to the NHS understand the ethos, infrastructure and workings of the NHS. The course “Healthcare Provision in the NHS” which includes a background in health and social care as well as the structure and culture of the NHS, provides a solid foundation. Run over two days, the course is suitable for systems supplier IT staff moving on to NHS projects as well as support staff who have recently joined the NHS.

Additionally, technical support staff within the NHS and the LSPs need to provide a range of support services on the specific health systems applicable to their organisation. This may cover a number of areas such as: care records, primary care systems, PACS and RIS. Implementation staff need to be able to design, configure and build a system for installation within a hospital and support staff need to manage and maintain the systems behind the scenes to ensure smooth operation of the systems by the hundreds of clinical and administrative users who depend on it.

Training can be provided on individual health systems such as Cerner Millennium, RiO, GE PACS or HSS RIS as well as on the integration of these systems that make up the complete LSP solution.

There are also a number of technical areas such as networking and data management which require staff to have specific knowledge and skills to provide support within the NHS. One example is the use of the N3 network to provide high speed connections between NHS organisations. A three day course called “Network Support for NHS Staff” covers all aspects of networking including N3. Another specific area is the use of the NHS Data Model which is fundamental to producing statutory returns to the Department for Health. This is covered in detail in a two-day course. Some level of HL7 training is usually required by technical staff who build, implement and support health systems

Practical, hands-on, relevant

For the health systems training to be effective, it should be practical and hands-on and made as relevant to the NHS as possible, with exercises, examples and case studies designed specifically for the healthcare sector. For example project and service management are familiar territory outside the NHS but rather than send staff on a standard PRINCE2 course focusing on examples taken from financial services or telecoms, staff will benefit much more from a course specifically designed for the NHS such as “PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner for the NHS”.

Whatever role staff are playing in the massive expansion of IT in the NHS the training they receive will be critical to the success of projects such as NPfIT. The health of the nation is closely linked to the skills of the technical staff behind the systems.

For more information about the training paths available for health systems support staff please visit www.idealtraining-uk.com.