Access to high quality end of life care training is set to be transformed with the rollout of elearning resources for huge numbers of health and social care staff.

e-ELCA (End of Life Care for All) is one of the key elements in a programme to improve the skills of up to 2.5 million people working with dying people and their families – a key recommendation of the End of Life Care Strategy published in 2008.

The programme was launched in London on 21 January with around 60 highly-interactive learning sessions complete and soon to be available across large parts of the health and social care workforce. Each session lasts around 20 minutes and includes features such as self-assessment tools, audio/video clips and case studies.

All are written by experts in their field and peer reviewed.

The Department of Health (DH), the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP), elearning for healthcare (elfh) and the Association for Palliative Medicine are all working in partnership to develop the resources. Each session will provide a certificate as evidence of learning.

Information on e-ELCA and some sessions open to the public can be accessed at www.EndofLifeCareforAll.com. Health and social care workers seeking to register for access to the much higher number of sessions which require registration should visit www.e-elca.org.uk.

Health and social care staff who do not yet have access to the elearning Management System can get started by working on nine sessions on the public-facing section of the website. That figure will soon rise to 12.

Eventually, staff working at all levels in any relevant job and across care settings from acute hospitals to care homes and domiciliary care will be able to access around 130 learning sessions based around four core courses.

These are:

• Assessment
• Advance care planning
• Communication skills
• Symptom management

A fifth course integrates learning through case studies.

NEoLCP director Claire Henry said:

“This is about widening access to training for many health and social care staff and volunteers. We are at last within reach of high quality, accessible training for everybody involved in this challenging area.”

Dr Bee Wee, national clinical lead for e-ELCA, said:

“One day we will all want top notch end of life care from the best trained staff – nurses, social workers, doctors, therapists – and volunteers. These interactive sessions are created by experts at the sharp end for all those at the coal face. Most are easy, many are fun – all are free.”

Julia Moore, national director for elearning for healthcare, said:

“As a mode of delivery for educational material, elearning capitalises on the latest technology to support flexible and self-directed learning for the health and social care workforce, including the 2.5 million involved in providing end of life care.”

For more information or to register for e-ELCA visit https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/end-of-life-care or contact the e-ELCA team at elca.support@e-lfh.org.uk.

e-SRH, an exciting and flexible elearning resource for sexual and reproductive healthcare training, was officially launched on 20 January 2010.

Developed by the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) in partnership with elearning for healthcare (elfh), e-SRH forms the initial part of the training for the new FSRH diploma. It will support healthcare professionals in acquiring the relevant knowledge and competences needed for delivering sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) and some areas of enhanced care.

The elearning consists of 18 modules made up of over 50 sessions written by clinical experts working in both general practice and specialist services. The sessions contain interactive multimedia, such as video clips and animation, along with real-life case studies to help learners understand the views of both patients and professionals.

Registration for e-SRH is now available free of charge via the elfh website (https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/sexual-and-reproductive-healthcare) for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in the UK.

The launch of e-SRH took place at a special event to celebrate the FSRH’s new specialty of Community Sexual and Reproductive Health, and the redesign of the Diploma of the FSRH.

The event was opened by Professor Arulkumaran, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), and speeches were also given by Baroness Joyce Gould and Dr Christine Robinson, President of the FSRH.

Dr Robinson said:

“The new diploma is considered to be the gold standard of training for contraception and sexual and reproductive health. With the development of this new innovative resource, e-SRH, doctors will now have more convenient access to the theoretical component of the diploma before embarking upon the practical training competences.”

Attendees, including representatives from the RCOG, FSRH and the British Medical Association, were also invited to view some of the sample e-SRH sessions.

For more information or to register for e-SRH visit https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/sexual-and-reproductive-healthcare or contact the e-SRH team at e-srh@e-lfh.org.uk.