Sadly, too often the signs that children and young people are being sexually abused or exploited are being missed because healthcare professionals don’t know what to look for. That’s why the Department of Health and leading national charity The Children’s Society have worked together to develop a new, interactive eLearning course designed to help healthcare staff spot the signs of child sexual abuse and exploitation. One hour of your time could make a vital difference to a child’s whole life. The online course was developed with children and young people and based on their experiences and features powerful drama about a young boy called Tyler.

The course will give you the skills to know what to look for when you come into contact with a child or young person.

For more information or to take the course, enrol on the elfh Hub or visit www.seenandheard.org.uk.

Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) team has developed an elearning session to equip healthcare staff with the knowledge and confidence to raise concerns.

In response to concerns about culture in the NHS, the Secretary of State for Health commissioned Sir Robert Francis to carry out an independent review.  The review recommended that every NHS organisation should provide training on the value of speaking up which complies with national standards.

This elearning session will act as a helpful resource to current and future healthcare staff by promoting all relevant policies, procedures, best practice and available support in relation to raising concerns. It teaches NHS staff the value of speaking up and highlights what support is available. Speaking up about wrongdoing at the earliest opportunity can save lives, prevent harm and protect organisational reputation.

In addition two education and training films have been developed – “Raising Concerns” and “Responding to Concerns.”  The films, which complement the elearning, support healthcare professionals to feel empowered to raise and respond to concerns.

To access the elearning session visit: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/freedom-to-speak-up/

To view the films visit: http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/freedom-to-speak-up/additional-resources/

We are pleased to confirm that Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh), in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners, has launched an elearning programme for healthcare professionals about sepsis.

“Think Sepsis” aims to improve the diagnosis and early management of sepsis in primary care.  The elearning includes five sessions:

• Session 1 – Overview of Sepsis
• Session 2 – Adult Sepsis
• Session 3 – Childhood Sepsis
• Session 4 – Complex Sepsis Issues and Future Development
• Session 5 – Sepsis, Care Homes and the Frail Elderly.

Every year 123,000 cases of sepsis occur in England and there are approximately 37,000 deaths.   Prompt recognition of sepsis and rapid intervention will help reduce the number of deaths occurring annually.

The elearning programme has been developed for GPs and healthcare professionals working in primary care including nurses, health visitors, midwives, pharmacists and paramedics. “Think Sepsis” follows the recommendations of the new NICE guideline on sepsis recognition, diagnosis and early management which were launched this week.

To complement the elearning programme a film has also been developed.  The short film features the story of Jason Watkins and Clara Francis who tragically lost their daughter Maude aged just three to undiagnosed sepsis in 2011. The film highlights the key signs that healthcare workers should be looking out for and asks them to think: ‘could this be sepsis?’ when assessing and diagnosing patients.

To view the film and access the elearning visit the elfh website: www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/sepsis

A new elearning resource on the National Registration Authority (RA) and Smartcard Policy is now available.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) designed this interactive elearning resource to help newly appointed RA Managers and their RA staff gain the appropriate level of understanding around the key areas of National RA Policy.

It also provides important information about verifying a healthcare professionals identity to the required standards, reaffirms the importance of compliance with local and national RA policy, the use and issuance of Smartcards and highlights any major changes as a result of the new guidelines and implementation of the new Care Identity Service (CIS), which was launched in February 2015 also by HSCIC.

CIS brings new Authentication, Directory and Smartcard Identity Registration services for secure access to health and social care data and is the system used by RA staff across England to register health professionals with a digital identity and an appropriate level of access on a ‘passcode protected’ Smartcard, which they will use to access patient data held on clinical and non-clinical Smartcard enabled systems.

Currently there are 1.1 million Smartcard holders/healthcare professionals across England and RAs are responsible for delivering a high quality RA service to these individuals.

To help RA staff deliver a good quality RA service it is recommended they complete this interactive elearning to gain the appropriate level of knowledge around the following areas:

• Understand their responsibility as an RA Manager, RA Agent Advanced, RA Agent or RA Agent (ID Checker), RA Sponsor and Local Smartcard Administrator (LSA)
• The importance of a Digital Identity and the ID checking/verification
• What are the Acceptable Forms and Combinations of ID documentation to accept from anyone requesting a Smartcard
• The importance of ensuring local RA Policy is in line with National RA Policy
• Key information about the use, issuance and maintenance of Smartcards

It will take approximately 25 minutes to complete, including the 5 minute assessment at the end, which requires a score of 100% to gain the certificate that can be used as evidence for the National IG Toolkit.

Please note: The appointed RA Manager is responsible for delivering RA training to newly appointed RA staff and this elearning resource is designed to help them with that task and should be used as an enhancement to any locally delivered training rather than as a replacement.

For more information, visit: National Registration Authority (RA) and Smartcard Policy

Health Education England elearning for healthcare, with support from NHS England, has launched an elearning programme to help increase understanding of the armed forces population and facilitate improved care and treatment. The programme is split across three areas of care for current serving personnel, the families of serving personnel and veterans, and for veterans.

For more information, please visit /programmes/nhs-healthcare-for-the-armed-forces/.