Improving competence and compliance through self‐service and e‐learning development

Purpose – Healthcare organizations in the UK face a particular combination of challenges in managing learning and development (L&D) activity and have traditionally lagged behind corporates in adopting relevant technologies. However, a wave of initiatives from the UK government's Department of Health has underlined its support for greater use of technology and greater deployment of e‐learning to improve knowledge and competence throughout National Health Service (NHS) organizations. These organizations also have to meet a variety of mandatory and statutory reporting requirements and in effect suffer financial penalties if they fail to meet set targets. The purpose of this case study is to review how one newly‐merged Primary Care Trust (PCT) – a body that manages local delivery of primary healthcare – progressed from having a new L&D team with no common systems, to successfully rolling out self‐service learning and e‐learning to end users. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses the experience of the PCTs covering the Hertfordshire area as a case study. Findings – The trust has found that the right strategy and technologies deliver greater transparency to the L&D process, raising the profile of L&D in the organization, creating better understanding and appreciation of the benefits of L&D and generating better training attendances and positive feedback. Originality/value – The Hertfordshire PCTs form one of the most proactive and innovative healthcare organizations in the UK, in terms of the rollout of self‐service learning and the way it integrates the NHS web‐based knowledge and skills framework – called the e‐KSF – with its learning management system. This potentially offers valuable insights to other healthcare organizations.