Compulsory healthcare training launched in north-east

Healthcare training that helps employees to identify signs that patients are deteriorating is being made compulsory within the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG).

A course is being rolled out that teaches doctors and nurses how to anticipate, spot and prevent sick people from becoming critically ill, This is Scunthorpe reports.

The training - which is the first of its kind to be made mandatory for clinical staff - will teach hospital workers how to recognise certain conditions through exercises such as staged patient scenarios.

Nick Harrison, clinical nurse educator at the NLAG, said the course acknowledges the importance of regularly assessing patients who are at a high risk of becoming acutely ill and gives staff an easy-to-use method of doing this.

"We have made the course mandatory so that all healthcare staff are using the same clinical assessment approach," he added.

Other obligatory training is being introduced to employees of the trust in the shape of a half-day course for healthcare assistants.

Improving standards in hospitals is crucial to ensuring patients are receiving the best care available to them and any professionals in the sector interested in developing their skills in their spare time are likely to be interested in Virtual College's Healthcare e-Academy.

The e-learning provider - which is based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire - offers a range of training in various aspects of healthcare, from Process Flow Analysis and Capacity and Demand to Visual Management or Problem Solving, while it also boasts its own Lean Healthcare Overview.

At present, the online learning organisation is looking for sponsors and entries for its Lean Healthcare 2014 Conference Awards, which are taking place in February 2014.

Now in its sixth year, the event is dedicated to the improvement of patient care and workplace policies through the execution of Lean principles. By attending, healthcare workers would benefit from the opportunity to share ideas with and learn from some of the nation's most successful health professionals.