Welcome to a special one year anniversary edition of the NHS Scotland Academy Newsletter, keeping you up to date with all the latest developments, success stories and upcoming events.
First anniversary of the NHS Scotland Academy
October marked 1 year since the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf officially opened the NHS Scotland Academy.
The exciting collaboration between NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Golden Jubilee was developed to help meet the training needs in health and social care.
Over the past 12 months, the NHS Scotland Academy has developed and delivered a number of programmes, playing a vital role in supporting and growing staff numbers through accelerated training to meet the needs of patients across NHSScotland.
The innovative mix of residential, distance, online and virtual reality learning, has seen more than 3,000 learners complete a range of courses and online learning across the country.
Foundations of Perioperative Practice
Before its official launch, the NHS Scotland Academy had started providing vital support and training for perioperative nurses, which qualifies graduate nurses to work in a theatre.
Previously, it would have taken a full year for nurses to gain these skills. However this programme now gives them the training and experience in just 6 months: doubling the speed at which they are able to support critical services around the country.
Now named ‘Foundations of Perioperative Practice’, this has become part of the wider ‘National Treatment Centres’ Accelerated Workforce programme’, and continues to provide registered nurses tools, skills and strategies to work in the theatre environment.
31 learners have now completed this course from NHS Golden Jubilee, NHS Highland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Forth Valley.
Find out more about the Foundations of Perioperative Practice Programme
Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Programme
With access to community healthcare becoming more important, pharmacists are playing a key role in providing care to patients in their local area.
The NHS Scotland Academy has been delivering its Clinical Skills for Pharmacists programme to more than 434 learners over 823 delegate days, across 11 health boards.
The teaching enhances the prescriber’s skills so they can assess minor symptoms in patients and prescribe treatment.
This has a direct impact on the NHS Scotland Recovery plan, and has the potential to significantly ease the pressure on GPs, emergency departments and out of hours services as more prescribers are trained.
Associate Medical Director at NHS Scotland Academy, Ian Colquhoun said:
“This training has been completed in collaboration with other centres around Scotland and has been extremely successful so far.
“This is an important step in improving the healthcare access of patients for minor conditions and provides care close to home without the need to attend their General Practitioner or the Emergency Department.”
Find out more about the Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Training
National Endoscopy Training Programme (NETP)
(Photographed: National Endoscopy Training Programme Team at NHS Forth Valley for the Endoscopy Non Technical Skills)
The NHS Scotland Academy has also made significant progress in supporting the remobilisation of endoscopy services and enhancing the delivery of quality training in endoscopy.
The National Endoscopy Training Programme will continue to expand, benefitting more health boards across Scotland.
The training so far has included:
- Upskilling over 40 practitioners in colonoscopy.
- Enabling 18 trainee endoscopists to achieve JAG accreditation by providing immersion training. The immersion programme is now booked until June 2023.
- Supporting the delivery of basic endoscopy courses in Glasgow and Dundee.
- Upskilling the first cohort of six healthcare support workers to become assistant endoscopy practitioners.
- Developing and running the first endoscopy non-technical skills course in Scotland in partnership with the Clinical Skills Managed Educational Network at NES.
- Recruiting 20 highly qualified faculty members.
- Using simulation to deliver training in endoscopy.
- Supporting the application of three sites in Scotland to achieve JAG accreditation.
These activities help increase the number of staff available across NHSScotland who can carry out high quality endoscopy procedures with a direct benefit to patients.
Graham Haddock OBE, Chair of the NETP Board said:
"The past year at the NETP has been a frenzy of activity. We have achieved so much more than we thought possible due to the focus, drive, and determination of our superb team. The next year will see further exciting developments all of which are driven by our determination to do our part to help the NHS remobilise after COVID with the welfare of our patients front and centre."
Find out more about the National Endoscopy Training Programme
National Ultrasound Training Programme
(Photographed: National Ultrasound Training Programme faculty at NHS Golden Jubilee)
In November, NHS Scotland Academy officially launched a programme to increase the number of ultrasound procedures that can be done in NHS Scotland.
The National Ultrasound Training Programme, a collaboration between the Scottish Radiology Transformation Programme, Scottish Government and Glasgow Caledonian University, will enable new sonographers to complete their training faster, ensuring that patients have easier and quicker access to ultrasound.
7 sonographers are participating in the first cohort with the next group of new sonographers starting in January 2023.
Find out more about the National Ultrasound Training Programme
Anaesthetic Assistants
NHS Scotland Academy offers training and resources to current and new staff in the NHS.
The Accelerated Anaesthetic Assistant Programme speeds up the development and assessment of newly qualified nurse anaesthetic assistants.
The training ensures those participating have the opportunity to practice skills in a safe environment, using immersive simulation, so they are ready to deliver effective patient care.
The first group of 10 learners are part-way through the programme, with the second group starting this month (November 2022).
Find out more about the Anaesthetic Assistants Programme
Online Resources
To help with the increasing demand for NHS and Health and Social Care staff, the Academy developed easily accessible online resources for those preparing to join the workforce.
The Preparing for Work in Health and Social Care resources offer a mobile-friendly interactive learning experience that has now been accessed by more than 2,239 new staff across Scotland.
Nurses recruited from other countries are benefitting from easily accessible resources through the NMC OSCE Preparation Resources that have now been used by more than 286 nurses and educators.
This essential resource is helping newly recruited nurses to complete their UK registration to work as a registered nurse in the NHS.
Find out more about the NMC OSCE Preparation Programme
Find out more about the Preparation for Health and Social Care Programme
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