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/.

A new elearning resource on the Accessible Information Standard is now available to access.

The Accessible Information Standard aims to establish a framework so that patients and service users who have information or communication needs relating to a disability or sensory loss, receive accessible information and communication support. The elearning resource provides training for all health and social care staff to help them effectively apply and follow the Standard.

There are two elearning sessions available:

• Accessible Information Standard: Introduction provides an overview of the Standard and explains how to ensure that the information and communication support needs of people with a disability or sensory loss are identified, recorded, flagged, shared and met.
• Accessible Information Standard: Towards Excellence builds upon the Introduction session and aims to enhance learners’ knowledge, skills and confidence around supporting individuals with information and communication needs and effectively applying the Standard in health and care settings

For more information and to access the sessions visit:
http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/accessible-information-standard/open-access-sessions/

The Recognising and Assessing Medical Problems in Psychiatric Settings (RAMPPS) elearning module developed by Health Education England working across Yorkshire and the Humber is now available.

The module is suitable for all healthcare staff in both acute and community-based mental health settings, for example doctors, nurses, support workers, pharmacists and Allied Health Professionals. Completing this short interactive 15 minute module can help to broaden or refresh the knowledge of applying structured approaches and best practice tools when recognising, assessing and managing the deteriorating physical health of patients in mental health settings.

For more information visit http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/recognising-and-assessing-medical-problems-in-psychiatric-settings/

Image Interpretation, also known as Interpretation of Radiological Images (e-IRI), is an elearning project to support radiographers and other healthcare professionals with interpreting and offering clinical evaluations on radiographs and other imaging modalities. The project is a collaboration between the Society and College of Radiographers and Health Education England’s award-winning elearning for healthcare programme.

The project originally focused on sessions to support image interpretation of standard radiographs of the musculoskeletal system, but has since grown in size and scope. In 2016 21 new interactive sessions have been published on topics ranging from Dignity and Continuing Professional Development to Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Gastro-intestinal and Genito-urinary imaging.  New modules have also been added to the programme; Cardiac Imaging, Neurointervention, Dental and Maxillo-facial Radiography and Accessory Projections.

The learning sessions have been written and reviewed by radiographers, academics and radiologists. They include sample images, assessments and case studies, as well as links to the latest research and resources. For more information or to access the free material see http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/image-interpretation/

A new elearning programme called Cancer in the Community, is now available to access. The project, produced by the Royal Marsden School, will enable healthcare professionals of all grades, working in a range of community settings, to broaden their knowledge of key aspects of cancer care. This elearning course will be relevant to all qualified and non-qualified community-based health and social care workers, including community matrons, nursing staff, allied health professionals (including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and dieticians) and support workers who meet patients with cancer.

This work was commissioned by Health Education South London (HESL) and is available nationally. The project is composed of 4 sessions covering topics such as Cancer Prevention and Screening and Living With and Beyond Cancer. For information on how to access the Cancer in the Community elearning programme, visit http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/cancer-in-the-community/.