Health Education England’s elearning for healthcare has worked with NHS England and NHS Improvement, and the Self Care Forum to develop an elearning programme to equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills to conduct a ‘self-care aware’ consultation with patients and carers.

Aimed at healthcare professionals working in primary care including GPs, pharmacists and nurses, the course has been created to improve the learner’s confidence to advise patients and/or their carers on how they can manage and treat minor health conditions. In addition, it seeks to assist commissioners and prescribers with implementing the guidance for Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) ‘Conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed in primary care’ developed by NHS England and NHS Improvement, and NHS Clinical Commissioners.

The programme consists of four elearning sessions to support strategies to improve access to evidence-based information about self-treatable conditions including referral to nhs.uk, the Self Care Forum website or directly to community pharmacists. Sessions include:

Session 1: Context of Self Care in the Wider Healthcare Arena

Session 2: Principles of Management of Self-Treatable Conditions

Session 3: Self Care Aware Consultation

Session 4: Promoting Self Care

All the supporting materials for this programme have been written by subject specialists and experts in this field. The elearning programme is available on the elfh Hub, the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), via AICC links and for registered users of the Centre for Pharmacy Education (CPPE) website.

For more information about the elearning programme visit: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/successful-self-care-aware-consultations/