NHS Direct secures NHS Pathways training contract
07 Jul 2011
NHS Direct has been selected to train advisors in other organisations on the use of NHS Pathways to support the roll out of NHS 111.
NHS Direct competed to become a training provider, and was selected because of its ‘excellent knowledge of telephone triage environments’, which is seen as ‘critical’ to providing rounded support to organisations moving to use NHS Pathways.
Over 150 NHS Direct staff are already trained to use NHS Pathways as it is already being used in the three NHS 111 pilots where NHS Direct is delivering the full service. This number is set to increase as the organisation is selected to deliver more NHS 111 services. NHS Direct will have a team of eight clinical and non-clinical staff delivering the training programme which includes the training of call handlers and the clinical staff who support the safe use of NHS Pathways.
NHS Direct will be working on a ‘train-the-trainer’ basis, allowing organisations to become self sufficient and able to deliver the training to their staff at their own pace. The organisation could also be called in to support staff when they first go live with the new system or to provide further training for new staff.
Ruth Rankine, Director of Strategy and Planning at NHS Direct said:
“We have first-hand experience of using NHS Pathways in the NHS 111 pilots we are delivering and we’ve gone through the training process with our own staff. This puts us in a great position to provide training to others. We look forward to working with other organisations to give them the training they need to help deliver NHS 111 locally”.
NHS Direct is one of four organisations that have been awarded training licenses – others are Advanced Health and Care Ltd, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Organisations who want to undertake the training programme will select from these training providers.
NHS Pathways is an NHS owned system that has been developed by a team of NHS doctors, nurses and IT specialists to provide a safe, consistent clinical assessment of a caller’s symptoms and to identify the service that is best able to meet their needs.
Related Links
The new 111 number
Find out about the pilot of the free 111 number, to act as an alternative to 999
