The Southern Trust has received a boost with the welcome news that it has been ranked among the top ten health and social care organisations in the UK for its IT training programme. The Trust has grabbed fifth place in the overall rankings and if the only one in Northern Ireland to achieve recognition as a leading centre for implementing the NHS IT Skills Pathway. The Trust’s ICT (Information Communications Technology) Training Team is at present putting in place the Pathway throughout the organization and is tailoring free online courses to suit the requirements of its staff. Anna-Marie McCreanor is the ICT Training Manager and she explained the background to the Trust achieving its lofty ranking. “Since introducing the new training system just two months ago we are delighted that 332 courses have been completed by staff. This uptake reflects great enthusiasm of staff in wanting to develop their skills to help deliver a better service,” she said. “Feedback shows that100 per cent of those who have been trained would recommend the courses to others with benefits ranging from learning new skills, saving time in completing tasks and increased productivity.” Assistant Director for Informatics for the Southern Trust Siobhan Hanna in congratulating the Trust team said: “It is central to almost everything we do now in health and social care. We have 13,000 staff working across the Southern area from administrative, medical, nursing, social workers, drivers, porters, catering and domestic staff for example. From managing a patient’s medical information to being able to apply for annual leave, every member of staff needs some level of computer skills to do their job. Our ICT Training Team has been working tirelessly to help total beginners to learn the basics and to further enhance the skills of our more advanced computer users,” she added. Meanwhile Paula Clarke Director of Performance and Reform with the Trust said: “To be recognized in fifth place throughout the whole of the UK and first in Northern Ireland is a major achievement for the team and they should be commended for their dedication for finding new ways of learning. This achievement also reinforces the commitment throughout our organization to embrace technology to enable change and help improve the delivery of safe and high quality health and social care.” Any staff who may be interested in learning or enhancing their computer skills should contact the ICT Training Team on 02838 614095
Newry Democrat
12th August 2014
“