Case study:

26 January 2011

Croydon’s End of Life Care Training Approach

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Key points

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NHS Croydon – now part of the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust – has been running one-day e-learning workshops for all its staff directly involved in end of life care since July 2010. Feedback from staff has so far been very positive.

The trust, which serves a population of around 350,000, has used e-learning through the National Learning Management System (NLMS) since April 2010 and has been accessing the End of Life Care for All (e-ELCA) e-learning courses since July.

It was decided the best way of delivering the programme would be through one-day end of life care workshops, arranged as protected time so not to impact on patients. It was also decided to focus the programme on the 152 staff who work directly in end of life care in response to the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework.

The sessions were facilitated in an IT training room where delegates were able to access the relevant e-learning packages and also took part in classroom-based discussions. A number of staff with clinical and non-clinical backgrounds were also specifically trained as ‘super users’ to be on hand to support participants and answer questions on the day.

The main lessons from the courses are:

• Participants have enjoyed the content and found it very relevant
• They were happy that attendance numbers were kept low with only 8-10 learners per session as it enabled them to share experiences and answers questions in a safe environment
• Having short breaks during the session were deemed extremely helpful and allowed individuals to reflect on the materials as well as have a break from the screen
• Mixing the staff bands within the sessions did not appear to impact negatively on learning as junior staff were also able to add value and contribute during discussions as well as share experiences
• Reflecting on clinical experiences and hearing alternative perspectives appeared to be helpful.

The trust is now planning to focus training on enhancing communications, assessment and advance care planning by using the end of life care material in a joint initiative with the local hospice.

The aim will be to target 150 staff from bands 3-8 who have contact with end of life care patients in the community. It is also planned to extend the training to staff at council-run care homes which have around150 residents who are suffering with dementia or are physically frail. These staff will access the same learning through the e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) Learning Management System (LMS).

The trust plans to continue embedding the e-learning end of life care topics and enabling staff to revisit the material as well as undertake refresher courses.

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