Virtual College assists NHS hospital trust to be awarded a Silver Certificate of Achievement
Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the first in the UK to be awarded a Silver Certificate of Achievement from NHS Improving Quality, for having trained at least 50% of its staff in the Safe Use of Insulin.
Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London delivers their training using The Safe Use of Insulin e-learning course, which is part of an Insulin Safety Suite of e-learning courses developed by Virtual College’s Healthcare e-Academy in collaboration with NHS Diabetes (now part of NHS Improving Quality).
In the UK as a whole, over 100,000 learners have completed the Safe Use of Insulin Course.
The Insulin Safety Suite has been designed for all healthcare professionals who treat patients with diabetes and who may have to prescribe or administer insulin; the overriding aim of the courses is to reduce errors and save lives. Although NHS Diabetes has merged with NHS Improving Quality the long term partnership between NHS Diabetes and Virtual College remains the same. All courses continue to be free to all individuals working or studying in England and Scotland.
The Certificate of Achievement programme was launched to encourage more organisations to undergo insulin safety training and ultimately save lives. Certificates of Achievement are awarded when a significant amount of staff have completed online The Safe Use of Insulin course. Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates are awarded to healthcare organisations who have trained 15%, 50% and 85% of relevant staff respectively.
NHS Improving Quality is urging healthcare organisations to ensure all clinical staff undergo The Safe Use of Insulin e-learning module in a bid to save the lives of any diabetic patients they treat.
Virtual College’s Healthcare Marketing Executive Jo Jerome stated “The partnership between NHS Improving Quality and Virtual College’s Healthcare e-Academy continues to develop new insulin safety courses. This month sees the release of The Safe Use of Insulin Syringes, Pen Devices, Pumps and Sharps. This course aims to ensure that people with diabetes, their carers and healthcare professionals, are provided with appropriate information to ensure that they understand how to safely and effectively use insulin syringes, pen devices, pumps and sharps. The Paediatric Diabetes Education Level 1 will be the next course to be released in the coming months.”
More information about The Insulin Safety Suite and registration is available at www.diabetes.nhs.uk/safety or by calling 01943 885086.