Making the Switch to ESR Learning Management
First Community Health and Care (FCHC) are an employee-owned social enterprise, providing community healthcare services to people living in east Surrey and parts of West Sussex.
In August 2020, FCHC decided to switch from their existing LMS platform to ESR Learning Management and were invited to take part in a pilot using the services of the NHSBSA optimisation team to assist with the transition.
The key aim was to seamlessly deliver a new platform to employees with the additional benefits of quicker, more detailed reporting to the board by February 2021.
Jaqueline Stock, Learning & Development Manager and Mel Murrell, Learning & Development Co-ordinator ran the project with the support of their Workforce Information Team and Nelson Boto, NHS ESR Implementation Advisor. The project itself was split into four work streams:
- Enabling ESR access for all staff for learning and online payslips and communicating the changes;
- Providing catalogue details to the NHSBSA optimisation team for input into ESR;
- Providing details of competences achieved and required to the ESR Systems Integration Team for loading into ESR;
- Training/familiarisation with administration and management of a new LMS.
ESR access for all staff was enabled in October 2020, enabling staff to log in to the ESR Portal and view their payslip.
The NHSBSA optimisation team worked with the FCHC team to create local Competences and the ESR Learning Management catalogue of Courses and Resources, with all this work successfully completed by December 2020.
The FCHC project team then focused on collating and reviewing the training needs and achievements recorded in their existing LMS. Many reports were generated and translated into ESR Competences for the ESR Systems Integration Team to upload, and this was completed by early February 2021.
During the project’ implementation, the FCHC team were also having to learn how to use a new LMS platform and adjusting their process maps. ESR Learning Management went live to the organisation on 10th February 2021 (as originally planned), despite urgent COVID training also delivered in December and January.
One of the lessons learned from the experience related to the training provision for the FCHC project team. The time available to implement meant the FCHC project team were learning how to use a new system while at the same time, guiding the optimisation team. Some of the catalogue management was retained by the FCHC project team for their own training and familiarisation purposes. With hindsight, had more time been available, the FCHC project team would have completed more training which would have meant they could have used more of the NHSBSA optimisation teams time and skills.
Overall the key objectives from the pilot project have been achieved. Compliance reporting now only takes between 1-2 hours, where as previously, this was taking 2 days; thus saving the L&D Team a great deal of time each month, and FCHC staff are now accessing their training via ESR and are receiving reminders about what training is required and when.
FCHC plans to look at where they can deliver further efficiencies using ESR and are now planning to roll out Supervisor Self Service so that their managers can review training and compliance and record Pay Progression meetings.
If you want to know more about FCHC’s switch to ESR Learning Management please contact jaqueline.stock@nhs.net