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Improving the Mandatory E-learning Experience for our Employees and Customers

Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) supports 22 NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across a wide geographical footprint covering Cheshire and Merseyside, Lancashire and South Cumbria, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and Leicestershire. They provide ESR support for their NHS clients as well as supporting MLSCU with ESR Learning Management (ESRLM), particularly statutory and mandatory e-Learning.

The CSU and all its clients previously used ESRLM for mandatory e-Learning until 2016/17 when they moved to a third-party solution that was used at the time by the North West CSU and Cheshire & Merseyside CCG; these Organisations later became part of the MLCSU footprint.

With the changes to managing pay progression being implemented, the CSU made the decision to have learning compliance and appraisals available within ESRLM, and visible through Employee Self Service and Supervisor Self Service. Their contract for the third-party system was coming to an end in April 2019 so having evaluated ESRLM they decided not to renew the third-party contract, and in fact move back to ESRLM; a decision made easier because of the considerable development that ESRLM had undergone and the benefits of having the learning integrated to ESR Self Service outstripped any perceived benefits of the third-party system.

Stephen Griffin, Workforce Information and Systems Lead with MLSCU was responsible for the implementation of ESRLM.  Commenting on the Implementation, Stephen said:

Whilst running some ESR overview sessions with Liverpool CCG pre-Covid-19, it became apparent that one of the biggest frustration’s users had was issues with their competency not being updated when they passed a course. They had been using the My E-learning portlet to access their mandatory e-Learning which was prominent on the My ESR Dashboard.

We explained that the system was configured in a way that the course needed to be completed from within the corresponding Learning Certification to obtain the competency and we demonstrated playing e-Learning via the My Compliance portlet. At this point we had a ‘light bulb’ moment with employees that had been having problems with getting compliant with mandatory e-Learning.

Whilst still on site we moved the My E-Learning portlet to a far less prominent position on the My ESR Dashboard and moved the My Compliance portlet to a more prominent position on the dashboard. We did consider removing the My E-Learning portlet, but it was felt this was a good place to access any non-mandatory courses employees had enrolled on.

Following the site visit with Liverpool CCG a video was created, using an app call Screencast-O-Matic, and this was then sent to Liverpool CCG to be hosted on their intranet. Over the following months the team shared the video with their clients to help with employees who experienced similar issues with competencies.

Stephen went on to say:  

I attended a Webinar that the NHSBSA ESR North Regional Team was hosting about the Applicant Dashboard and there was a brief demonstration of Web Content Portlets. After seeing this I thought it would be a great way to make our video guidance available directly from the My ESR Dashboard. With the help of a few Google searches, I created a YouTube Channel and uploaded the Video and then created a Web Content Portlet with the video embedded.

Whilst there are lots of factors that drive the compliance rates up, this has certainly had a positive impact and removed a lot of frustration for people once they access mandatory e-Learning via this route.

We have now started to replace all of our Learning Certifications to improve the experience further, as when we originally launched ESRLM we used some older guidance that recommended a 60-day renewal period and Learner must complete this certification in 30 days. The replacements are being configured with the recommended 90-day renewal period and the Learner must complete this certification in 90 days. This means they can renew their compliance as soon as the competency goes amber on their Learner Homepage.

A combination of all the above has no doubt led to improvements in learning compliance across our partner organisations.

Midlands and Lancashire CSU are now planning to include these Portlets on the ESR Applicant Dashboard.

For further information or to ask any questions about the implementation of ESR Learning Management please contact Stephen Griffin, Workforce Information & Systems Lead, Employment Services Midlands and Lancashire Clinical Support Unit. Stephen.Griffin@nhs.net

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