Training Synergy facilitates the use of the NHS’s ‘Choose and Book’ scheme

Training solution provider Training Synergy has helped The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust to implement ‘Choose and Book’, a national service that, for the first time, combines electronic booking and a choice of place, date and time for first outpatient appointments.

In addition to being the first NHS Trust in London to offer an electronic directly bookable service across all specialities, the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust had experienced some technical problems with the system. This had not only put back the system ‘go live’ date but had also dented user confidence in the project.

“And, as you would expect, there was also only a limited budget to fund training support for the ‘go live’,” explained the Trust’s Service Improvement Manager, Julie Vazquez.

So the Trust, which is based in the London Borough of Brent, servicing a population of 500,000 and has over 4,000 employees based at three sites, asked Training Synergy to provide an effective training programme within tight budget constraints, using its portfolio of over 200 NHS experienced trainers.

The result included a floor walking programme that was designed by the training team and delivered to users across all three of the Trust’s sites.

Training Synergy’s David Field, explained: “Our training team had CAB experience at both acute trusts and GP practices, so they could instantly troubleshoot with live referrals. They also created a new electronic form to log any technical or process issues for the Trust’s attention, on a daily basis.

“Our trainers were able to identify business critical users who required one-to-one support and guidance, tailored to their roles,” he added. “And speedy and regular reporting meant that technical and process issues were dealt with immediately, greatly enhancing user perception and confidence.”

“Training Synergy’s trainers were great at building rapport with all the different users,” commented the Trust’s Julie Vazquez. “The trainers’ enthusiasm, professionalism and hands-on experience helped to foster further stakeholder buy-in, particularly with reluctant users,” Field agreed.

About Choose and Book
Choose and Book revolutionises bookings, with patients able to choose their initial hospital appointment, and book it on the spot in the surgery or later, on the phone or via the internet, at a time that is more convenient to them.

Since summer 2004 the Choose and Book service has been introduced across England. From 1st January 2006 all patients requiring a first outpatient appointment were offered a choice of at least four providers.

About Training Synergy
With over 300 training personnel working on projects across the UK at any one time and a turnover in excess of £10m, Training Synergy - part of the Synergy Group, formed in 1997 and now with an annual turnover of some £40m - is one of the UK’s largest training solutions providers. Training Synergy delivers some 40,000 training days a year and has 7,000 trainers on its database.

Training Synergy was placed 15th in this year’s list of the ‘Top 50 IT training companies’, compiled by market analysts IT Skills Research.

Further Information from:
Daniel Hanlon / David Field, Training Synergy, 0800 072 5900 or 020 7556 1140 /1141; www.trainingsynergy.com
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 01727 860405; www.boblittlepr.com