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.

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About Choose and Book
Choose and Book is a national service that, for the first time, combines electronic booking and a choice of place, date and time for first outpatient appointments. It 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.
Research has consistently shown that patients want to be more involved in taking decisions and choosing their healthcare. The majority of patients who are offered choice view the experience as positive and valuable.
Since summer 2004 the Choose and Book service has been introduced across England. The experience of early adopters has been used to help accelerate the implementation to every health community in the country. From 1st January 2006 all patients requiring a first outpatient appointment were offered a choice of at least four providers.
The key features of Choose and Book are:
• Choose and Book provides a more flexible and responsive health service that fits around people’s individual lives.
• From 1st January 2006, patients in England referred by their GP to a specialist are able to choose from at least four hospitals (or other healthcare providers) commissioned by their PCT or practice.
• Choose and Book enables patients to choose a convenient place, date and time for their initial hospital appointment.
• Once the GP and patient have agreed that a referral is necessary, the GP advises about the clinically appropriate services from which the patient may then go on to choose.
• Patients access information about healthcare providers by calling the Choose and Book Appointments Line or visiting www.nhs.uk. The information helps them decide their choice of provider. GPs and practice staff can access this information using Choose and Book. They can also access the same information by calling the Appointments Line on 0845 850 1150. This number is available to NHS staff only and is different to the number available to patients.
• Patients can book their appointment by calling the Appointments Line, using the internet or in the GP practice.
• Appointments can also be made by calling the hospital booking staff for the service to which the patient wishes to be booked.
• Training and support is available to NHS staff using the new service.
• Choose and Book is a big step towards an NHS that offers patients more opportunities to shape their care.

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 provides a range of training services to support all types and size of training programme, from initial consulting right through to project-managed implementation. It also provides logistics and logistical services to support clients’ ongoing training needs.

Its clients include IBM, EDS, Getronics, Unisys, Accenture and Atos Origin.

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