New content added to Perinatal Mental Health e-learning programme

Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH) has been working with the Institute of Health Visiting, the National Workforce Skills Development Unit at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, maternity and general practice leads and HEE’s Mental Health team to add new content to the Perinatal Mental Health e-learning programme.

The Perinatal Mental Health programme is designed to help educate and develop the workforce’s confidence and competence in caring for people with perinatal mental health problems. The planned updates to the existing e-learning programme are particularly timely, aiming to support key health and care colleagues working with pregnant mothers and new parents, during the additional challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two of the six new e-learning modules were developed by the Institute of Health Visiting, in partnership with HEE, and look at:

Perinatal Mental Health: Health Visitor Assessment
Perinatal Mental Health: Health Visitor Interventions

Melita Walker, Mental Health Lead iHV, commented:

“Here at the iHV, we really do believe that there is no health without mental health! And so, we are absolutely delighted to be launching these modules during Mental Health Awareness Week.

“Perinatal Mental Health (PMH) is, to coin a phrase, “ everyone’s business” and perhaps now, more than ever, it is even more vital that all those who work alongside families understand the importance of perinatal mental health: What it is, why it matters and what they can do to support good family mental health and wellbeing.

“It has been a truly collaborative effort, in getting these modules ready to launch during Mental Health Awareness Week and we would like to thank all our partners in making this happen – including Sylvia Woolley, Catherine Lowenhoff, Judy Shakespeare, Toni Turner, colleagues at Health Education England and the National Workforce Skills Development Unit at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.”

The new content covers six sessions to complement the existing e-learning programme. Each of the six e-learning modules last around 20-30 minutes.

The following sessions are now available:

Introduction to Perinatal Mental Health 1
Introduction to Perinatal Mental Health 2
Perinatal Mental Health in the Antenatal Period
Perinatal Mental Health in the Postnatal Period
Perinatal Mental Health: Health Visitor Assessment
Perinatal Mental Health: Health Visitor Interventions

For more information about the Perinatal Mental Health e-learning programme, including details of how to access, please visit the link below:

Go to HEE eLfH Perinatal Mental Health e-learning programme

The link to this e-learning programme is also on the iHV e-learning resource page:

Go to iHV e-learning resource page

New content added to the Domestic Violence and Abuse e-learning programme

Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH) has been working with the Institute of Health Visiting to add new content to the Domestic Violence and Abuse e-learning programme.

The planned updates to the existing e-learning programme are particularly timely due to the expected rise in domestic violence and abuse cases as a result of the considerable social and economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A leading domestic abuse charity in the UK has already reported a 25% increase in contacts after the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Alison Morton, Director of Policy and Quality at the Institute of Health Visiting, commented:

“We know that COVID-19 is putting pressure on all families and we need to heed the stark warning from other countries like China and Italy, as well as emerging data from the UK, which shows that domestic violence increases during “lockdown”. It is therefore vitally important that victims of abuse are identified and supported at this time when their needs may be hidden. We hope that these timely resources will be helpful for practitioners working with children and families experiencing domestic violence and abuse; the content has been developed by experts in the field to support best practice.”

The Domestic Violence and Abuse e-learning package aims to equip health visitors and nurses with the skills and knowledge to enable them to provide a proactive, responsive and safe service to families experiencing domestic violence and abuse.

The new content covers four new introductory modules to complement the existing sessions. The e-learning has been developed following a refresh of the evidence, policy and legislation on domestic violence and abuse. Each of the four e-learning modules last around 30-45 minutes.

The following sessions are now available:

Understanding domestic violence and abuse
Identification of domestic violence and abuse
Risk assessment for victims of domestic violence and abuse
Safety planning and support for families

For more information about the Domestic Violence and Abuse programme, including details of how to access, please visit the link below:

Go to HeEE eLfH Domestic Violence and Abuse e-learning

The link to this e-learning programme is also on the iHV e-learning resource page:

Go to iHV e-learning resource page

Free, open access to HEE COVID-19 e-learning programme

Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH) has created an e-learning programme in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic that is free to access, without logging in*, for the entire UK health and care workforce, including those working in the NHS, the independent sector and social care.

The programme includes key materials to help the health and care workforce respond to Coronavirus.

The Coronavirus programme currently includes limited resources, but we will add more content in the coming days and weeks. The additional content will include new sessions and content curated from different sources such as existing HEE e-LfH sessions and materials from other organisations such as NHS England and NHS Improvement or the World Health Organization.

Content in the Coronavirus programme currently includes:

Essential Guidance from the NHS, Government and WHO
Infection Prevention and Control
Personal Protection Equipment
Critical Care Resources
RCGP learning
Invasive Ventilation
Intensive Care Medicine
Anaesthesia
Induction of International and Returning GPs
Statutory and Mandatory Training

*HEE e-LfH has removed the requirement to log in to access the Coronavirus (COVID-19) programme to make it as easy as possible for the health and care workforce to access the learning resources. However, be aware that accessing the content without logging in means that your learning activity won’t be tracked and you won’t create a learning record. If you wish to have a learning record to demonstrate your compliance you will need to have an e-LfH account and be logged in. You can register for an e-LfH account using any email address.

For more information about the programme, which is free for the health and care workforce to access without the need to register, visit www.e-lfh.org.uk/coronavirus.

Go to HEE e-LfH Coronavirus e-learning

Another HEE resource, SCRIPT e-learning, is now freely available to anyone with a NHS email address. For more information visit www.safepresciber.org, email [email protected] and or follow @safeprescriber on Twitter.

New HEE Population Health Fellowship programme

As part of the Population Health and Prevention programme, Health Education England (HEE) has launched a new Population Health Fellowship programme for health care workers in the NHS. There are 14 fellowships available for all NHS clinical staff (AFC Band 6 and above/Post Foundation Training) including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, dentists, healthcare scientists, pharmacists and others, to develop skills in population health.

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to be seconded part-time to work collaboratively within a local organisation or more widely across a healthcare system. Fellows will be supported to acquire population health competencies and expected to lead on a population health project and will be based either in their current healthcare organisation or elsewhere, depending upon the Fellowship to which they are appointed. The programme will be launched across HEE’s seven regions.

It is HEE’s intention that the Fellowships will accelerate the development of population health advocates and provide a growing network within the NHS multidisciplinary workforce committed to a population health approach in their day to day work.

Useful information:

Fellowships will last one year, starting in 2020.

Applications are now open. The deadline for applications is midnight Friday 4 October 2019.

Candidates who are successfully shortlisted can expect to be called for the next level of selection processes in October 2019.

Visit the Population Health Fellowship webpage to find out more information and how to apply.

Health Education England’s Learning Hub

The Learning Hub will be a powerful new digital platform that will provide easy access to a wide range of education and training resources for the health and care workforce. It is being developed by Health Education England’s (HEE) national Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Programme.

The Learning Hub will be launched in Beta, early in 2020 with the following functionality:

A personalised homepage with a style that will be aligned to other popular platforms, providing a familiar web experience
An opportunity for individuals to contribute resources. Organisations will shortly be invited to contribute content to be available when the Learning Hub launches
Forums in which to collaborate and share useful resources. The forums will encourage discussions to take place around the content, and networks to form around areas of shared interest and act as a Community of Practice.

The Learning Hub is being developed using agile methodology in line with Government Digital Service’s (GDS) principles, which puts user research at the centre of the design and development. User research to date has been incredibly successful and, as such, the scope of the Learning Hub has been expanded to ensure the development responds to the feedback from users.

Following the launch of the Learning Hub early in 2020, development will continue to provide the platform users have said they want and need. During this phase of development, other existing systems including HEE’s e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) Hub will remain available in their current location.

For more information about the Learning Hub follow on Twitter: @HEE_TEL, email: [email protected], visit: telblog.hee.nhs.uk to read blogs about their journey so far or visit: www.hee.nhs.uk/tel.

Children’s Oral Health e-learning programme now live

Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (HEE e-LfH) has worked with the Faculty of Dentistry, the Royal College of Surgeons and UCL Eastman Dental Institute and Hospital to develop a new Children’s Oral Health e-learning programme.

This free e-learning programme provides information and advice about children’s oral health. It is aimed at parents, expectant mothers, early years healthcare workers, teachers, nurses, GPs and the public.

Children’s Oral Health Advice programme aims to help learners support children to maintain good oral health. It covers the main causes of tooth decay and simple actions that can be taken to prevent the problem. It also explains when a child’s primary (baby) and adult (permanent) teeth start to appear, and what you should do if a tooth is knocked out. By the end of the session users will have developed their knowledge of oral health and be more confident in providing children’s oral health advice.

The programme consists of one e-learning session that will take about 20 minutes to complete with a number of self-assessment questions throughout the learning which enable understanding of the key points to be checked.

Further e-learning sessions are planned for 2019 to support the understanding of children’s oral health advice for the health and care workforce.

For more information about the e-learning programme and for details of how to access it visit HEE e-Learning for Healthcare

Infant Feeding e-learning programme now live

A new e-learning programme to support education around the implementation of Baby Friendly standards in healthcare and public healthcare settings has been developed.

The programme is for healthcare professionals who have contact with pregnant women and new mothers. It aims to provide information about the importance of building close and loving relationships with baby during pregnancy and following birth, as well as information around breast and bottle feeding.

Topics covered by the session include:

Challenges and Culture
Importance of Breastfeeding
Importance of Love
Formula Feeding
Providing Unbiased Information.

This programme is not intended to replace existing training. Instead it is intended to complement training for those in facilities which are implementing Baby Friendly standards.

It has been developed by Health Education England, e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) and the National Infant Feeding Network (Yorkshire and Humber). Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative has also given their
support to the programme.

For more information about the Infant Feeding e-learning programme and for details of how to access the programme visit: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/infant-feeding/

The e-learning programme is available via the e-LfH Hub and the Electronic Staff Record.

HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Internships Scheme open for applications

The HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Internships Scheme across the North of England region is now open for applications for the 2018/19 cohort .

The scheme provides a range of both taught and academically supervised interventions that both engage and expose the intern to the clinical academic research environment and also provide them with the practical skills to undertake a research project supported by an expert clinical academic supervisor. The key components to the internship programme are:

a Clinical Academic Research Experience supported by supervision and research mentorship for 30 days.
an Educational Learning Package comprising of 4 days face to face learning and 4 days equivalent online distance learning.

By the end of the programme they hope that participants will have the confidence to apply their newly-learned skills within their employing Trusts, become research champions, and consider a future clinical academic career to include formally accredited education programmes, either within the HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Programme, or via other routes. Interns will also benefit from an enhanced ability to apply successfully for further formal research training.

It is a 3-stage application process as follows:

All applicants are required to submit an Expression of Interest before Friday 20 April 2018. These will be assessed against the eligibility criteria.
Applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will be invited to submit a full application. The closing date for applications is Friday 4 May 2018. Applications will be shortlisted with the highest scoring applicants being invited to interview.
Interviews will be held on Monday 18 June 2018 in Sheffield, Tuesday 19 June 2018 in Newcastle, and Thursday 21 June 2018 in Manchester. Where possible, we will allocate you to an interview venue closest to your place of work.

For further details or to submit your Expression of Interest, see the website at www.shu.ac.uk/icainternships and follow on Twitter @ICAINorth

New e-learning: Community-Centred Approaches to Health Improvement

Public Health England (PHE) has been working with Health Education England (HEE) to produce a new e-Learning for Health programme on community-centred approaches to health improvement.

These two new e-learning modules are suitable for practitioners, managers and commissioners who want:

an update on evidence and guidance on community-centred approaches to health improvement;
to take a more strategic and planned approach to scaling-up community-centred approaches.

Communities matter for health. A community where people are well connected, are inclusive and respectful of all and are involved in local decision-making, are healthy communities. Improving population health and reducing health inequalities requires us to address these community factors and work with and alongside community members to improve the things that matter for their health.

The e-learning modules are based on PHE’s guide to community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing and support PHE’s growing programme of work on community-centred and asset-based approaches.

Module 1 covers the evidence and theory on why and how communities matter for health and what approaches work.
Module 2 involves practical exercises to apply the knowledge to practice and to help develop strategic and practical plans for taking community-centred approaches forward within local places and organisations.

Access e-learning: Community-Centred Approaches to Health Improvement via e-LfH portal

Accessing this e-learning is through the e-LfH portal (you will need your NMC Pin to register). Please note the iHV does not host the e-LfH site. If you experience any problems accessing the site, contact e-LfH.

HEE – Breastmilk Provision for Preterm and Sick Neonates e-learning programme launched

Health Education England (HEE) has worked in partnership with the Thames Valley and Wessex Neonatal Operational Delivery Network, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, University Southampton Hospitals, Oxford University Hospitals and HEE e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) to develop a learning resource to improve education and training of all relevant staff in the support of breastmilk provision for preterm and sick infants.

The e-learning programme will also enable healthcare professionals to improve breastmilk provision rates at discharge from neonatal units.

The content is suitable for all professionals who work to support to improving breastmilk provision including:

Non-registered and registered nurses
Midwives and maternity healthcare support workers
Medical trainees
All medical staff

This resource can be used as a preparatory learning experience and can also be used for performance support by healthcare professionals. The content is split into four main sections:

After delivery – what the healthcare professional should know and help the mother to understand before she starts expressing breastmilk
Starting to express – how to support a mother practically and emotionally as she begins to express
Increasing milk supply – how to support mothers to maintain and increase their breastmilk supply
Resources – access to a set of useful job aids and reference tools.

The e-learning programme is available to access for free via the e-LfH Hub and the Electronic Staff Record.

For more information about the e-learning programme and details on how to access the programme visit: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/breastmilk-provision-for-preterm-and-sick-neonates/