Two million registered users are now accessing essential health and care training through Health Education England’s (HEE) eLearning for healthcare (elfh) online platform.
Users are able to access more than 450 elfh programmes on the platform, free of charge, 24 hours a day/seven days a week, allowing them to explore and study when it is most convenient for them.
Launched back in 2007, HEE’s elfh platform offered online training sessions, to support and enhance traditional learning and teaching methods, and which are cost and time effective for learners and educators.
The platform proved essential during the Covid-19 pandemic when some training was paused or cancelled because elfh learners were still able to access programmes remotely using their laptop, tablet or phone. For the first time, learners from the social care sector were granted free access to elfh courses to support their work and education and are continuing to use platform resources.
Overall, access during the pandemic rose from approximately 500,000 sessions a month to 200,000 sessions a day.
Midwife Gloria Alexander-Wight, a registered user of the HEE elfh platform, said: “HEE elfh has helped me immensely in my midwifery role.
“It’s improved my communication with my colleagues, patients, and the public.
“It has motivated me to keep my portfolio updated, enhanced my support to students in the clinical areas and managerial skills and strategies.”
HEE’s elfh hub is managed by the Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team and includes courses to support the health and care sector, ranging from audiology to anaesthesia, dentistry and dermatology, emergency medicine to end of life care, primary care to prescribing and safeguarding children.
The hub includes statutory and mandatory training with content developed in collaboration with organisations including Royal Colleges and other professional bodies, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities (previously Public Health England).
Director of Innovation, Digital and Transformation Patrick Mitchell added: “I am delighted that so many people have registered and are benefitting daily from the elfh programmes available. We update the materials on a regular basis, and they are all approved by health and care experts before being launched.
“Access to online training and resources has been a lifeline for many colleagues during the pandemic. It has kept their education on track through a difficult time when increased knowledge and learning have been essential for both individuals and the health and care the system.
“Digital training has changed the way that people learn providing more flexibility to fit it in around busy lives and a shift from long study sessions to smaller, targeted bursts. This is a major change and offers new opportunities for continual learning for our NHS and care staff.
“Use of the platforms is exceeding expectations in comparison to traditional methods of training and we are working closely with our users to gather feedback and develop new materials which are based on their needs.”
