What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme?

As we return to ‘business as usual’, the challenge is for PCNs to identify and prioritise areas of risk for actioning and balance this with improving care with standards set by the Network Contract DES. There are a number of medicines optimisation digital tools to facilitate this but this does require skills and knowledge to use them effectively.

Currently, training is delivered by the medicines management team but with new tools released and high turnover of staff, this is not sustainable.  Feedback from the Medicines Safety and Governance group has already shown that utilisation of the digital tools is patchy, experience is difficult to share across the area and there is no defined skillset. A free online resource could act as both a ‘one stop shop’ for colleagues to  refer to and act as a platform for feedback, share ideas and learning.

What does your project aim to achieve?

The aim would be to:

– Create an online suite of useful resources for PCNs to utilise digital tools more effectively in identifying quality improvement projects to support improvements in health and care for their locality and deliver the services and requirements of the Network Contract DES. This in turn supports better outcomes, reduce health inequities and digital skill development in the workforce.

– Create a digital passport for individual job roles to define the skill requirements.

– Create a medicines optimisation digital community network to facilitate collaboration between PCNs to share learning and ideas which could in turn help inform future training and improvement in tools

– Embed a positive digital culture by increasing the confidence and understanding how digital tools can help staff to do their roles more easily and effectively

– To have a medicines optimisation digital champion for each PCN who can also support mentoring and shadowing through the online portal

How will the project be delivered?

– BHR CEPN have already set up a digital training hub, a mentoring portal and a digital passport. The initial stage is to use feedback surveys to obtain a baseline level of each user: what tools are they using and their learning needs. Next stage is to collate and prioritise the resources for development and manage workshops. The digital passport will be developed for individual job roles.

– Consult with Medicines Safety and Governance group and integrated care boards to link the tools with local and national priorities such as population health management and monitor outcomes.

– As the online suite is established and populated, further feedback from users on the digital platform and monitoring of usage of the tools will support to refine the resources and training required.

– In the long term, the platform will house the QI projects identified using digital tools and evaluated to assess the learnings from them

How is your project going to share learning?

This will be a digital platform to share learning initially between PCNs in one ICS but has the potential to develop into a bigger community or can be repeated within other ICSs.

As the learning resource is developed through feedback from the community and the Medicines Safety and Governance Group, an audit trail can track the resources and types of communication e.g. videos, podcasts that are most valued and missing gaps.

The digital resource will be an organic repository shaped by the community and led by digital champions through mentoring and collaboration.

In the long term, as staff are digitally upskilled and QI projects are identified and undertaken, the platform will host these, allowing the learning to be shared and replicated if appropriate across the area.

Through the CEPN, the model and the learning can be shared with other training hubs and the Q community.