NHS Track and Trace

The National Health Service is a Government-funded medical and health care service that offers “free at the point of use” health care to everyone living in the UK. The NHS deals with over 1 million patients every 36 hours. It is the world’s fifth-biggest employer and has over 1.1 million full-time employees in the UK.

In late January 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic reached the UK and soon after the NHS launched its Track and Trace service as part of the Government’s plans to manage the spread of the virus.

The NHS identified that high-volume recruitment was required to ensure that the service could meet the rapidly rising needs within Scotland. Recognising that their internal resources would not be sufficient to train such a large number of new employees, they needed to “parachute in” experienced trainers that could acclimate to the culture and values of the organisation and be competent in the use and explanation of both scripts and software.

The trainers also needed to be comfortable in training virtually and working with large groups whose knowledge and experience in IT varied drastically.

Elite Training & Consultancy were awarded the contract to design a training programme that covered the key criteria for the Track & Trace service and ensured that trainees were equipped to pass an assessment before working within the “live” environment. The training programme addressed:

• The use of scripts to ensure complex issues and detailed questions were being addressed in an accurate manner.
• The use of bespoke software for tracking all calls and accurately recording information for the purpose of further contact tracking and reporting.
• The interpersonal skills necessary when dealing with sensitive and challenging situations.
• The importance of trainees’ personal wellbeing and how to ensure they developed coping strategies.

The training programme imparted to the trainees the knowledge, expertise, and confidence to deliver this teaching and was so well received that Elite was soon asked to develop and deliver a “Train the Trainer” programme for both internal NHS and external trainers who had been brought on for the same purpose.

These training sessions were recorded for future use and we continued to work closely with the internal NHS training team, developing scripts and adapting session plans for trainers to use. The final step was to review all existing materials and provide feedback that ensured future training programmes would also start with a strong foundation.

The outcome was a highly successful recruitment programme with a high volume of staff brought on board and given the knowledge and expertise they needed to work effectively within an unprecedented and constantly evolving environment. On the back of the success of this original work, we have since delivered a second Train the Trainer programme for internal staff, ensuring that skills continue to be strengthened in the team.