Online Patient Safety Training expanded in response to diabetes increase

Treatment of diabetes costs the NHS an estimated £10 billion a year in hospital beds alone, however it has recently been revealed that there is a worrying lack of staff training in basic diabetes care.

However, Virtual College have been working closely with the NHS England’s Patient Safety Domain to change this. Since they launched the National Patient Safety Suite in April this year, over 60 healthcare organisations have subscribed to the online training suite.

Director of Virtual College’s Health and Social Care Division, Judith Clarkson said: “The development of The National Patient Safety Suite has come at the perfect time. Health officials and the Institute of Diabetes for Older People, have recently expressed major concerns in basic diabetes care and underlined how important it is for organisations to provide patient safety training.”

Therefore, the Clinical Lead for the National Children and Young People’s Diabetes Network, Dr. Fiona Campbell, is urging all trusts with a Paediatric Diabetes Unit to subscribe to the NPSS.

  “It is essential that Training on The Safe Use of Insulin is given in all organisations and the National Curriculum for the Training of Healthcare Professionals Who Care for Children and Young People with Diabetes Mellitus Level 1 (Basic Awareness) is fundamental training for staff who work in this area,” stated Dr Campbell.

Currently, the NPSS is made up of six safety online training modules, which were developed in partnership with NHS England.

These are:
• The Safe Use of Intravenous Insulin Infusions
• The Safe Management of Hypoglycaemia
• The Safe Use of Non-Insulin Therapies for Diabetes
• The Safe Use of Pen Devices
• Paediatric Diabetes Level 1
• The Safe Use of Insulin.

Virtual College plan to release seven new patient safety courses before the end of the year. The new training courses will include the following subject areas:  Diabetes during end of life care; diabetes, dementia depression and severe mental illness; managing diabetes in pregnancy; the diabetic foot; omitted and delayed medicines and harm and medicines overdose.

The development of these courses is already underway and their completion will take the total number of online courses within the suite up to 13. This will make the suite the most comprehensive collection of online patient safety training available.

Virtual College also plans to produce a course on the benefits of physical activity and how it can improve health. With over a third of adults close to developing type 2 diabetes, this course aims to protect people from developing many diseases, diabetes included. It will give the public information on how to get themselves and their families involved in more outdoor activities and encourage them to do so by explaining its advantages.

Subscription to the suite provides all staff with 12 months of unlimited training access to all of the available courses. There are also more suitable options available for individuals and small, medium or large organisations.

For more information about the Patient Safety Training Suite click here.