NHS England

NHS England (formerly Health Education England)

Axia Digital has been supplying E-portfolio solutions for the NHS since 2017, when we were asked to build the Capital Nurse Career Framework.

 

Capital Nurse Career Framework

This E-portfolio is designed to support nurses across London.  It’s a self-assessment tool based on nursing research which allows trainee and registered nurses to measure and record their professional plan and to reflect on their skills. They can track their career progress online, choose to take feedback from peers and service users and explore their proficiency against nine domains, such as nursing practice, patient safety, and teamwork.

The tool helps nurses to review progress, build confidence, and further their career options. It can be used in career clinic sessions and is easy to upload for Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) revalidation.

 

Dentistry Foundation and Core Training Programme

After completing their university qualification, all new dentists must complete a foundation year in practice. In addition to this, those wishing to work in a hospital setting must also complete the Core Training Programme.

These programmes previously used two separate E-portfolio systems. In 2019 Health Education England decided to procure one E-portfolio for both programmes. Axia Digital won the tender for this work and the site that was created fully utilised the company’s core platform to manage different assessment pathways on one site.

The project required the development of comprehensive reports which needed to be easy to access and quick to download. Using warehouse reports, we were able to deliver an effective solution, creating a user-friendly E-portfolio which was easy to use and navigate.

 

Critical Skills Care Passport

During the second wave of Covid-19 in the UK, Axia Digital was approached to deliver a passport for critical care staff to enable better transfer of staff between departments, hospitals and trusts across the London. Our work with Capital Nurse Career Framework was recognised and the company was challenged to deliver a solution quickly.

A framework of capabilities had already been created for registered and non-registered Critical Care support staff. We were able to use that framework and combine it with passport work which had been undertaken previously to deliver the Critical Care Skills Passport within two weeks.

 

Trainee Pharmacist Foundation Year

Axia Digital won this tender in partnership with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).

Similarly to dentists, pharmacists spend their first year after qualification under supervision on a foundation year. Every Foundation Pharmacist in England has access to our portfolio through NHS E to capture their foundation year experience using a series of online tools within the E-portfolio.

On the RPS website, there are a series of webinars with information about how to use the E-portfolio. There are also resources on the NHS E website, including tips for new users and frequently asked questions.

 

Centre for Advancing Practice

Health Education England established the Centre for Advancing Practice to oversee the workforce transformation of advanced level practice by establishing and monitoring standards for education and training, accrediting advanced level programmes, supporting and recognising educational and training equivalence, and growing and embedding the advanced and consultant practice workforce.

We began working on this project in 2019 and have since had to adapt the E-portfolio solution as the Centre for Advancing Practice has grown over the years. We’ve included our developments in Digital Badges within the site as it has moved away from the initial vision of providing directory of Advance Practitioners.

Dr Julian Barratt, HEE Lead for the Centre for Advancing Practice said:

“Digital Badges provide recognition of the quality assurance of the educational and experiential preparation of advanced practitioners to ensure a consistent approach to the urgent need to recognise on a standardised basis the experience, knowledge, and skills of existing, experienced advanced practitioners in the workforce.”

In 2023 we will be delivering a powerful Programme Accreditation tool which will allow learning providers to have their course recognised as delivering advanced level clinicians. In turn, their learners will only need to identify their course and provide verifiable proof at attendance to be be recognised as an advanced practitioner and be able to claim their digital badge.

 

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW)

In 2022 Axia developed the Microsurgery Skills App and online tool for the UHCW Innovation Hub.

The Skills Passport which we delivered was designed to support the development of Micro Surgeons using video evidence and included E-portfolio components. The simplicity of the passport meant that it perfectly met the demands of staff during the “surge”, making it an enticing and effective solution. The site was then linked to a more traditional evidence based E-portfolio. Previously, training in this area had been done using an apprenticeship model. However, this method was badly effected by the Covid-19 pandemic as there was limited opportunity for training to take place.

The website we developed is divided into multiple modules and validates simulated training, facilitating microsurgery skill development.

Read more about our work with UHCW here.