Published: 21/02/2002, Volume II2, No. 5792 Page 17
Lord Hunt, the minister in charge of NHS IT since the general election, has signed up for the European computer driving licence (ECDL).
This small piece of news was obviously meant to be a highlight of the minister's speech to the NHS Information Authority's second annual conference last year. Unfortunately, its impact was more than a little blunted by Lord Hunt failing to make the announcement himself.
'Parliamentary business' had called him to London, leaving NHS head of research and development Sir John Pattison to express Lord Hunt's personal commitment to IT literacy.
But It is the thought that counts. At least it suggests the NHS has some ministerial backing for its plans to make sure staff can acquire the IT skills they will increasingly need.
Successive governments have tried to get computers into the NHS. Extending the benefits of new technology to doctors was one of the aims of IT82 - the then Conservative government's 'information technology year'.
At the time, estimates of the number of GPs with computers (probably the original BBC computer from Acorn, or perhaps a Sinclair Spectrum) ranged from 30 to 1,000. Around 97 per cent of GPs are now equipped with computers and connected to the NHS's own intranet, NHSnet, according to NHSIA figures.
All trust clinical staff should have desktop access to basic services such as the internet and e-mail by this time next year, if government targets are hit, and other staff will follow.
Microsoft, which has just signed a£50m, three-year deal to supply the NHS with standard software, expects the deal to cover 500,000 computers by the end of that period. But hardware and software will be useless unless staff can use it. This has not been missed by the NHS Information Authority, which has a whole Ways of Working with Information programme to address such issues.
After looking at a number of existing qualifications and standards in IT skills, it announced at the end of last year that ECDL would be accepted as a 'referenced standard' in the NHS. This does not mean everybody in the NHS will have to take the full course. Staff with other qualifications may be exempt, and staff with good knowledge in some areas will be able to move through the modules quickly.
But ECDL will be the basic standard for IT skills in the NHS and it will be available free to anyone who wants it.
There was some debate last year about whether the NHS should offer the full ECDL or a shortened, or NHS-specific, version of it.
George Davies, NHS Information Authority ECDL project manager, says many of the NHS-specific elements that some people wanted are really part of an informatics programme. That is, they relate to specifics such as how to comply with the Caldicott rules on confidentiality.
'The NHS has not gone off on its own, for once, ' he says.
'It has taken something off the shelf that is well respected, both nationally and internationally.
'We have gone for the standard package because we want people to value it - even if they take it away with them.'
The NHS Information Authority and the British Computer Society are developing a five-year plan to roll out ECDL in the NHS - probably the biggest employer in Britain to adopt the scheme.
Many firms provide ECDL training materials and the NHS is still in negotiations over what to purchase centrally.
The BCS expects vouchers will be issued to NHS staff that can be exchanged for logbooks when they are ready to take the ECDL tests.
Both materials and logbooks will be free for individual candidates. About 100 test centres will be needed each year in the early years. About 60 exist at the moment.
Mr Davies expects some local health economies to set up their own, and others to contract with a local college or other provider.
Pete Bayley, deputy director of the ECDL business unit at BCS, says it has been working with the NHS for four years and is delighted to see the project nearing fruition.
'It is probably a bit overdue, but this shows the NHS is taking seriously the need to upskill its staff, ' he says. l Licence to drive: what is ECDL?
The European Computer Driving Licence was established in 1988 by the Finnish Computer Society.
The curriculum was developed and adopted by EU member states so that ECDL has, effectively, become the European industry standard for PC skills.
The British Computer Society has promoted ECDL in Britain since 1996. The government has also supported the scheme by offering discounts of up to 80 per cent through the short-lived Individual Learning Account.
Some 1.2 million people are participating in the scheme across Europe, with 100,000 people registering for ECDL annually in the UK.
ECDL consists of seven modules covering basic concepts of IT, using the computer and managing files, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations and information and communication.
To gain the qualification, candidates have to take tests on each module at an accredited test centre.
Candidates with no computer skills at all may take up to 100 hours to work through all the modules and complete the tests; more IT-literate candidates can run through them faster.
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