The Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) has been providing patient care to the people of Newcastle and the North East for more than 250 years. As part of the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the RVI is committed to providing the best possible healthcare for their patients through investment in high quality training for their staff.

Just one example of this commitment to high quality training is evidenced by Laboratory Medicine’s decision to complement their Q-Pulse installation with a subscription to Gael Academy. This will ensure the relevant individuals understand the complexities of the Quality Management System (QMS) and their role within it.

“Q-Pulse in its own right is a very user friendly system,” says Terry Coaker, Histopathology Operations Manager within Cellular Pathology, “although to use it to its full advantage does require some tutoring.” Terry continues: “Appropriately trained users are instrumental in the success of any QMS; however within a very busy department such as ours, it can be difficult to co-ordinate training to ensure staff are fully versed and confident in using new systems.”

With a multitude of courses available that tackle a wide range of topics from specific Q-Pulse tutorials to more generic compliance and quality related subjects, the Pathology department saw Gael Academy as the perfect, cost effective tool to deliver training during the roll out of Q-Pulse.

“In many organisations, it can be difficult to encourage a culture of learning amongst staff as day-to-day tasks take priority,” says Terry. “However, as staff can access courses within their own timetable and because each course lasts no longer than ten minutes, Academy encourages learning by offering the flexibility our staff need.”

Terry is certain that the success of RVI’s Q-Pulse installation is driven by their subscription to Academy and said: "Before Q-Pulse, we had more than 1500 controlled documents requiring review at intermittent periods; since our installation we have succeeded in reducing this number and the associated bureaucracy. I am convinced this can be attributed to our staff’s understanding of the system and all thanks to the Academy.”

The Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle has a strong commitment to high quality staff training and the Academy is playing its part. With new courses being added regularly as well as a twice-monthly series of web-based presentations delivered through Academy Live, users at Royal Victoria Infirmary can rely on a flexible learning resource available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.