The Francis Report investigated failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and made recommendations. It emphasized putting patients first and adopting shared values across the NHS. It saw education and training as key to ensuring healthcare priorities and recommended they embed core values. The report found training at the time failed to detect welfare issues. Implementing its recommendations in training could help meet its goals. Consistent training reinforcing values would help avoid oversight and maintain standards.

1. The Francis Report
The Importance Of Transparency In Training

2. The Importance Of Transparency In Training
The Francis Report
Telephone: 01535 604026 marketing@webanywhere.co.uk / www.webanywhere.co.uk
On 9th June 2010 a full enquiry into the role of the commissioning, supervisory and regulatory bodies of Mid
Staffordshire Foundation NHS Trust was announced. The Francis Report found that the most basic
elements of care were neglected in numerous situations, and Robert Francis QC made 18
recommendations in total for both the Government and the NHS Trust.
The core focus of the recommendations was about putting the patients first, suggesting that everyone
within the NHS should ‘adopt a shared culture in which the patient is the priority’. A common set of values
should be shared throughout the system, and education and training should be regarded with high impor-
tance. The report sees education and training as key contributors to the provision of healthcare, and that
trainees are ‘valuable eyes and ears’ in a hospital setting.
The Francis Report
The education and training system in use at the time of the Francis Report failed to detect any concerns
regarding patient welfare and safety. The common set of values that the Francis Report recommended the
NHS shared can be embedded within a new system of training and education, allowing trainees to learn
them, understand them and apply them from the beginning.
That then means education and training can be the first step to meeting the recommendations set by the
Francis Report - and the vehicle for maintaining values within your organisation. We’ve looked at four ways
to get the most out of your training and education of staff using e-learning, based on the recommendations
of the Francis Report.
What this means for you

3. Telephone: 01535 604026 marketing@webanywhere.co.uk / www.webanywhere.co.uk
The Importance Of Transparency In Training
The Francis Report
The Francis Report sees trainees as ‘valuable eyes and ears’ in a hospital setting. Therefore, it’s as
important to get the feedback of those on the ground as it is to lead them in the training they undertake.
Additionally, there should be support systems in place so that junior staff, and students, can speak up
when they have concerns about patient safety.
e-Learning systems allow a more flexible way of learning. ‘On the job’ training means trainees are con-
stantly exposed to the kind of environment the Francis Report focuses on: They can see the problems that
many staff may have become accustomed to.
The Report recommended ‘leadership at all levels, from ward level to the top of the Department of Health,
should be committed to and capable of involving all staff with those values and standards.’ It also
suggested that ‘healthcare professionals should be prepared to contribute to the development of, and
comply with, standard procedures in all areas in which they work.’ The staff themselves may be aware of
many problems that are faced ‘on the ground’ yet communication of these issues never reaches higher
level management. Staff may even have solutions to these problems that need to be fed back to
management, and this kind of information can form the backbone of future training. e-Learning systems
allow information and feedback to be uploaded which can be turned into training content, and can also
provide an outlet for employees to voice their concerns.
Staff generated content
360 appraisals - feedback from an employee’s colleagues to contribute to a report of their performance -
give a much more rounded and multi-angled view of how well a member of staff is performing.
The Francis Report, when talking about a culture that contained a common set of core values,
recommended a ‘system which recognises and applies the values of transparency, honesty and candour’.
360 appraisals are a way of ensuring that, not only are those core values at the heart of everything a team
does, but also that colleagues strive to make those values a part of their everyday working lives. Feedback
from those working alongside them will mean complete transparency and visibility of working practices to
upper level management who can affect change if needed. e-Learning systems allow your managers to
provide employees with a 360 online appraisal.
360 appraisals

4. A 360 is the most comprehensive way to get feedback on an employee’s performance, and gives an
insight from all touch points within a role. The superior’s appraisal forms the traditional part of the
appraisal, and is where overall performance can be rated.
Telephone: 01535 604026 marketing@webanywhere.co.uk / www.webanywhere.co.uk
The Importance Of Transparency In Training
The Francis Report
The Francis Report recommended ‘freely available, useful, reliable and full information on attainment of the
values and standards’ and ‘a tool or methodology such as a cultural barometer to measure the cultural
health of all parts of the system.’
Regular internal audits of your training will ensure consistency is maintained across the board in terms of
staff knowledge. It will also allow you to see how staff are performing in training and education,
and highlight any areas that need to be given attention with individual team members. Staff who are yet to
receive up to date training will be flagged, and those who do well will be more visible. e-Learning enables
you to create rich graphical reporting based on competencies.
Training audits
The core values should be at the heart of your training at all times. Consistent training techniques will
mean staff should remain on a par and e-learning standardised.
Training should be flexible so that members of staff can take it when it’s most convenient, and maybe even
flexible enough to mean they can access training from home - or at least away from work.
A robust system of consistent training will help to avoid the issue of lack of attention to key areas of
training as highlighted by the Francis Report. According to the report, ‘checks and assurances of the
education and training system failed to detect any concerns.’ Consistent training that constantly reinforces
the core values of putting the patient first will mean those values are maintained and not forgotten.
Consistency in training
EMPLOYEE Team members
Subordinate Superior
Peers
Service users

5. 23 of every 100 employees will leave due
to lack of training and education(1)
e-Learning is proven to increase
knowledge retention by up to 60%(2)
Telephone: 01535 604026 marketing@webanywhere.co.uk / www.webanywhere.co.uk
The Importance Of Transparency In Training
The Francis Report
e-Learning stats
The full list of recommendations in the Francis Report can be found here:
http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/sites/default/files/report/Executive%20summary.pdf
If you would like more information on how e-learning systems can help meet the recommendations set out
by the Francis Report, please call Webanywhere on 01535 604026.
Further information
In America, e-learning is used in 77%
of workplaces(3)
(1) Source: National Research Business Institute
(2) Source: Brandon Hall, 2001
(3) Source: Certifyme.net

6. stretch beyond
The future of course management
Webanywhere specialises in learning technologies that enable
the concepts described in this paper, and stretch the learning
potential of an organisation’s most important asset - its people.
To discuss social learning, multi tenancy or the effective
implementation of a learning management system in your
organisation, contact our workplace learning team on
01535 604026, or email workplace@webanywhere.co.uk.
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