I am writing further to your email of 15 July 2015, in which you confirmed that you would like some information about the training that PHSO caseworkers receive as part of their work.
Please find this information included below, which I hope is helpful. The information below details general training but will not include any detail about additional learning needs - these will be decided on an individual basis and form part of a member of staff’s personal development plan.
Training for new caseworkers
Initial training sessions (usually between 1 hour and 3 hours)
- Introduction to PHSO
- Health & Safety Induction
- What do we mean by maladministration and/or service failure?
- Introduction to Intake and Assessment (Customer Service)
- Overview of VisualFiles (PHSO’s casework management system)
- Introduction to 5-stage investigation process including introduction to risk
- Introduction to the NHS
- Introduction to Clinical Advice
- Requesting Clinical Advice
- Introduction to first case(s) with input around planning and approach
- Introduction to Information Governance
- Making Evidence-Based Decisions
- Communicating Decisions
- Legal Basis for PHSO – 3 2-hour modules: Jurisdiction, First Order Considerations, Investigating and Reporting
- PHSO’s quality framework
- Managing Risk
- Introduction to Customer Care and Review process
- Two e-learning modules – Data Protection Act and Display Screen Equipment.
Further training
- Caseload Management (1 day)
- Dealing with Difficult Contacts (1 day)
- Influencing and Persuading (1 day)
- Equality and Diversity Training (1 day)
- NHS briefings on a variety of topics (usually 1 hour)
- Occasional Parliamentary briefings from external bodies (e.g. last year the Office of the Public Guardian) ran a briefing for us.
In addition there are likely to be non-training based activities e.g. shadowing colleagues, 1:1 support from managers and support from a mentor within the team.
Training for caseworker staff more generally
In 2014 we introduced the concept of quarterly training days and these ran in October 2014 and January 2015.
Each year we also support caseworkers to attend the Ombudsman Association Conference and provide funding for four people to complete the Ombudsman Association Certificate in Ombudsman and Complaint Handling run by Queen Margaret University.
Caseworkers can also apply for funding from the Bursary Scheme to undertake more in-depth courses of study – further education and professional qualifications. In addition, they can apply through the Learning Agreement Form process to obtain funding for short courses that relate to their work.
For 2015/16 we anticipate training/development support will be available for caseworkers in relation to:
- The Service Model
- Customer Journey/Service Charter
- Roll-out of PHSO’s new casework management system.
FOI/DP Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
August 2015