The annual award which is supported by First DataBank Europe was set up to encourage, support and promote information technology initiatives and best practice in the use of IT in pharmacy. The judges were particularly impressed with the ability of the package to deliver training appropriate to the individual user regardless of their knowledge level and staff group.

Kerry had been running the trust's medicines management training for 18 months but needed a new way to do things. "The traditional face-to-face staff training across 10 sites required a considerable amount of travelling for both me and delegates. In addition, time constraints often meant that sessions were reduced to just 30 minutes with no time to assess delegates' knowledge. It was also difficult to deliver a programme that was relevant to people in different roles."

Kerry identified that e-learning was the way forward and worked with REDTRAY to develop the new system. "I provided the material and discussed ideas for how this could work with REDTRAY and they developed the e-learning package. I'm really pleased with the product, I think it's excellent.

"The best thing is that the e-learning can accommodate a wide range of participants from doctors and healthcare assistants through to nurses and porters," confirms Kerry. "It helps the user to identify those modules that are appropriate for them and they will only be assessed on these modules at the end of the programme."

Kerry worked with colleagues across the Trust to get the e-learning package in place, including trialling it and finally rolling it out across Northumbria Healthcare's 10 sites. To date, over 700 staff have taken part and their feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many impressed that it was relevant to their job, they could complete it at their own hospital base and at a convenient time.

Kerry adds: "I am delighted to receive this award which reflects the hard work we have done to get the project off the ground and I am equally delighted that it has been so well received by staff. The award recognition has also brought greater support and funding, so the next step is to update it with further content and new features based on user feedback.

"It's been a highly valuable project for the Trust. It has saved a considerable amount of travelling time but most importantly, it has delivered a higher quality of training with the ability to undertake assessments of user understanding. I can now spend more time providing practical support training to those groups that have a identified a need for more input."