DH gets the MOST out of Office

The Department of Health has received positive feedback from a programme designed to help NHS staff get the most out of Microsoft Office and to use common applications efficiently.

The DH launched a free Microsoft Office Skills Training (MOST) programme in April 2010. It says that since then it has received feedback from more than 400 users across 40 different NHS organisations, and that it shows that 97% are now performing tasks more efficiently.

The training covers the five core Office packages – Word, Excel PowerPoint, Outlook and Access. NHS staff can make use of the programme online – for example in a class or training room – or offline at their own pace.

David Levison, senior project manager with the DH informatics team responsible for the delivery of the programme, told E-Health Insider: “This is all about improving efficiency in the NHS, most people use Microsoft Office but only use a very small part of its capability.”

He added that more than 2,400 users have already completed the exams. “We don’t prescribe the type of learning that people should follow but they can learn in the classroom, utilise e-learning, use self paced printable methods and we also have centres that offer drop in workshops."

Levison accepted that some staff would still have to take time out of their jobs to complete the training, and that this could be difficult as numbers are cut. 

However, he argued: “The programme is about increasing productivity, so staff the return on investment will more than recoup the time to learn.”

The programme was developed by the DH and Prodigy Learning and may be extended to cover other Microsoft applications, such as Sharepoint.

The DH dropped the Enterprise wide Agreement with Microsoft earlier this year that provided NHS trusts will free access to Microsoft products including Office.

However, a spokesperson said it had no plans to launch a programme on how to use other systems, because all NHS trusts are still using Office.