News

Apollo Epic Programme Revolutionises Operational Procedures for 48,000 Staff Across Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London, 5 October 2023

Today’s Apollo Epic Programme Go-Live is set to transform operational procedures for 48,000 staff members across Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT and King’s College Hospital NHS FT. Historic IT systems and paper records will be replaced allowing everyone involved in a patient’s care to have access to all their records, whether in hospital, in a community clinic, or at home. With a project of such magnitude, a highly experienced training partner was imperative to provide the right skill sets at the at the right time for each stage of the Programme’s implementation and go-live. Ideal Health was appointed as training partner for the Programme, with a launch date of 5 October 2023.

Ideal Health: Expert Training Partner

Ideal Health addressed the initial challenges in the Apollo Programme by assembling and training a specialised team of trainers through the Ideal Academy™ (a platform devised to counter the prevalent shortage of qualified trainers) following a rigorous selection from over 200 applicants. This resulted in 80 proficient trainers well-versed in NHS processes and the unique Blueprint™ sandpit EPR system, ready to provide essential support for the programme’s varied training needs.

To support the onboarding, team management and Epic Credentialling process, Ideal Health provided on-site management support for the Apollo Programme Training Leadership Team. Once the team passed their Credentialling and Panelling assessments, they became Apollo Credentialled Trainers and were well prepared to support the ongoing activities across the training workstream.

Due to the large numbers of end-users that required training, eLearning was a vital part of the learning journey. Over the course of 12 weeks, over 800 role-specific modules were created and uploaded to the Learning Management System, providing a legacy of content for both current and future training needs.

Ideal Health was able to adapt to the shifting requirements of the large-scale initiative by efficiently flexing the team as required by the Programme, keeping costs down and culminating in 99 Credentialled Trainers delivering classroom-based training from August 2023 to go-live, across multiple sites in and around London.

“Ideal is very proud to have been able to support the committed and passionate Programme Team, to provide solutions to overcome unique challenges, and to ensure that staff across both Trusts will be confident and committed in using the Epic solution at go live and beyond.”

Chris Brimble, CEO, Ideal Health

About Ideal Health

A digital health consultancy offering strategic consultancy, project delivery and specialist resources. Having worked with over 200 healthcare organisations at local, regional and national level, Ideal Health helps to navigate the complex digital transformation journey. Contact: Natashia.daSilva@idealts.co.uk

About Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

From 5 main hospitals and in the community, GSTT provides a full range of lifelong, general and specialist care, as well as clinical research, innovation, education, and training.

About King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

One of London’s largest and busiest teaching hospitals, providing local hospital services for people living in the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, and Bromley.

End of Release

What Our Clients Say About Us

  • “For the implementation of our EPR+ programme, the Trust needed a partner who we were confident could help us successfully deliver the system. Ideal demonstrated an approach which married up to our requirements”

    Cara Williams CDIO and SRO for the EPR+ programme, Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust (COCH)

  • "A big shout out to the Ideal Health team for being super friendly, flexible, and approachable. The more we work together, the better it gets. Familiar faces become part of the Go-Live team, learning the geography and culture of the organisation. Including the Ideal Health management team behind the scenes, we always feel fully supported with a "can-do" attitude that helps us make improvements every Go-Live. For those returning for the March Go-Lives, I look forward to working with you again!"

    Rachel Lock Digital Project Manager, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • “The trainers supplied by Ideal did a very thorough job in preparing staff at the Royal Free, including adapting the programme to meet the needs and availability of the consultants. The trainers further enhanced the service by gathering information from the shop floor and feeding back to the training team. We were delighted with the service we received from Ideal”

    Sarah Kennard CRS Training Manager, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust

  • “We recognised the enormous impact a good floorwalking team has on the success of project implementation. With Ideal Training’s previous track record and experience in Cerner implementations, we felt confident in the service offered and would certainly consider working with them in the future”

    Carole Shuff Programme Manager West Somerset Family

  • “We were most impressed with the calibre of floor walking staff supplied by Ideal. They were highly professional in their approach and demonstrated a fully comprehensive understanding of the system”

    CRS Training Lead Barts and the London NHS Trust

  • “Ideal has an excellent reputation as a top-class training provider working exclusively in the health sector. With their experience and demonstrable track record in delivering IT training solutions to NHS organisations, Ideal was the clear choice for BT and Connecting for Health”

    Jenny Craggs Training Lead, NHS Connecting for Health

  • “Ideal were a valuable partner as we engaged operational teams to translate our high-level ambitions into a meaningful vision and digital objectives. Their impartiality and customer focus meant they were able to communicate clearly with colleagues, identify common problems, and sensitively move past stress and ‘pet peeves’ to get to the heart of the difficulties our teams were experiencing in accessing the right information day to day”

    Claire Waite Care Integration Manager for Capacity and Flow Programme, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICS

  • “Ideal made a big difference. By using Ideal as the foundation of our floorwalking support, and augmenting this with Trust staff, we were able to ensure a constant, capable presence with our end-users 24/7. This would not have been possible without Ideal and reduced the impact on the wider Trust saving us from having to pause additional activity.”

    Adam Wisdish ICS Senior Digital Programme Manager, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

  • “Ideal's Digital Maturity review has enabled us to refocus our Digital and Data Strategies post-Covid, appreciating which shared and individual activities could support our ambitions for digital healthcare in our area. We are now taking the recommendations forward via a series of workshops across ICS partners to reprioritise and plan our next phase of activities”

    Stuart Lea CDIO and Marc Talbot Programme Manager, Stoke and Staffordshire ICS

  • "Ideal Health contributed towards the success of our Apollo Programme. They provided a team of 100 trainers who collaborated with our programme leaders and trainers to develop training materials aligned to our training strategy. Together, they created 800 engaging e-learning modules and delivered face-to-face training to over 30,000 staff across multiple locations. This comprehensive approach ensured that our workforce was well-prepared for the Epic programme's go live."

    Emma Summers Head of Transformation – Workforce & Engagement | Readiness, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS FT

  • “Perot Systems has worked with Ideal on provision of floor walking services to support large scale Cerner implementations. The success of the implementations and the smooth execution of the go lives have rested significantly on the success of the services that Ideal Training provide. The staff themselves are extremely knowledgeable in both the product and the NHS operations they support with specialist SME’s provided as demanded”.

    Gary Birks Perot Systems Europe Ltd

  • “The E-Learning Development Manager from Ideal worked closely with my Training team to develop e-learning content for Maternity. The modules delivered were concise, thorough, and easy to absorb. The structure was clear, logical and effective, and included elements of interactivity and video. There has been a lot of praise by the SMEs and staff regarding the high quality of the work produced on a very complex specialty. I found working with Ideal to be a very positive experience. I would highly recommend for any related work”

    Michael Paul IT Training Manager, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS

  • “The trainers Ideal provided have been brilliant. They not only provided the highest quality training and feedback, but were always prepared to go the extra mile when needed. Thanks for helping develop a relationship that we can rely on and when we’re looking for capacity to roll out the rest of eRecord we’ll be on the phone. Look after the trainers we’ve had – they’re a great bunch”

    Simon Holloway eRecord Training Manager, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • “Ideal demonstrated great agility in supplying experienced support for the Trust’s EPR requirements and mapping exercises. They showed great flexibility in meeting the Trust’s needs, clearly articulating the approach and costs associated. This coupled with advice and experience enabled the ‘As Is’ and ‘To Be’ processes mapping to complete to time and quality”

    Peter Bradbury EPR Programme Manager, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

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