Health visitors receiving 'insufficient' training on care record

The research, carried out by Unite/CPHVA, is the latest in a series of surveys by the union on the use of IT by health visitors and school nurses over the last eight years.

Around 300 of the 530 respondents said they had access to local electronic patient records, with 92 per cent having received training on their local system itself. But 41 per cent reported that this training was “insufficient” and 61 per cent said it was not done soon enough before they started using the system.

The survey did, however, show that significant progress had been made on IT access. The latest findings show 95 per cent of respondents had access to the internet at work, compared with 44 per cent in 2001.

Unite professional officer Dave Munday said: “The improvement in terms of access has been huge, but there are still areas of concern.”

He highlighted that 54 per cent of respondents had reported no involvement in the design of their clinical IT systems. “There is obviously a case for better ‘implementation’ planning in this area,” he said.

The results of the survey are due to be presented this week at the Unite/CPHVA annual conference in Southport. 

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