The Priory Group has been selected as a National Training Award finalist for one of the training areas addressed in their multi-award winning corporate learning programme developed in partnership with Information Transfer.

The Clinical Risk Assessment (CRA) training meets a critical business need by providing a foundation in Priory's internal risk assessment procedures for its 2,300 staff at 24 healthcare sites.

"The primary objective of this material is to enhance clinical risk assessment for the safety of service users, staff and the general public," said Professor Kevin Gournay, CBE, Emeritus Professor at King's College, London. "As such it is a resource of which Priory can be justifiably proud."

In the demanding and potentially dangerous environment of mental health care, poorly managed risk can have serious implications: suicide, self-harm, aggression and danger for other patients, staff or visitors. There may also be a public danger if patients abscond, fail to take prescribed medication or misuse substances.

The training has already demonstrated measurable benefits. External, independent auditors have noted improvements in the recording and documenting of clinical risk as well as enhanced clinical risk observation procedures. An internal telephone survey of managers indicated improved confidence in CRA among staff and more consistency in CRA procedures across units.

The training is a blend of a risk awareness-raising module delivered and assessed using e-learning, and practical on-the-job activities to help staff localise learning objectives within their working environment.

The regional awards ceremony will be held on October 11 at Copthorne Effingham Park. Exceptional regional winners who are worthy of recognition at national level will then be invited to the UK Gala Ceremony in London in December 2007 where their outstanding achievement will be recognised.

Dr Anne Dobrée has joined Information Transfer to help meet strong growth in demand for the firm's work for the pharmaceutical sector.

Primarily working with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, Anne will be developing product training and communication materials.

Before joining Information Transfer, Anne worked on the development of a Hepatitis B vaccine at Evans Medical. After completing her PhD, she spent 8 years in technology transfer (the commercialisation of intellectual property) for Imperial College and the University of Cambridge.

Anne joined Cambridge Enterprise (the technology commercialisation arm of the University of Cambridge) in 2000 as a Technology Manager focusing on bioscience. She was responsible for establishing Cambridge Enterprise at Addenbrooke's (which provides a technology transfer service to NHS and University researchers at the Addenbrooke's campus), before becoming Head of the Technology Transfer Group. Most recently Anne was Interim Director of Cambridge Enterprise.

In addition, Anne is a member of the Programme Committee for Praxis, the Technology Transfer Training Programme. She has a BSc from Edinburgh in Medical Microbiology and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge.

Leading UK finance directors named KPMG the country's top 'Big Four' auditor for the third year in a row in April.

KPMG LLP (UK) was named 'Auditor of the Year' in the 'Big Four' category at the Real FD/CBI Finance Directors' Excellence Awards in London.

Information Transfer is pleased to have worked with KPMG since 2002, developing an extensive quarterly professional update for the firm's auditors which is delivered through Information Transfer's online e-learning management system.

A leading UK residential property agency demonstrated the flexibility and value of e-learning recently as it trained hundreds of staff from 70 UK offices on the rapidly-changing details of the new Home Information Packs.

Hamptons International had been working on a carefully designed Home Information Pack strategy and reviewed a number of training options for the roll-out of its important Home Information Pack training, ranging from conventional classroom methods to online learning.

"The introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) marks one of the most fundamental changes to the way property is bought and sold in the UK," said a spokesperson from Hamptons. It was essential that agents across the UK had the information and training they needed to ensure implementation was as successful as it could be and that Hamptons provided clients with an effective HIP solution.

Hamptons decided that working with Information Transfer on an e-learning solution would be the most flexible and practical solution, a decision that paid off when Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly announced a change in the HIPs requirements and the introduction of HIPs was delayed by two months.

Information Transfer was able to meet the tight deadlines of the project. The HIPs course was written and approved in a few weeks, and whilst the course was being created, Information Transfer's Knowledge Centre e-learning management system was configured, installed and populated with all Hamptons' staff details and made ready for launch.

"When the changes to the legislation came, we were able to quickly update the course and release the new version," said Joanna Burnett of Information Transfer. "This project really demonstrates one of the key advantages of e-learning: flexibility."

Hamptons' training department now has a fully operational online training system that all staff can use to take courses on the Property Misdescriptions Act and Money Laundering Regulations. And, of course, they will be ready to meet the requirements for any future HIPs revisions as they arrive.

Information Transfer has written a course on a key financial subject for Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the NHS' largest Trust.

The e-learning module covers Payment by Results (PbR), a central element of the health service financial system designed to bring about fundamental change to the way funds move between commissioners (such as GP practices) and providers (hospitals).

"PbR affects many areas of work in NHS hospitals and primary care trusts," said Nicholas Clayton, Senior Partner at Information Transfer, "so its principles need to be understood by staff at all levels."

The financial management team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) realised that the success of the new financial regime would require all staff who have responsibility for planning and budget management to be fully aware of its implications.

The course is written for non-financial staff in the Trust, including operational managers, budget holders, business managers, clinicians and non-executive directors. It will also be useful for finance staff who are new to NHS finance and want to gain a better understanding of Payment by Results.

To ensure that the content dealt with the questions and concerns of LTHT staff a series of telephone interviews was conducted with a range of people in administration and clinical areas. The points that emerged from these interviews were recorded by voice-over artists as short audio scripts for on-screen characters who appear at intervals on 'Stop and listen' pages.

An Information Transfer consultant gave some practical advice on how to drive adoption of e-learning at the eLearning Network Conference in London in July.

Owen Rose suggested tangible measures that can be taken to ensure that investment in e-learning not only gets results, but gains the support of all stakeholders in the company. He gave examples from recent Information Transfer projects, such as the award-winning induction programme for Priory Group, and from the highly successful e-learning programmes developed for the Irish supermarket chain, Superquinn.

"Adoption means more than usage," Owen said. "It means winning hearts and minds to make a difference to the organisation. This means staff must be involved in every aspect of the programme's development in order to build trust - the foundation stone of every successful implementation."

A key component in encouraging involvement is that the content and "look and feel" of the programme is company-specific, motivating and appropriate to the company culture, he said. This is crucial to creating a feeling amongst staff that they "own" the training and that it is relevant to their jobs. At both Priory and Superquinn, working groups were set up to encourage input, and a pilot was run in order to get staff feedback.

Owen said that communication is also vital for successful embedding of the e-learning. He gave details of the extensive awareness-raising campaigns that preceded and accompanied the implementation: presentations, briefings, corporate events, competitions, training courses on how to use the system, merchandising, and launch events that really made an impact.

The impact of these measures did not escape the judges of the recent e-learning industry awards.

"This is a deeply transformational project that drove key messages within Priory and achieved both high adoption rates and traction within the business," the judges said. "The partnership between Priory and Information Transfer was clearly established and based on mutual trust."

If you would like to speak to one of our consultants about how you can ensure successful adoption of e-learning within your company, please contact Cathy Curwood on 01223 312227 or e-mail .

Information Transfer is delighted to be working with the following new clients: PZ Cussons, Trinity-Chiesi Pharmaceuticals and Interserve Facilities Management

PZ Cussons, a leading FMCG company providing soap, toiletries and laundry brands to consumers across the globe, has asked Information Transfer to train, coach and support their internal training team as they develop e-learning modules on a new computer system that is being rolled out to all their operating units. Information Transfer is also supplying the e-learning management system that will deliver the e-learning to PZ Cussons employees worldwide.

Trinity-Chiesi, an alliance of Trinity and the Italian company Chiesi, is a dynamic young pharmaceutical company, specialising in respiratory, cardiology, and musculoskeletal medicine. Information Transfer is revitalising Trinity-Chiesi's existing training materials for their field sales team on a new product range.

Interserve is a services, maintenance and building group with over 20,000 staff. They manage and deliver services to some of the UK's most important and business critical commercial and government buildings. These include hospitals, schools, offices, shopping complexes, airports, industrial plant, bridges, waterworks and roads. Information Transfer is working with Interserve to develop e-learning materials to support the induction of new staff - a crucial area for this dynamic and rapidly growing organisation. In addition to the quality and effectiveness of its e-learning content, Interserve chose Information Transfer for its proven track record in helping clients to successfully implement e-learning in complex and challenging working environments.

Following a successful and ongoing working relationship with Organon UK, Organon Australia and Organon's Head Office in the Netherlands, Information Transfer will now be working with Organon Inc, the company's global division based in New Jersey.

Organon has commissioned Information Transfer to produce a training programme on anaesthesia products for the international sales operation. The training materials will include manuals and electronic assessments and will be translated into many languages.

Information Transfer has been working with Organon for over four years, producing e-learning and printed manuals on a range of drugs, including all their contraceptive products.

"E-learning is particularly suitable for explaining complex diseases and their treatment," said Dr Rachel Meller, one of the Information Transfer consultants working closely with Organon. "The use of some novel animation has helped the sales force get to grips with complex biological processes."

The e-learning is delivered on Information Transfer's Knowledge Centre e-learning management system, which allows Organon to deliver almost any form of e-learning module, additional resources (e.g. links to useful websites, documents, presentations and clinical papers), and even collections of modules, assessments and documents as packaged and tracked courses for personal development.

With a huge increase in "food scares" such as food poisoning and faulty supermarket goods, failure to comply with the regulations that govern safe food handling can have dire consequences both for the consumer and the industry.

Information Transfer will speak at the world's largest membership-based food and drink research centre in September to update its members on the latest developments in food safety training, a critical success factor for any food business.

"Food businesses have a lot to deal with: high staff turnover, tight budgets and heavy regulation," said Debbie Ganz of Information Transfer. "In addition, the wide range of food safety training providers and delivery techniques - and changes in food safety qualifications - can be bewildering too."

The Camden and Chorleywood Food Research Association's "Developments in food safety training" conference has been organised to guide its members through the maze of food safety training options and to help them make the right decision for their business when it comes to ensuring that staff are trained properly and cost-effectively.

CCFRA have asked Information Transfer to present a case-study-based paper on some of the successful training programmes that have helped companies ensure that they are taking every possible measure to minimise the risks, illustrating how e-learning can offer a very practical solution to some of the problems.

• Priory Group finalists for National Training Award
• A welcome to the newest member of our team
• KPMG: Auditor of the Year for third consecutive year
• Hamptons meets HIPs deadline with flexible e-learning
• NHS trust delivers financial management e-learning
• How to 'drive e-learning adoption' explained
• Welcome to our newest clients
• Information Transfer supports global training effort
• Information Transfer to speak on food hygiene training