University of Hull graduate helps deliver national e-training to NHS Nightingale team

A University of Hull alumnus has supported a team delivering training to NHS staff working in Nightingale hospitals across the UK.

Richard Price studied Marine Biology at the University, but saw his career take a very different path when he joined the NHS over a decade ago.

Working in a role focused on digital education and learning, Richard has in recent weeks been instrumental in a huge effort to provide training to both returning and current NHS staff helping tackle COVID-19 at Nightingale hospitals.

Mr Price, Learning Technologies Advisor to Health Education England, said: “My role is heavily focused on research and development, and looking at how technology can support the way we educate people in the NHS, health and care.

“The training for Nightingale has been led by simulation and e-learning courses delivered through our e-Learning for Healthcare platform. There have been video tutorials too, so it has been quite varied.

“The scale of the training has been enormous. Yesterday, 400 people went through training for the Nightingale Hospital at London’s Excel Arena.”

To date, the learning has been accessed by NHS staff more than 800,000 times, to prepare them for frontline work tackling COVID-19 across the UK.

Nightingale hospitals have been set up in cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, in a move intended to ease pressure on existing NHS facilities.

Earlier this month, NHS England also announced a Nightingale hospital would be launched in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, providing 500 extra patient beds in the town’s Convention Centre.

Mr Price said training delivered had been across a broad range of areas.

“Given these resources did not exist about a month ago, the number of people who have been through the training is incredible,” he said.”

“Take for example a cardiac arrest scenario – if you have a cardiac arrest, it is the same for the patient regardless of whether they have COVID-19 or not.

“But for the NHS staff treating the patient, if that person has COVID-19 symptoms, the way the procedure is handled is totally different, as they will be wearing specialist PPE. Training has to be provided to ensure they are able to perform the same task to the same standard.”

Mr Price, who graduated from the University of Hull in 2001 with a degree in Marine Biology, still lives in East Yorkshire today.

He remains part of the University through its e-mentoring scheme for final-year students, and shared fond memories of his time studying in Hull.

“I absolutely loved my time at University,” Mr Price said.

“It is not necessarily just the course you study – it is the life-long skills you pick up along the way. It was an invaluable experience for me, and now I am able to give something back through the e-mentoring scheme.

“I was also one of the 2017 City of Culture volunteers in Hull – I still proudly have my blue jacket today.”

Mr Price said technology had played a vital role in the Nightingale training process.

“Technology has meant we have been able to rapidly-deploy staff. When I first joined the profession, it would have been a very different process.

“It would have been much more paper-based, which in this situation would have brought an infection risk with it. You can wipe and clean an iPad for example, but for paper you are not able to.

“Video conferencing and e-learning has been essential during the Nightingale training process. It has enabled NHS staff to learn from their home, and stick to Government guidelines involving social distancing.”

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