Developing a quality assurance framework for in‐service training and development
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| Pages | 132-138 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880110399086 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Author | Lorna Storr,Keith Hurst |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Developing a quality
assurance framework
for in-service training
and development
Lorna Storr and
Keith Hurst
A description of the chosen service
Harrogate Health Care Trust delivers acute
hospital, community and mental health care
services to the local population of almost
150,000 people. The Trust has approximately
500 beds and 2,300 staff. Accountability for
the provision of training lies with the Human
Resource Department led by a director. A
training forum, consisting of a network of
senior managers from throughout the Trust
who take an active interest in the overall
administration of training issues governs this
service. Katz and Green (1997 p. 47) suggest
shared leadership is an important part of the
quality framework that maintains control,
responsibility and accountability for the
training service. There is an annual training
budget of £30,000 available for the
commissioning of external training agencies.
Additionally, staff throughout the Trust also
make a teaching contribution towards
in-house programmes.
The first author's role is that of Training
and Development Manager (T&D). The
T&D manager's responsibilities are to:
establish processes for identifying, delivering,
monitoring and evaluating an annual training
programme across the Trust. The aim of the
training department's (TD) services are to
assist managers to develop staff so that they
are ``fit for purpose'' and provide high quality
health care. The training service has no
explicit quality model that sets standards and
measures performance. The author,
therefore, has chosen to apply Maxwell's
(1984) ``six dimensions of quality'' given its
prevalence in health care (Morgan and
Everett, 1990; Renwick, 1992; Department of
Health, 1998a).
An examination of current practice
Koch (1992), Ovretveit (1992, p. 1) and Egan
(1993, pp. 14, 122-123) suggest that quality
is a social construct based on culture and
expectations, which are made up of values
and beliefs, and that these directly influence
quality. Examining values and beliefs helps to
determine the quality of the HHCT training
service. However, ``culture'' is intangible and
difficult to pin down (National Advisory
Group for Continuing Education and
Lifelong Learning, 1998). Given that there is
no underlying quality model and the
intangibility of an organisational culture, a
The authors
Lorna Storr is the Training and Development Manager at
Harrogate Health Care Trust, Harrogate, UK.
Keith Hurst is an NHS Senior Lecturer at the Leeds
Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds,
Leeds, UK.
Keywords
National Health Service, Training, Quality,
United Kingdom
Abstract
This assignment describes the management and delivery
of training within Harrogate Health Care Trust. A critical
analysis is undertaken using a SWOT analysis that is
purposefully integrated with Maxwell's ``six dimensions of
quality'' to judge the service's appropriateness. The
authors make a comprehensive assessment of the Quality
Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) framework
using Maxwell's six dimensions in order to determine the
QAA framework's suitability for the NHS training
department. From this analysis the writers present a
quality improvement programme by applying the QAA's
principles. Particular attention is focused on governance,
experiences and achievement. A sequential action plan to
facilitate and realise these proposals is suggested.
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132
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 9 .Number 3 .2001 .pp. 132±138
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0968-4883
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