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Blue Stream Academy - Supporting the health and care sector throughout the pandemic and beyond
As the leading provider of eLearning to UK health and care professionals, Blue Stream Academy is committed to supporting a userbase of over a quarter of a million trainees – throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. In February 2020, Blue Stream Academy released one of the market’s first COVID-19 eLearning modules, specifically designed for health and care professionals who were adapting to changes in the workplace and patient care. Shortly after, on 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that the COVID-19 outbreak was in fact a worldwide pandemic. With the true magnitude of the pandemic becoming apparent, the Blue Stream team reacted quickly and this time the objective was clear – to develop a COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit, free-to-all health and care workers, covering relevant topics via an easy-to-use and accessible digital platform. The COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit covered everything from infection prevention and control measures to a range of organisational guidance, all available free-of-charge to any health and care professional in the UK. Following its launch, the Toolkit was updated regularly, reflecting daily COVID figures and changes in relevant recommendations, guidance and legislation. Since launching on 1st April 2020, the Blue Stream Academy COVID-19 Staff Support Toolkit has had over 33,000 trainee completions on the GP eLearning suite alone. The rise in cases and hospitalisations quickly escalated, and with that came the sector’s second unprecedented challenge – the shortfall in trained staff to care for the increasing number of COVID-19 inpatients. The General Medical Council contacted over 15,000 doctors, the Nursing and Midwifery Council wrote to over 50,000 nurses, and Social Work England contacted 8,200 social workers, all of whom had given up their registration over the last few years, and offered them temporary registration to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Since launching, Blue Stream Academy’s COVID-19 training resources have had over 55,000 completions. That’s an average of over 110 completions per day! Blue Stream’s support for health and care has continued with the launch of Vaccination Training in December 2020. This training was subsequently expanded to create the Blue Stream Vaccinator Passport, which covers the subjects and training required to become a COVID-19 vaccinator. The Vaccinator Passport is continually updated in line with vaccination recommendations and provides a central information resource for our trainees.
Amid the pandemic’s immense challenges and demands, Blue Stream has witnessed the resilience and courage demonstrated by its community of trainees and, for that, they would like to say a massive thank you to every health and care worker who continues to provide dedicated, compassionate and high-quality patient-centred care.
