Getting on with IT Housekeepers at Blackpool Victoria Hospital can now access their rotas, check their payslips and complete their appraisals online, thanks to a digital skills course delivered by UNISON learning rep Jane Eyre. JANE EYRE, WHO IS THE lead UNISON learning rep at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has helped housekeepers gain the digital skills they need to access their rotas and payslips online. After getting a good return on a digital skill survey she circulated to the housekeepers, Jane consulted the matrons at Blackpool Victoria Hospital about when to run the digital skills course. They suggested the best time to run the course would 8 U LEARN SUMMER 2020
be in the autumn, before the worst of the winter pressure. And they agreed to release participants early in the afternoon, which would be least disruptive. Jane, who delivered the course herself, kicked off by showing the housekeepers how to use the Trust’s email system on their phones and tablets – which involved some of them getting an email address from the Trust for the first time. She followed that up with an introduction to the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system,
“All the feedback was brilliant but there were two learners in particular who were so excited” Jane Eyre, UNISON learning rep at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
which enabled the learners to check their rotas, access their payslips or report a fault to the estates department using their phones or tablets. Jane also showed the housekeepers how to complete their appraisals on their phones, now that the appraisal system at the Trust has moved online. “All the feedback was brilliant but there were two learners in particular who were so excited that they could