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https://nhscostrecovery.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/16/training-programme/

Launch of training programme for NHS staff

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This blog marks the start of a welcome return to the Cost Recovery Team’s updates on the programme.

This week, we launched the first in a series of e-learning modules with the award winning E-learning for Healthcare (e-LfH). The team at DH are working with e-LfH to design a programme of training to support NHS organisations in their implementation of the Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme following the changes to the Overseas Visitor Charging Regulations in April.

The e-learning modules have been tailored to specific roles including overseas visitor managers (OVMs), frontline administrative staff and clinicians. This recognises that although everyone has a role to play in understanding and administering the rules around charging overseas visitors, different levels of knowledge are required.

I was pleased to be able to attend some of the early concept meetings with Abigail Cunliffe-Hall (a fast-streamer based in the DH Cost Recovery Team who led the training project but has since moved on to her next fast-stream post). We discussed the training requirements of NHS staff with a range of interested parties including NHS trust OVMs, finance directors of NHS trusts, the Academy of Royal Colleges, Foundation School Directors and Local Education and Training Boards.

Throughout our discussions it was acknowledged how difficult it was to balance financial considerations with the overwhelming desire of staff to provide the best care they can for their patients. But increasingly, doctors, nurses and all the various healthcare professionals who contribute to the provision of healthcare also have a key role in managing and prioritising financial resources.

With respect to charging overseas visitors for their healthcare, clinicians are the best placed for decision making on the most clinically appropriate time to talk about charging with the patient and their family. On the flip side, clinicians also have a key role to ensure the protection of public health by ensuring that patients are not dissuaded from seeking treatment.

With this in mind we made a video specifically for clinicians on the rules around charging overseas visitors and the role clinicians have to play. The video stars Dr Saahil Mehta, a plastic surgery trainee at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS FT and I also say a few words. It’s just 4 minutes long and I would encourage everyone to include it as part of their induction programme for new staff.

Watch the video on the e-LfH website

Of course, for those working in a cost recovery role in an NHS trust, more detailed specialist training is required and OVMs themselves have made a strong call for standardised and effective training for their role.
Staff assigned to a cost recovery role must be a person of sufficient seniority and skill to be able to resolve complex and sensitive situations and to deal effectively with clinicians, senior trust managers, finance colleagues and members of the public. They must fully understand and be able to communicate and implement the charging regulations which stipulate which vulnerable groups and services are exempt from charge, playing a vital role in the protection of public health.

The e-learning modules developed for OVMs are the start of what I hope to be a much bigger piece of work that will lead towards the professionalisation of the overseas visitors manager role.

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  1. Comment by Dr Joanna Umo-etuk posted on

    We need to start by getting all medical staff to understand what is subject to a charge and what is not. All visa applicants should have information given to them regarding services which they cannot access as a visitor and penalties for breaches. Travel insurance should probably be a compulsory requirement for visa applications. Punitive uplift on hospital charges should not apply to cost incured for Emerrgency care as it is unplanned.