eAssessment helps improve National Health Service patient care

The National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS) is using eCom’s eAssessment platform for those on the NHS’s postgraduate Scientist Training Programme (STP). Part of Health Education England, the NSHCS runs this programme as the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)’s approved education provider.

The STP is a three-year programme of work-based learning, supported by a university-accredited master’s degree, which aims to produce graduates with the knowledge, skills, experience and attributes required of the NHS’s newly-qualified Clinical Scientists. 

At the end of the Programme, students sit ‘the Independent Assessment of Clinical Competence’ to verify their readiness to practise. Since those qualifying have a direct impact on patient care and outcomes, it’s important that the assessment is robust, reliable and trustworthy.

“The NSHCS wanted a solution that would enable candidates to upload evidence in the form of a portfolio document for marking,” explained Wendy Edie, eCom’s Managing Director. “This document then needed to be made available for use by assessors as the basis for a subsequent video interview.”

The NSHCS wanted a system that makes it easy for candidates to upload their portfolio document, regardless of their location. Other requirements included the ability to support a mixture of question and assessment types - to ensure that the assessments are fair and accurate - as well as having the ability to provide feedback to candidates. 

The NSHCS chose eCom’s online assessment system, eNetAssess, as the backbone of the solution because this online assessment platform enables candidates to upload their portfolio document – and update it until a deadline date. After this, the portfolio document is available to the assessor to review and mark. The system combines this with the outcome of a video interview and then calculates the candidate’s overall result, based on pre-defined criteria set by the NSHCS.

“eNetAssess supports the entire range of NSHCS-required examination formats across all the assessments that it runs, including multiple-choice questions and long-form essays as well as observational assessment or portfolio pieces,” pointed out Wendy Edie. “Furthermore, since eNetAssess is a cloud-based eAssessment platform, candidates can upload their evidence from wherever they’re based.”

Using eCom’s flexible online assessment platform, eNetAssess, has enabled NSHCS to streamline its assessment process. Indeed, due to eNetAssess’ versatility – being able to cope with multiple choice questions, long-essay exams, observational assessments and portfolio pieces - multiple project teams can use the system for other exams offered by the NSHCS, resulting in potentially significant savings.

“Being experienced in providing tailored learning solutions, eCom not only offered the NSHCS exactly what it wanted within a short timescale but also ensured that everything ran smoothly,” Wendy added. “So far, feedback from candidates has been positive – a testament, we believe, to eNetAssess’ strong performance and reliability.”

“We have a great deal of experience in supporting the NHS and ensuring we deliver a positive learning and assessment experience,” commented Allan Maclean, eCom’s Marketing Manager. “With our partnership approach, we always go the extra mile to make sure our eLearning and eAssessment are exactly what’s needed - and are delivered on time and within budget to provide all stakeholders with value for money.”