1st April 2022
Commissioning a bespoke course – A case study: West Sussex County Council Public Health Directorate
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to commission a bespoke course with Education for Health, then now is your chance to find out. We recently spoke to the Public Health Directorate at West Sussex Country Council to learn more about their experience of commissioning bespoke Smoking Cessation training courses with us.
Which course did you commission with Education for Health, and when did the course take place?
Smoking cessation one day training sessions – these have been delivered by Education for Health quarterly for two years now.
Why did you select Education for Health for this training?
Education for Health were the only provider able to deliver the desired content, furthermore you had a strong understanding of local authority and public health principals, which we felt would come across well in the training.
What was the experience of setting up a course with Education for Health like?
Good, we had a couple of meetings with Education for Health whereby our requests were noted and considered before a follow up which included feedback and amendments. After the original session there was also the opportunity for a further review and tweaks based on attendees’ feedback.
Your courses ran as closed cohorts – meaning the course was only available to learners from your workforce. What was it about closed cohorts that appealed? And, who participated in the courses?
Smoking cessation is a key part of our wider tobacco control programme, which locally is one of the key priority areas. There is lots of specific local knowledge that could be included with a closed cohort. Attendees came from Primary Care and community providers. Of the eight courses we have had delivered there has been at least 100 attendees complete the training.
What were your main objectives from the training?
For attendees to be able to deliver a good quality smoking cessation service to residents. This needed to include a detailed knowledge of pharmacotherapy, behaviour change, barriers to quitting and wider tobacco control elements (such as e-cigarette usage and smoke-free homes).
What feedback have you had from your course participants?
Remote delivery due to the pandemic has been widely well received, as it meant much less travel time and a more relaxed learning environment. Some participants were also able to attend from their places of work making engagement easier. Education for Health have also implemented feedback forms to assess delegate learning needs are met.
What are the upcoming focuses for your workforce?
Covid recommencement priorities mean that smoking cessation will still be a large focus of our work, this may specifically look into how to engage with particular groups where smoking prevalence is higher. Education for Health is currently commissioned to deliver another year’s worth of training for us.
Considering commissioning a bespoke course?
If you’re interested in commissioning a bespoke course or a closed cohort of one of our standard courses, then get in touch with our Partnerships team and they’ll be able to help: [email protected]