P-67 How to encourage continued professional development and lifelong learning within your organisation?

Background The healthcare sector operates in a state of constant changing, challenge and complexity. St Helena recognise the importance of continued professional development and the value this brings in terms of developing skills and knowledge to ensure that staff remain up-to-date and practice safely and effectively (Broughton & Harris, 2019). St Helena has a robust programme of mandatory training and has long supported staff through higher level study. However, like many other hospices, St Helena does not have an unlimited training budget, therefore, as an organisation we are always looking for alternative affordable and credible educational opportunities. Aim To develop a directory that identified alternative educational opportunities relating to palliative and end of life care that are freely available. Method The most obvious approach was to search the internet to identify as many credible educational resources as possible. E-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH), end of life care for all (e-ELCA) programme is readily available via an Open Athens account. Well-known national charities such as Macmillan also provide a wide variety of resources. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have gained popularity and courses are available through platforms such as Future Learn and Open Learn (The Open University). Free courses are available via organisations such as British Oxygen Company and the Government funded courses available via organisations such as ‘The Skills Network’. Result St Helena compiled a directory of free educational resources largely related to palliative and end of life care and circulated this across the organisation to all staff and also shared this with other hospices. Conclusions It is vitally important that our staff have access to education and training opportunities that develop skills and knowledge. St Helena recognise the importance to develop a positive learning culture which can help staff feel valued, motivated and confident.