.. Flexible, bespoke learning for staff within the Government & Health sector...

Tuesday 28th October 2008, ikonami, a provider of bespoke learning software systems for Government, Independent Healthcare and NHS organisations, has announced the inclusion of Skills for Health’s National Occupational Standards (NOS) and National Workforce Competences (NWCs) in their integrated suite of human capital management systems.

The inclusion of UK National Competences from ‘Skills for Health’ http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/ means that ikonami now offers flexible learning support – inclusive of both – the Competences (NOS and NWCs) and the NHS Knowledge & Skills Framework (KSF).

‘Skills for Health’ is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the UK health sector. Its purpose is to help develop solutions that deliver a skilled and flexible UK workforce in order to improve health and healthcare.  Today’s announcement provides organisations with greater choice when looking for a specialist training partner that provides competence based Human Capital Management (HCM) systems pre-loaded with KSF and/or NOS/NWC framework(s).

Brian Payne, Director of UK Strategy and Networks at Skills for Health comments: “Skills for Health is delighted to see the development of this initiative which highlights growing awareness of the health related Occupational Standards in the private sector. And we are particularly pleased to see their incorporation in a leading suite of learning and development tools by specialist training suppliers such as ikonami.  ikonami has demonstrated a clear understanding of this sector’s learning requirements and ability to help HR professionals, managers and staff to align their training solutions with organisational, departmental and personal development objectives.”

Kubair Shirazee, Co-founder and Director of ikonami comments:" It’s best to think of these frameworks as a language. Previous organisations were mono-lingual. Moving from one organisation, using one framework, to another organisation, using a different framework, could cause considerable upheaval. More often than not this involved staff moving between the public and private sectors.  As the government is committed to more cross sector working, our systems represent the ideal way of working – you can define competences in either format.”

The Skills for Health standards will complement the existing Knowledge and Skills Framework dimensions that are already included.  “Many organisations use only one competence based framework. Trying to manage multiple frameworks requires considerable resources. The entire healthcare sector can now enjoy seamless communication about occupational competences, regardless of roles and titles and public or private sector divides,” concludes Kubair.