Welcome to the home of the ETD standards

The ETD standards define best practice for the design, development, delivery, assessment and evaluation of training solutions across the NHS. They have been developed by the Training Quality Improvement Team in collaboration with the NHS ETD community. Their purpose is to support training services in improving the quality of training across the NHS.

What are the benefits of using the ETD standards?

By applying the standards, any NHS training service (large or small) can be assured that they are following best practice and that the quality of their training delivery and all related activities are of a high standard.

The standards have been designed to encourage continuous improvement and allow training services to assess their current activities and plan appropriate development where necessary.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals Case Study - A fresh perspective on training. (PDF, 915.1kB)

How to use the standards

Each of the eight standards is divided into five levels (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 Bronze, Level 4 Silver and Level 5 Gold), with each level comprising a number of individual requirements. A training service can compare their current processes and activities against each requirement to assess at what level they are operating.

For each requirement there are 3 possible responses:

• Yes = The training service is delivering as per the requirement
• No = The training service is not delivering part or all of the requirement
• N/A = Not applicable to the training service. (For each requirement that is N/A, describe the
  reason(s) why)

What's new for Version 3?

The ETD Standards have changed significantly in response to the demands placed on NHS training services to provide value for money and to meet increasing expectations from learners about what, when and how they learn. Furthermore the publication of the government white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS (Department of Health, 2010), has resulted in a greater emphasis on improving patient care and value for money.

Versions 3 of the standards have therefore been designed to support training services in improving the quality and flexibility of the training they provide to meet the requirements of a modern NHS.

There are some significant enhancements to V3, many of which are based on feedback from training colleagues across the NHS.

Here is a brief summary of the changes:

1. The standards now incorporate 5 levels. This brings them in line with other NHS maturity models.

The new levels are:

• Level 1 Responsive
• Level 2 Defined
• Level 3 Bronze Established
• Level 4 Silver Advanced
• Level 5 Gold Optimised

2. The number of requirements has been reduced to minimise duplication.

3. The training strategy standard has been re-written to focus more on the training service. 

A new training service strategy template has been developed and is available on the NHS Connecting for Health website.

4. Delivery methods have been incorporated into the materials standard to recognise the ever evolving blended learning approaches that many training services are now delivering.

5. Equipment has been added to the facilities standard to ensure that both hardware and software are now included.

Introducing the Standards Review Group (SRG)

The SRG consists of 13 members, who are all experienced training professionals from across the NHS. They are responsible for developing and reviewing the requirements, guidance and tools and templates for the ETD Standards.

ETD Standards Online Benchmarking Application (ESOBA)

This free web based application has been designed to fully support the ETD standards self assessment and benchmarking process. It is available exclusively to NHS training services.

ESOBA offers the following benefits to training services:

• Supporting information can be easily uploaded and linked to multiple requirements
• Development plans that identify steps to be taken to progress from one level to another can be produced quickly
• Establishment of an initial benchmark for a training service against which development can be measured
• Secure application (*requires an N3 connection)

Northumbria Healthcare Case Study - Self assessment & benchmarking in action. (PDF, 591.7kB)

For assistance, general enquiries or to request access to ESOBA, email the TQI team at: etdtqi@nhs.net.