In the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, Oxfordshire Skills for Health runs the ORH-Stepping Stones programme.

ORH-Stepping Stones grew out of a skills development programme Oxfordshire County Council ran for Facilities staff (cleaners, catering staff and porters) on one Trust site. In March 2001, the Trust’s head of Facilities asked the county council to extend the programme to other Trust sites.

Funding from the South East England Development Agency made this possible and the programme was called ORH-Stepping Stones (see The History).

ORH-Stepping Stones offers a range of learning activities including

• communications
• maths
• IT skills
• English language training

It also offers consultancy around operational systems and procedures, facilitation, mentoring and management development.

ORH-Stepping Stones works with staff from a number of departments including Facilities, Admin and Clerical, Estates and overseas nurses.

It has been closely involved in the Trust’s introduction of the ward housekeeper role and in NHS Estates’ Learning Sites project.

ORH-Stepping Stones is currently delivering an enriched NVQ programme for ancillary staff (based on the new support services NVQ developed by Skills for Health).

Contact us to find out more.