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Validating the skills of digital staff
During a visit to the doctors or the hospital, it’s the medical staff the patients see. But behind the doctors and nurses lies tech teams working hard to ensure that patient’s data is processed and protected - and they rarely get the recognition they deserve. Now a team of twenty NHS staff in Cornwall have had their skills assessed and recognised by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The Registration for IT Technicians (RITTech) is the UK-wide standard which sets the professional benchmark for a range of tech staff from those compiling databases, software testing, through to those providing project or programme support.
Nicki Rayment, head of Digital Services at the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said:
“Getting my team members independently assessed by a professional body such as BCS is a way of validating their considerable skill sets.”
Some staff don’t have formal qualifications and for others it had been a long time since they have taken exams. This type of evidence can provide current and future employers with concrete evidence about how good staff are at their jobs. Nicki Rayment added:
“I often find that people in technology roles in the NHS have come from an administrative background or have been in roles with graduate qualifications that date back many years.
“The new BCS standards for RITTech provide individuals with a recognised validation of their skillset, which is current and relevant for today’s digital industry.”
To become registered, it’s a relatively straight forward process. Tech staff must sign up to one of three relevant professional bodies:
- BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
- Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP)
- Institute of Highway Engineers
They apply to go on the RITTech register and in order to be accepted they need to submit verified evidence of their skills, which are assessed against industry standard criteria. If the work is up to those standards, then the tech member of staff is registered.
Nicki Rayment, head of Digital Services at the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said:
“As well as demonstrating how competent they are to their current employer, it can also help the careers of tech staff in future by providing concrete evidence of what they can do.”
Original article link: https://www.bcs.org/more/about-us/press-office/press-releases/validating-the-skills-of-digital-staff/
