About Us
The Primary Care Training Centre has been training members of the primary care team since 1996, when we started out as the Diabetes Training Centre. Since that time, when we employed just one person (who is still with us today!) and held workshops in a local hotel, the number of courses we offer has expanded dramatically, and we now hold most workshops at Crow Trees, our grade II listed building in Idle, Bradford.
Many of our courses are accredited by Teesside University, so purchasers of our courses can be assured that we follow standards set by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. In 2017 we were awarded the Quality Mark by the National Skills Academy for Health for our training courses.
Our Clinical Director Linda Goldie, who supports our collaboration with Teesside University, works part time as a clinician but also is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and is therefore able to facilitate the clinical education demands of students against the quality assurance standards of our accrediting university.
So what do we offer? Our range of courses covers a variety of topics to suit both health care professionals and allied staff, from our popular distance learning courses in long term disease management to study days and short courses. Whilst courses run throughout the year at our centre in Idle, Bradford, we can also deliver any of our workshop days in any area, subject only to minimum numbers. There is no charge for this. We can even tailor our courses to suit local guidelines.
We listen to our students and those who commission education with us. Many of our courses have been developed at their request. Many other training organisations have switched to e-Learning, and we have developed our own electronic packs. Our eDLP allows students to create a virtual scrapbook, in which they can store highlighted sections from the pack, make their own notes or even attach a virtual “post-it” note. There’s a dashboard with easy access to any part of the pack, and an interactive glossary which shows a definition for key words in the text, and much, much more. Students who complete the course will be able to pay a small annual subscription to receive continual access with rolling updates.
The overall learning experience is also the reason that we continue to offer workshop days here at the training centre and on our satellite courses. There’s nothing like face to face tuition from a knowledgeable, approachable tutor to enhance learning and to make sure that it is memorable. For example, there are several e-Learning courses about Phlebotomy, but none of these offers students the hands-on chance to actually take blood. At the PCTC we use simulation models, and every student on the course will get to draw a venous sample.
Our tutors all work in primary care, specialising in their chosen subject. We do not use cascade training, and all our tutors are selected by us and approved by Teesside University. They are first and foremost health care professionals, many of whom hold a teaching qualification, not university lecturers, and their knowledge and skills at grass roots level is reflected in the quality of the evaluations we receive from our students. Our emphasis is on multi-disciplinary training, because learning as a team supports working as a team.
Our Certificate of Higher Education in Primary Care is aimed at Health Care Assistants (HCAs). HCAs can pick from a suite of modules the ones that best suit both them and their practice, and build up enough credits to obtain this formal university qualification. A combination of workshop days, distance learning and on-the-job training under the supervision of a nurse mentor means that the HCA really can study while they work, and gain credit for it. Since we started offering the Cert. HE, lots of of our successful students have gone on to access nurse training and several have now actually qualified as nurses.
In September 2014, we ran our first Regional Health Care Assistant Conference, an educational taster day with presentations by the Royal College of Nursing, Teesside University and workshop sessions delivered by our tutors. This has now become an annual event, with the next conference to be held in September 2018.
We work with the CPD Certification Service, recognising that many students neither need full academic credits nor have the time for the rigours of an academic assessment. CPD Certified courses use exactly the same learning materials as our accredited courses, and are assessed by the CPD Certification Service as conforming to industry-wide CPD guidelines. Students must still attend the workshop days and complete a short exam, but there is no need for them to submit a written case study.
Linda Goldie - Clinical Director
Linda has been a nurse for more years than she likes to admit to! Whilst working as a Practice Nurse in the 1990s she became interested in the type of education being delivered to the Primary Care team. This interest led to the development of the Primary Care Training Centre. Sixteen years on, the Training Centre is a nationally known educational establishment and fills most of Linda’s time where she is Clinical Director. She does however keep her feet firmly grounded in primary care by working one day a week in a very busy GP practice as a diabetes specialist practice nurse. Linda is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Mark Sheldon - Finance Director
Mark is responsible for all PCTC finances and marketing. He is a qualified CIMA accountant.
Dr Manjit Purewal - Diabetes Tutor
Manjit qualified in 1993 from Dundee. Initially he followed a career in psychiatry before becoming a GP. He moved to Leeds in 1998 and has worked as a GP since then. He has been a tutor in diabetes for the Primary Care Training Centre since 2004. Manjit has been actively involved in the development of practice based commissioning groups which have been superceded by Clinical Commissioning Groups since the introduction of the Integrated Health and Social Care Act. He is Clinical Director for NHS Leeds North CCG and is the lead clinician for mental health including dementia.
Jan Procter-King - Tutor
Jan has trained thousands of nurses and primary care professionals across the British Isles in the field of cardiovascular prevention and management. She is also editor in chief for the well established and very successful British Journal of Primary Care Nursing for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney care.
Her inspirational teaching style has led to a great following in this field. Clinical accuracy and practicality is core and Jan retains her practice nursing role to ensure her feet are on the ground. The use of stories, characterisation and general laughter continue to make her a real educational favourite.
Jo Briscoe - HCA Tutor
Jo has been a Practice Nurse for longer than she cares to remember! She has been a partner in her practice for the last 8 years.
Jo is the lead tutor for the Immunisation for Healthcare Assistants course and also tutors on the Chaperone course at the training centre.
When she is not at the surgery or teaching, Jo enjoys cycling & knitting, (though not at the same time!) and bringing up her young son.
