Established by online learning pioneer Virtual College, the Healthcare e-Academy has grown from the flourishing TIGER e-Academy, which, since 2003, has successfully provided data protection and information governance-related training courses to 55,000 eLearners nationwide across more than 100 different organisations.

The role of its successor has been enhanced and developed substantially. Judith Clarkson, divisional director of e-academies with Virtual College, explained: "The content of some courses offered by the new Healthcare e-Academy has been independently certified as conforming to universally accepted Continuous Professional Development (CPD) guidelines.

"In fact, all modules are currently accredited for CPD by CPD UK, and we are also in discussions with the Royal College of Nursing as to the suitability of the modules for RCN members."

Many provide access to over seventy interactive screens with multiple components - including video - and take no more than two to three hours to complete. On completion of a particular module and an associated online auto-marking assessment, participants will be able to print a certificate of successful completion.

Judith Clarkson said: "We first identified a niche in the healthcare sector for this type of training and have since undertaken extensive consultations with information governance and human resources officers, along with learning and development personnel at the NHS.

"We are confident that we are now more effectively meeting the needs of our members by pooling and pulling together all relevant courses under one umbrella, and at the same time opening up access to other organisations who may require flexible, cost-effective clinical and non-clinical training.

"As with all our e-academies, we have created an advisory panel of existing customers and relevant partner organisations, which will help to guide the development of our products and services."

All former TIGER e-Academy members - some thirty in total - automatically qualify for membership of the Healthcare e-Academy, with three levels of membership, including a number of value-added packages, currently also available to potential new members.