Professional development

Our ongoing partnership with Legal and General Assurance Society (L&G) has delivered medical training for medical underwriters and claims assessors.

Enhancing medical knowledge

L&G Underwriters and Claims Assessors need to interpret and assess medical information, however most do not have medical backgrounds. Since 2002 we have delivered a programme which provides L&G staff with an established grounding in medical knowledge to facilitate and improve their risk assessing performance.

L&G identified medical topics which were generating most referrals and we undertook a Training Needs Analysis to highlight the key areas staff would benefit from training. Our academics spent time at L&G to gain a clear understanding of the specific working procedures and to establish the most effective learning approaches and methods.

The most recent provision, 'Specialist Medical Modules', is structured around 11 different modules covering specific topics, including Neurology, Haematology, Endocrinology, and Systemic Disorders. Its content and design is continually reviewed and developed throughout the programme in partnership with L&G. This combined approach allows modules to be developed that reflect the needs of staff, L&G and their customers.

Exceeding expectations

The improvements in L&G knowledge and confidence have far exceeded original expectations with direct results including:

• Improved customer service: A reduction in errors and improved quality in decisions; quicker decision making due to less external referrals.
• Staff benefits: Increased staff confidence; knowledge cascaded; improved teamwork between claims and underwriting departments and across-sites; a demand from staff to attend the training; ongoing and improved commitment by individuals to their development.
• Commercial benefit: Increased confidence from reinsurers, allowing more favourable terms to be negotiated; a huge decrease in Chief Medical Officer referrals per month, resulting in significant cost savings; L&G seen as industry leaders within their field.

The success of the programme has been recognised externally, winning a Regional Award at the Wales Training Awards in 2004 and a finalist in both the National Training Awards and Training Journal Awards, 2010. It has also featured in the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) report 'Employer Demand and It's Influence on Higher Education' and the CBI/Qineiq report 'Excellence in Service Innovation', both published in 2008.