Q: What is the significance of the ‘NCSCT Training Standard - Learning Outcomes for Training Stop Smoking Practitioners?’
A: The NCSCT Training Standard superseded the HDA standard as the official benchmark of quality training for stop smoking service personnel in April 2010. It is based on the key competences (knowledge and skills) required to deliver effective smoking cessation interventions that were identified by the NCSCT.
Q: What training does the NCSCT provide?
A: NCSCT training and assessment programmes are based on the competencies identified in the NCSCT Training Standard and will include the following elements:
Q: What are the benefits of undertaking NCSCT training and assessment programmes?
A. Ensuring that staff delivering smoking cessation interventions have passed the NCSCT assessments provides stop smoking services with a measure of quality assurance by:
Q: How do I access the NCSCT Stage 1 Training and Assessment Programme?
A: The NCSCT Stage 1 Training and Assessment Programme can be accessed here.
Q: Who is eligible to undertake the Stage 1 Training and Assessment Programme
A: We would encourage anybody who helps smokers to quit to register with the NCSCT, use the online training programme and take the Stage 1 Assessment. This includes both ‘specialist’ or 'core' stop smoking practitioners, frequently employed directly by stop smoking services, and ‘community’ stop smoking practitioners, including those based in GP surgeries, pharmacies and other settings.
This NCSCT certification will then give practitioners, their employers and, most importantly of all, clients evidence that they are competent in helping smokers to stop – it is a quality assurance measure.
Although this training is accessible to any interested parties, only those who work for the NHS or an NHS-commissioned stop smoking service will be eligible for NCSCT Stage 1 Certification on passing the Stage 1 Assessment.
Q: What does the NCSCT Stage 1 Training and Assessment Programme consist of and how long will it take me to complete?
A: All practitioners accessing the online Training and Assessment Programme will need to:
Q: What is the NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment pass mark?
A: The pass mark for the formal NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment is 70%.
Q: What happens if I fail the NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment?
A: If you fail the assessment, you can retake it after seven days, which allows for a period of study. There is no limit on how times you can attempt the assessment, but on each occasion you will need to wait one week.
Q: Why do we need to enter personal details into the registration form, such as age?
A: Some of the information asked for on registration is included because it is needed for our research projects/ evaluations. We have reviewed this in light of feedback we have received, for example asking for age rather than date of birth.
Q: How will the NCSCT know whether people who pass the Stage 1 Assessment work for an NHS or a NHS commissioned stop smoking service?
A: Stop smoking practitioners who have passed the NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment will be asked for the name and email address of their stop smoking service lead who will then be asked to verify that the practitioner works for an NHS or an NHS commissioned stop smoking service.
Q: Can commissioners and managers find out who have registered, passed or failed to take the on-line training and assessment?
A: Our ‘contract’ is with individual stop smoking practitioners, so we do not feedback specific information about individuals. We want people not be afraid of taking the assessment. However, managers should have a good sense of whether their practitioners are taking the assessment, because they will receive an email be asked to verify the NHS/NHS-commissioned status of any practitioner who passes the Stage 1 Assessment. In addition, we publish the names of any practitioner (NHS and Non NHS) who passes the Stage 1 Assessment in the ‘Certification’ pages of our website (www.ncsct.co.uk). These lists have a search function, which includes PCTs. There will be similar lists for practitioners passing the Stage 2 Assessment, once this becomes available.
Q. Will stop smoking service leads be able to enrol practitioners onto the online Training Programme?
A: Not directly. Stop smoking service leads can only encourage their workforce to register for the training and work towards achieving certification.
Q: If a practitioner fails the Stage 1 Assessment, will they be allowed to continue to practice?
A: Yes, but we would expect them to use the feedback the NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment provides to identify knowledge or skill deficits and work to address these before re-taking the assessment.
Q: Can I access a copy of the Training Programme that is not online?
A: We have had a small number of requests for this, and we are currently looking at whether we could provide a paper copy of the training course; it was designed as an online course however.
Q: Why can’t we find out the questions we got wrong and the answers to them?
A: We randomly rotate the multiple choice questions for the NCSCT Stage 1 Assessment; but there are still only a limited number of questions. We therefore can’t really release these questions and their answers as it would be hard to prevent this information being shared between practitioners – and this would reduce the validity of the assessment. All of the information needed to answer the questions is contained in the Stage 1 Training Programme.