Digitising Local Teaching Administration: Improving Teaching Delivery and Enabling Automated CPD Certification

Marcus Belasco | Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham | University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Background
Friday Report is intended to run weekly when feasible. Speaker booking, reminders, attendance tracking and CPD certification were manual; routine certification had lapsed because the workload was unsustainable.

Aim
Reduce manual coordination, improve teaching reliability, and restore automated CPD certification.

What was automated?
Friday slots: Dates published in Microsoft Bookings.
Presenter self-books: Confirmation and calendar invite.
Timed reminders: Automated at 14d, 7d, 3d and 1d.
Attendance form: Attendance captured in Microsoft Forms.
Certificate workflow: Form response triggers Power Automate and automatic CPD email.
Manual coordination → end-to-end digital administration.

Methods
Design: Process mapping + pre/post QI.
Comparison: Sep 2024–Aug 2025 vs Sep 2025–Jun 2026.
Session outcome: Announced and not cancelled.
Data sources: Emails, Sent Items, Forms.

Results
Scheduled sessions increased from 10 to 24, representing 2.4× scheduled volume.
Delivered sessions increased from 7 to 22, representing 3.1× delivered sessions.
Completion rate increased from 70.0% to 91.7%, an increase of 21.7 percentage points.
Cancellations decreased from 3 to 2, or from 30.0% to 8.3% of scheduled sessions.
Delivered sessions per month increased from 0.58 to 2.20, a 3.8× monthly delivery rate.
A total of 127 automated CPD emails were verified, equivalent to 5.8 per delivered session.

Scheduled sessions per month increased from 0.83 to 2.40. Delivered sessions per month increased from 0.58 to 2.20. Cancelled sessions per month decreased from 0.25 to 0.20.

CPD certification restored as a routine output
Manual certificate generation had effectively stopped before digitisation. After implementation, each completed attendance form triggered automatic certification; 127 certificate emails were verified in Sent Items.

Operational effect
Delivery increased without extra chasing. Absolute cancellations decreased. The system remained active through July 2026.

Take-home message
Digitisation increased programme delivery and restored sustainable routine CPD certification.

Feedback
Presenters (n=4): Ease of booking 5.0/5; communication 4.25/5; audience engagement 4.5/5; felt supported 100%; would recommend 10/10; professional value 9.5/10.

Attendees (n=5): Overall quality 8.8/10; relevance 8.8/10; objectives met 9.0/10; professional-development contribution 100%.

Sustainability & governance
Built using existing Trust Microsoft 365 tools. Still operational and in active use through 31 July 2026. Automated reminders reduce repeated organiser contact. Next: formal departmental ownership, SOP/handover and routine automation-failure checks.

Limitations
Single-centre project with small feedback samples. Administrative time saving was not directly timed. Certificate count reflects form completions, not all attendees.

Conclusion
Digitisation was associated with substantially higher programme delivery, fewer cancellations and restoration of routine automated CPD certification.

Reference
Ogrinc G, Davies L, Goodman D, et al. SQUIRE 2.0: revised publication guidelines from a detailed consensus process. BMJ Qual Saf. 2016;25:986–992.