NHS England recommends practices to take up the available training offer to support them to regularly review their clinical safety case reports (DCB0160). Clinical safety reviews are recommended at least annually or when there are new product features or enhancements to consider, or when the use case of the product changes.

Free online training

Digital Clinical Safety Essential and Intermediate levels are available as free online training for all staff members. The training can be accessed from e-learning for healthcare.

Digital clinical safety: practitioner level

Clinicians who wish to obtain Clinical Safety Officer (CSO) certification can complete additional face-to-face training, which is self-funded at an approximate cost of £475. Due to limited training places, a coordinated training event can be arranged if there is sufficient expression of interest; this may offer a cost saving of 25-50%. Clinicians who have completed the online modules and are interested in the practitioner-level training on behalf of their practice or PCN can contact nclicb.digitalfirst@nhs.net.

It is important to recognise that the practitioner-level face-to-face training alone is not sufficient for individuals to confidently and effectively carry out the CSO role in isolation. Clinical safety in digital systems requires ongoing application, collaboration, and exposure to real, system-wide hazards, rather than theoretical understanding alone. Trained CSOs must invest time and effort beyond the course itself to collaborate on shared hazard logs and contribute to system-wide learning.