THE NHS trust, which runs Okehampton Hospital, has beaten off competition from Sony Europe, Tesco Bank and Jurys Inn to win a national award for the success of its online learning management system (LMS) for staff.

The Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust and Kallidus, the LMS company it works with, struck gold at the E-Learning Awards in London.

It won the best learning management system implementation category at an awards ceremony attended by around 550 guests and experts from across the industry.

The trust has reported significant improvements in e-learning since switching to Kallidus in 2013. Trust staff use a system called STAR, a 'one-stop shop' where they can access, complete and track all their mandatory and optional training from any internet-enabled device.

This significantly reduces the need for face-to-face learning, where training venue costs, travel and time away from work can have an adverse effect. The judges said the project was 'a fine example of a straightforward but effective implementation of an LMS in a challenging environment'.

The awards are recognised as the leading, independently judged scheme recognising excellence in e-learning and learning technologies in the UK.

Darryn Allcorn, the trust's director of workforce and development, said: 'We were thrilled to win the award alongside Kallidus, especially bearing in mind the names we were up against.'