As a part of the Wales Deanery, the E-Learning Unit (ELU) provides a service to all trainees and trainers in Postgraduate Medical and Dental education across Wales. The Deanery ELU service has two main objectives, the first is the development of an e-learning platform for postgraduate medical education in Wales and the second to partner with trainees and trainers to develop and deliver education and training programmes which meet their needs.

To achieve this, the ELU has partnered with other organisations that deliver electronic services to the NHS with the purpose of creating a single platform called PLATO, containing the best electronic resources available to Medics in Wales today.

Regular audits of web based resources are the starting point of a rigorous quality assurance process that each resource goes through before inclusion into PLATO for blended and E-learning courses. This ensures that trainees get easy access to relevant, accurate, and worthwhile learning opportunities that encourage the development of the knowledge skills and attitudes that synthesize to form competence.

If there are training needs that go unfulfilled by the existing resources, the ELU can provide the expertise, guidance, and the time to develop bespoke electronic resources for hosting in PLATO that will meet those specific training needs. This activity is led by educational supervisors within medical specialties who identify the training needs for their specialty. They are supported in developing online courses by the ELU development team which has the experience and expertise necessary to produce and maintain successful educational programmes.