The requirement from the 1st of July 2022 applies to all staff who support people with learning disabilities & autistic people.

What training is required?

All staff in CQC registered health and social care settings who support people with a learning disability or autism will need to complete training appropriate to their role. This is a new legal requirement introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022 and it’s up to the care provider to ensure that training is delivered.

Currently, there is no official training programme but the government has developed and trialled the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training. Although it’s up to the care provider to source and deliver training, some online learning platforms do offer training courses that will satisfy the requirement.

The Code of Practice & CQC statutory guidance

According to the CQC, the government is required to consult on and publish a Code of Practice. Once this information is released, the official content, delivery, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the training will become clearer. However, CQC understands that it’s likely to be closely based on the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training. The government anticipates that the publication of the Code of Practice may take at least 12 months. Until then, the CQC will provide guidance.

In response to the requirement, the CQC said:

“CQC will provide statutory guidance while the Code of Practice is being developed. During our assessments and inspections of providers, we regularly look to see if staff are working with people appropriately, and if not, we consider what training and support has been provided to staff to ensure their understanding.

Following the introduction of this requirement, we will be looking to see whether providers have provided learning disability and autism training, and have assessed the competencies of their staff following the training. In line with current inspection procedures, CQC will not be looking at what the training itself has involved.”

Edit – 01 July 2022: The CQC have updated their statutory guidance for Regulation 18 to reflect this requirement:  https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations-enforcement/regulation-18-staffing

What is the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training?

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is based on the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting People with a Learning Disability and the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting Autistic People. It involves raising awareness and understanding of caring for people with learning disabilities and autism. It won’t include training about treatments or interventions.

Through raising awareness, the training will provide individuals in care with better health and wellbeing outcomes. It has been developed with the assistance of people with learning disabilities, autistic people, family carers and subject matter experts. The trials have shown very positive results.

Health Education England and Skills for Care are coordinating the development of training in both health and social care.

Why was the name Oliver McGowan chosen?

Oliver McGowan was a young man who passed away on 11th November 2016 due to complications with his care. Oliver developed meningitis as a baby which left him with mild hemiplegia, focal partial epilepsy, a mild learning disability and later on a diagnosis of high functioning autism. Despite the odds, Oliver’s family describe him as an extremely positive person who excelled at school.

After having partial focal seizures at school, Oliver was treated by doctors and given antidepressants although he did not show signs of depression. This reportedly had a significant impact on Oliver’s general mood and increased the number of seizures he had. Oliver was later readmitted to the hospital, then eventually transferred to a specialist adult hospital. He experienced a series of events during his care that took a devastating toll on his health resulting in Oliver suffering from brain damage and becoming paralyzed. The following week, a decision was made to switch off his life support.

Following Oliver’s death, his family campaigned for better care after identifying a lack of awareness for treating people with learning disabilities and autism. In 2018, Oliver’s mother, Paula McGowan, launched a parliamentary petition asking for doctors and nurses in England to receive mandatory training in Learning disability and Autism awareness. In 2019, the government responded by announcing care staff would receive standardised training. In May 2022, Paula McGowan received an OBE for her efforts in helping to improve the care of people with learning disabilities and autism.

Read more about Oliver’s story here.

Using CareDocs

The CareDocs digital care management system includes a Training section where managers can create and assign training modules for staff users. Each staff member can view their assigned modules and find information for the training session (e.g. date, time, location, provider, etc.).

When a staff member has attended their session and finished their module they can mark themselves as having completed the training. Managers can monitor the training progress to ensure everyone is keeping up to date. Monitoring can be done digitally, either by visiting the staff user’s profile or by generating an instant report for multiple staff users.

The CareDocs Care Plan tool also helps you create person-centred care plans for all areas of day-to-day care. Some of the sections that can support you with caring for individuals with learning disabilities and autism include the Mental Capacity Act, Mental Health and Safeguarding.

To find out more about how CareDocs can help digitally transform your business and support person-centred care for your residents, please contact 0330 056 3333 or email sales@caredocs.co.uk.

Want an example of what a CareDocs digital care plan for a person with a learning difficulty could look like?

Download our Mental Health Sample Care Plan