Care Academy Blog

Here at Care Academy we are happy to report our online Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) is going from strength to strength and having recently achieved City and Guilds Approved Centre status we thought that some more information about why we chose City and Guilds would be helpful.

The LDQ-IA qualification which includes both the level 2 and level 3 Induction Award in supporting people with learning disabilities is based on the framework developed by Skills for Care and the Valuing People Support Team.

City and Guilds state:

"The intention for these qualifications is to benefit learners by developing their skills and facilitating career progression and to benefit employers by providing certificated evidence that the employers have fulfilled their responsibility to provide learning to their workers that meets Common Induction Standards."

The qualifications are also designed to contribute to learner’s knowledge and understanding of the related Level 2 and Level 3 NVQs in Health and Social Care along with the Skills for Care’s Common Induction Standards.

If you would like to know more about the benefits of the LDQ-IA qualification please visit our website or contact Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712.

A national action plan, promising an extra £3 million pounds a year has been launched to improve services for the terminally ill. This action plan follows a report in August by Audit Scotland which found inconsistencies in the way 'palliative care' is provided.

The plan, which includes 24-hour community nursing and home care services to enable dying patients to be cared for at home and a national plan focusing on education and training for health and social care staff are just part of the proposed action plan.

The Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon said:

"People with any advanced, progressive or incurable illness should receive the best palliative care available, regardless of their diagnosis or where they live."

"Our goal is excellent quality, integrated care - planned and delivered in ways which take full account of the needs and wishes of patients, families and carers."

Dr David Oxenham, The medical director for Marie Curie Cancer Care Hospice in Edinburgh, said:

"We particularly welcome the commitment to providing access for patients to 24-hour community nursing and home care services, which would allow them to be cared for at home if they wish."

Phil Hope has been appointed Minister of State for Care Services within the Department of Health by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Through this newly-created role Phil Hope will be responsible for older people, people with learning and physical disabilities and mental health problems.

Phil Hope will be replacing Ivan Lewis in the social care sector, but Minister Hopes role will be very different to Ivan Lewis's, as Hope will be a minister of state, increasing the sector's presence in Whitehall.

This is not the first time Hope has been involved in the social sector of government, as part of his social exclusion brief, he was responsible for key government targets on increasing the number of people with learning disabilities and mental health problems gaining accommodation and employment, education or training.

When talking about the social exclusion brief Hope said:

"I'm absolutely passionate about this agenda. It's what gets Labour politicians up in the morning."

Bringing generations together to share knowledge and experience was the basis of the festivities surrounding Older People’s Day on 1st October. This year, events held across the UK included tea dances, coffee mornings, exercise classes and film screenings.

Pensions Minister Mike O’Brien MP launched the day at the official opening of ‘Age, Snapped’, a photography exhibition challenging perceptions of old age. The event was launched at a reception attended by photographers of all ages, well wishers and representatives of stakeholder organisations including exhibition partners Age Concern and The Prince’s Trust.

Mike O'Brien said: "The 1st October is about celebrating the major contribution that 20 million people over 50 make to the UK. They have helped build a prosperous economy, a strong society and a better country.

Celebrations continue across the country and for more information please visit The Older People’s Event Page 2008.

Grandparents’ Day

This year Age Concern’s Grandparents Day was moved to coincide with Older People’s Day and took place on Sunday 5th October.

This day provided an excellent opportunity for families to say a big thank you to grandparents, who play an increasingly important role in modern family life.

The Department of Health has announced that The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), Skills for Care and the General Social Care Council (GSCC), are to be examined.

The review, which will be conducted over a three month period, could recommend structural changes and moves to reduce current overlaps between the three organisations, while also inspecting the combined £95m funding that the bodies currently receive to develop the adult care sector and workforce.

All three bodies welcome the review. GSCC chief executive Mike Wardle said: "effective workforce regulation" was needed to ensure adult care staff could deliver on personalisation, and this would become important as more groups were registered.

Jenny Owen vice-president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services also encouraged the review but warned the Department of Health against cutting its overall spend on the organisations.

Here at Care Academy we are constantly up-dating and improving our products and services to ensure Care Academy remains the best online learning management system (LMS) available to Care Organisations, Housing Associations and Local Authorities in the UK.

We are pleased to announce that we have made some important improvements to Skills365 our market leading Learning and Content Management System (LCMS). These enhancements are based on feedback from you our customers and include:

• Enhanced reporting speeds
• Additional reporting tools
• Flexible Induction training plans allowing service managers to choose training elements relevant to their location, organisation and job roles
• Further integration with Policy-Safe our policy management product.

These improvements make Care Academy even easier to use as many of them are based on client recommendations, we hope that you are as pleased with the improvements as we are!

Care Academy our on-line training programme offers a variety of courses Common Induction Standards (CIS) from Skills for Care, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (POVA) and Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) induction standards.

For more information on these courses or Skills365, please contact us via our online enquiry form.

Recent talks have revealed that Help the Aged and Age Concern look certain to form a new Charity by April 2009. Both charities’ boards have backed the merger after widespread approval from stakeholders.

Dianne Jeffrey, current chair of Anchor Trust, was appointed as chair of the merger organisation earlier this month and will be taking up her new post on 1st October.

Jo Connell and Catherine McLoughlin, chairs of Help the Aged and Age Concern England respectively, said that Jeffrey "has a proven commitment to issues affecting older people and senior leadership experience."

They added: "She will play a leading role in setting the future direction of the new organisation and, with the support of a nominations committee, will ultimately be responsible for appointing a founding chief executive. This is a far bigger job than joining an existing organisation."

The merger follows months of talks. Catherine McLoughlin, chair of Age Concern England, says: "Spending time and energy operating separately no longer makes sense.  Instead, we intend to pool our talents and resources to ensure older people’s needs receive the even greater focus they deserve."