Care Academy Blog

The Good Care Group

We are pleased to welcome our latest client; The Good Care Group, who have chosen Care Academy to help them deliver Common Induction Standards training to their carers. The Good Care Group is a young and exciting company and we are excited about working with them over the coming years.

The Good Care Group is the professional provider of high quality live-in care for elderly people that allows them to live safely and comfortably in their own home, maintaining dignity and independence. Our expertly trained professional carers provide a range of tailored care at home services, everything from companionship, personal care, domestic duties and social activities, through to specialist dementia care and care for those requiring post-operative rehabilitation or for those living with Parkinson’s.

Providing our service throughout England, we are not an agency and all our professional carers are exclusively employed by us – we know that this enables us to deliver the very highest standards of home care. To find out more, please visit their web site.

Impact of Autism Act on Health and Social Care Training

The introduction of the Autism Act 2009 is likely to herald a new era for adults with autism. The act places significant statutory guidance on local authorities to raise awareness and understanding of autism via dedicated training programmes.

A key outcome of the act, is the requirement it placed upon the government to produce an adult autism strategy by 1st April 2010. The strategy document was duly published on 3rd March 2010 and provides a clear message that local authorities and NHS bodies must improve:

1. Training for staff.
2. Identification and diagnosis of autism.
3. Planning of services for people with autism.
4. Local leadership.

What Does Strategy say about Autism Training?

The strategy makes some fairly explicit statement’s regarding the provision of autism training for all frontline staff. More specifically, the guidance categorically states that local authorities and the NHS:

1. Must provide autism awareness training for all frontline staff.
2. Must provide specialist autism training for key staff, such as GPs and community care assessors.
3. Cannot refuse a community care assessment for adults with autism based solely on IQ.
4. Must appoint an autism lead in their area.
5. Have to develop a clear pathway to diagnosis and assessment for adults with autism.
6. Need to commission services based on adequate population data.

Implementation

As is plainly obvious, the Autism Act is likely to have some very far reaching implications for the delivery of local health and social care provision. It is generally acknowledged that frontline staff working across both health and social care have limited understanding of autism and therefore the strategy specifically recommends:

'We recommend that autism awareness training should be included within general equality and diversity training programmes across all public services'. (2.8)

'We believe it is therefore essential that autism awareness training is available to everyone working in health or social care' ... (2.16)

'We will work with PCTs and local authorities to identify priority groups for training'. (2.20)

'We recommend that autism awareness should be an essential part of the training given to staff carrying out community care assessments'. (2.24)

It will come as no surprise to many to realise that no additional funding is being made available to deliver the Autism Strategy, with local councils, the NHS and care providers being required to fund training and development initiatives via re-deployment of existing resources.

Here at Care Academy we have witnessed a significant increase in the number of clients wishing to utilise Care Academy to help deliver their Autism training. Our dedicated course; ‘Supporting People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ meets the Skills for Care Knowledge set and is suitable for staff who have either a direct or indirect role in supporting people with autism.

In summary, the course outline is as follows:

1. Introduction to Autism.
2. Laws and policies associated with supporting someone with Autistic Spectrum Condition.
3. Supporting someone with an Autistic Spectrum Condition.
4. Supporting the person with Autistic Spectrum Condition through good practice.

To find out more about ‘Supporting People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder’ please click here to view the course outline or alternatively you can contact us via our online form.

Further background information on the act can be found at www.autism.org.uk/working-with/autism-strategy.aspx

Unpaid Carers to be given free access to training via Care Academy

Care Academy is launching an initiative aimed at partnering with Local Authorities to provide unpaid carers with the opportunity to access our high quality e-learning portfolio free of charge. The programme will be launched early in 2011 and will be co-ordinated at a local level, accessed via a dedicated website and co-branded with each local authority partner.

Figures released by Carer's UK, place the total number of unpaid carers currently numbering around 6 million, many of whom experience a wide range of health, social, financial and career barriers. This number is expected to increase significantly over the coming years.

Here at Care Academy, we have first hand experience of the size of this problem, frequently receiving calls direct from carers, often in some distress and looking to access our e-learning course's to help them develop their knowledge in specific areas such as autism and dementia so they can better support their dependents and loved ones.

Although we are keen to help, we recognise that we are not best placed to support individual carers and provide the wide range of advice and support they require. However, through our partnership with local authorities we hope to be able to provide one small piece of the jigsaw towards helping them develop their knowledge, understanding and possibly gain accredited qualifications to recognise the invaluable work they provide.

In order to kick-start the initiative, we aim to get local authorities on-board, providing them with access to a dedicated website along with up to 50 free user licences to be assigned to unpaid carer's within their region.

In the first instance, we will be limiting participation to 20 local authorities, some of whom will be our existing client's, to enable us to evaluate the overall operational effectiveness of the programme with a view to rolling out nationally later in 2011.

If you work within a local authority and would like to participate in this exciting initiaitive then please feel free to contact us directly on Tel:0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

UK's first online City & Guilds accredited Dementia Qualification

Care Academy is pleased to announce that we are currently developing the UK's first fully online City & Guilds accredited Dementia Qualification which will be available from January 2011.

The Level 2 Award in Awareness in Dementia Care is made up of 4 mandatory units:

1. Dementia awareness
2. The person centred approach to the care and support of individuals with dementia
3. Understand the factors that can influence communication and interaction with individuals who have dementia
4. Understand equality, diversity and inclusion in dementia care.

Notably, the Level 2 Award will count as 8 credits towards the new Health and Social Care Level 2 Diploma (the NVQ replacement) forming a key component of the new Dementia Pathway.

Currently 700,000 people in the UK have dementia and this figure is expected to double over the next few decades.

The qualification in awareness of dementia is aimed at occupational areas across all service user groups and ages, working in statutory (including NHS), private and voluntary agencies. This also includes healthcare/care assistants, support/key workers, family support workers and team leaders/first line supervisors.

Additionally, it's been confirmed that the Dementia Award will be eligible for TSI funding until 2011 at a rate of £80.00 per unit (That's £320.00 in total!) - so it's advisable to get your registrations in early!

To discuss how Care Academy can help your organisation please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form form.

New Common Induction Standards e-learning launched

Care Academy is pleased to announce the launch of their refreshed 2010 Common Induction Standards.

After many months of hardwork, Care Academy has finally completed the cross-mapping exercise mentioned in our earlier post and completely updated our learning content to meet the requirements for the expanded 8 standards. Interestingly, the outcomes have increased from around 70 to 161 - a 130% increase and now includes dementia, nutrition, equality and diversity to name just a few. This will undoubtedly put increased pressure on training resources especially as induction still has to be completed within 12 weeks!

To further assist Care Academy clients' with the transition away from the old standards we are also launching an online CIS pre-assessment tool. The CIS pre-assessment tool will enable new employees to be comprehensively assessed and the outcomes used to determine their individual leaning plan. This will streamline the whole induction process and ensure prior learning and achievement is duly recognised.

To discuss the refreshed 2010 Common Induction Standards or to find out how Care Academy can help your organisation please contact us directly on Tel: 0161 228 1712 or use our online form

Welcome to our new client's.

We are pleased to welcome a number of new client's who have chosen Care Academy to help deliver their regulatory and compliance training including:

The Salvation Army is one of the largest, most diverse providers of social services in the UK after the Government. Founded in East London in 1865, they are now working in 120 countries worldwide.

As a church and registered charity, they demonstrate our Christian principles through social welfare provision. Worldwide there are over 1.6million members, with programmes including homeless centres, drug rehabilitation centres, schools, hospitals and medical centres, as well as nearly 16,000 church and community centres. The work of The Salvation Army is funded through donations from its members, the general public and, where appropriate, local authority and government grants.

To find out more please visit their web site:
www2.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf

Deafblind UK was launched in 1928 by a small group of deafblind people and their carer's to offer mutual support and understanding in the face of conditions they found 'unjustifiably cruel and hard.' Since then, Deafblind UK has developed into a national charity chaired by a deafblind person.

To find out more please visit their web site:
www.deafblind.org.uk/

Linc-Cymru specialises in the affordable housing, social care and health sectors in Wales. We are a socially responsible business and all profits are reinvested for the benefit of our customers rather than being distributed to shareholders. Established in 1977, they are an Industrial and Provident Society registered with the Welsh Assembly Government.

To find out more please visit their web site:
www.linc-cymru.co.uk/

The Care Alliance for Workforce Development (CAWD) works to improve the services on offer to people who use services and carers.  It does this by working in a collaborative, flexible and responsive manner to improve the skills and knowledge of the social care workforce. CAWD engages with employers of all sizes from across the social care sector and encourages service users and carers to get involved.  CAWD also delivers on a range of activities on behalf of Skills for Care Yorkshire and the Humber, which cover a number of the Putting People First work-streams.

To find out more please visit their web site:
www.cawd.org.uk/

City & Guilds to end registration onto Learning Disability Award

Following the announcement that City & Guilds will end registration onto their Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award on 31st December 2010 (read details on City & Guilds web site) we have seen an upsurge in registrations over the past few weeks. We fully anticipate this trend to continue right up until the deadline, as clients seek to secure access to the current qualification before the window closes. Any candidates registered before the deadline, will of course then be able to complete their qualification in the normal manner.

Although not yet confirmed, it's looking likely that there will be no direct replacement 'Award' available on the QCF. It seems candidates will be required to undertake a Health and Social Care Diploma at either Level 2 or 3 and select a Learning Disability Specialist Pathway alongside the mandatory components. Perhaps not an ideal scenario for everyone.

Naturally we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops, but our current advice remains the same, register as many candidates as possible before the deadline if you wish to secure access to the current qualification.

Please feel free to contact us directly on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form form if you have any questions.

Care Academy wins tender to supply North Yorkshire County Council

Care Academy is pleased to announce that following an open tender process we have been selected to provide North Yorkshire County Council with a 'Managed Learning Environment and E-Learning System'.

The contract will run for a period of three years and will support up to 10,000 learners including council staff and private, independent and voluntary organisations within the region.

Care Academy was ranked against other leading social care e-learning providers against a wide range of criteria including:

• Evaluation of E-learning environment.
• Scope of E-learning packages available.
• Evaluation of e-learning content by subject matter experts.
• Reporting capabilities.
• Training, Support and maintenance.
• Management/Software upgrades.
• Standards, Security, Validation and Audit.
• Functionality / User Interface.
• Usability and Accessibility.
• Future Proofing/ Sustainability.
• Risk Awareness.
• Added Value.

E-learning programmes to be delivered include:

• Common Conditions.
• Common Induction Standards.
• Dementia.
• Skills for Care Induction.
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
• End of Life Care.
• Infection Control.
• Learning Disability Award.
• Medication.
• Mental Capacity Act.
• NVQ Health and Social Care Knowledge sets.
• Safe Food Hygiene.
• Safeguarding Adults.
• Skills for Life (including literacy, numeracy and ICT).
• Technical Certificates.
• Therapeutic Activities.

Naturally we are pleased to be working closely with North Yorkshire County Council and the award has generated a significant amount of interest from other authorities with whom we will be holding discussions over the coming weeks.

Request for further information should be directed to our head office: Telephone: 0161 228 1712.

Preparing for Practice: Scottish Induction Standards

Care Academy is pleased to announce the launch of a dedicated suite of e-learning courses designed to enable Scottish care providers meet their obligations when providing induction training to new care workers.

Based upon The Scottish Social Service Council (SSSC) 'Preparing for Practice' guidance, Care Academy's e-learning offers a comprehensive range of course's including:

Course 1
Preparing for Practice – Introduction

• Welcome to the Organisation.
• Values of Care.
• Support and Supervision.

Course 2
Introduction to Social Service Practice (Pt 1)

• Your Role as a Carer.
• Personal Care.
• Worker Relationships.
• Person Centred Planning.
• Risk Assessment.

Course 3
Introduction to Social Service Practice (Pt 2)

• Adult Support and Protection.

Course 4
Introduction to Social Service Practice (Pt 3)

• Communicating Effectively.
• Principles of Good Record Keeping.

Course 5
Preparing For Practice - Service Specific issues

• Death, Dying and Bereavement.
• Effects of the Service Setting.
• Intro to Dementia.
• Intro to Autism.
• Intro to Mental Health.
• Intro to Learning Disabilities.

Course 6
The Workplace 1 - Moving and Handling

• Introduction to Moving and Handling.
• Moving and Handling of Objects.
• Theory of People Moving.

Course 7
The Workplace 2 - First Aid

• Principles of First Aid.
• Vital Statistics - Basic Life Support.
• Practical First Aid.
• Consciousness.
• Administration.

Course 8
The Workplace 3 - Safety at Work

• Introduction to Health and Safety.
• Fire Safety.

Course 9
The Workplace 4 - Infection Prevention and Control

• Overview of how infections spread.
• Types of infection and how they are transmitted.
• Good hygiene.
• Hand washing procedures.
• Needle-stick – risks and precautions.
• Needle-stick – what to do should you have an accident.

Course 10
The Workplace 5 - Safe Handling of Medication

• Legislation.
• Policies and Procedures.
• Drug Classifications.
• Routes of Administration.
• Risk Assessments.
• The 5 Rights.
• Storage and Disposal.

Course 11
The Workplace 6 - Safe Food Hygiene

• Legislation.
• Policies and Procedures.
• The importance of Food Safety.
• Your Responsibilities.
• Food Poisoning.
• Food-Bourne Disease.
• Bacteria.
• Food Contaminants and Prevention of Illness.
• Temperature Control.
• Food Storage.
• Personal Hygiene.
• Reporting Illness.
• Cleaning Methods.
• Refuse and Waste Management.

To discuss how Care Academy can help transform your organisation please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form form.

Refreshed Common Induction Standards

Skills for Care has announced the refreshed Common Induction Standards (CIS) designed to better reflect current policy and practice.

The new CIS have been expanded to include 8 standards (up from 6) but are still expected to be completed within the first 12 weeks of employment.

The new standards are as follows:

Standard 1 Role of the health and social care worker

Standard 2 Personal development

Standard 3 Communicate effectively

Standard 4 Equality and Inclusion

Standard 5 Principles for implementing duty of care

Standard 6 Principles of safeguarding in health and social care

Standard 7 Person centred support

Standard 8 Health and safety in an adult social care setting

Full details about the new standards can be found on Skills for Care website.

Skills for Care has confirmed that their will be a 12 month transition period to enable care providers to integrate the new standards.

Care Academy is currently undertaking a cross-mapping exercise with a view to updating our CIS e-learning programmes once this is complete. We anticipate having the refreshed CIS standards available for use by our clients by the end of this year, keeping us well ahead of the 12 month deadline. We will provide an interim update as progress is made towards developing the new standards.

Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions or would like to discuss the new CIS standards in greater detail.