Care Academy Blog

Friday, December 03, 2010

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

Monday, June 21, 2010

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.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Launched in 2005 to help improve the standard of training for the social care workforce, the Common Induction Standards have proven to be a valuable resource. However, recent developments such as the Qualification Credit Framework (QCF) mean they are now due an update to ensure they are consistent with current guidelines and continue to provide underpinning knowledge in line with the proposed qualifications.

The first and perhaps most obvious change is the expansion from the current 6 standards to a much more comprehensive 8. Not surprisingly, some of the changes reflect topics which have been extensively reported in national press over the past twelve months, including both Dementia and Nutrition and Well-Being. Although the devil is always in the detail, we are currrently reviewing our Common Induction Standards programme to ensure Care Academy continues to offer a comprehensive and fully compliant package.

As part of the review process, Skills for Care is currently seeking feedback from employers, workers, service users and carers to ensure they remain fit for purpose. To access and participate in the consultation please visit Skills for Care.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Welcome to Allied Healthcare Group, our latest Care Academy client!

With over 100 branches throughout the UK and more than 11,000 care workers, Allied Healthcare has chosen Care Academy to help them deliver their regulatory and compliance training. Allied Healthcare are currently running a pilot programme through some of their key branches and plan to roll out Care Academy nationally during 2009.

The first programmes to be delivered via Allied Care Academy include Common Induction Standards, Learning Disability Qualification, Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) Induction and associated update programmes. 

Following a thorough review of the marketplace, Allied Healthcare chose Care Academy because of the extensive range of learning content combined with real-time, on-demand management information to effectively assess, track and train their workforce, whilst also providing detailed reports to industry regulators. Additionally, through the deployment of Policy-Safe within Care Academy, Allied Healthcare are easily able to create, distribute and monitor key company policy documents such as employment contracts, induction procedures, health and safety, QA and compliance policies.

Here at Care Academy, we are excited about the prospect of working with one of the sectors' leading organisation's to help them improve the delivery of their in-house training programmes. As a key client, Allied Healthcare will have privileged access to the latest technology currently being developed by Care Academy, enabling them to further streamline and improve their regulatory and compliance training programmes.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Edgeworks have today announced another Care-Academy client.  An independent Learning Disability Service based in Kent has taken a license for Adults Services Induction with a view to complete LDQ-IA certification early next year.