Care Academy Blog

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

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

Thursday, December 09, 2010

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.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Home Access is a government initiative designed to help low income families purchase computer and internet access for use at home. The grants are designed to encourage families to access and undertake online learning and personal development programmes.

Care Academy currently provides online training and workforce development solutions to many leading charities and voluntary sector organisations, and it's clear that many of their staff may well benefit from these grants. This programme complements our previous news release about SCIE funding broadband and wifi for care providers via Get Connected which is just about to launch it's second round of funding.

Naturally, we welcome any initiatives that helps to build capacity within the health and social care sectors and enables as many organisations and individuals as possible to benefit from our training and qualifications.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Following the launch of our earlier Infection Prevention and Control e-learning offer we were inundated with requests to participate from organisations of all sizes. However, with only 25 corporate licences available, inevitably some customers were going to be disappointed! Those lucky enough to secure access included; Crossroads Care, Nursing Solutions, Bickham House, Linc-Cymru Housing Association, Alternative Futures Group, First Choice Homecare and Recruitment and Jewish Care.

For many, this was their first opportunity to experience the benefits of delivering training via e-learning and was particularly timely given the importance Care Quality Commission (CQC) are placing on IPC training!

To date, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many of the lucky organisations looking to extend their use of Care Academy to deliver both mandatory and specialist training.

Typical of the feedback we have received includes:

'All 26 staff have now completed on time (Infection Prevention and control).....some staff used the computer for the first time ever, grappling with the mouse, was a feat in itself. Once again thank you'.
(Bickham House)

Building upon the momentum developed by our first IPC promotion, we are again offering 25 corporate licences to new customers who will be able to train up to 50 users per licence. As before, these are offered on a 'first come first served basis'.

As an added bonus, we will also provide access to our innovative policy management solution Policy-Safe ensuring the successful applicants are able to demonstrate 'best-practice' to industry regulators.

To discuss the offer in more detail, please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or download our application form.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Following the government's commitment in 2009 to develop a comprehensive strategy for Autism, the Autism Act 2009 became the first ever disability specific law in England.

The Autism Act will guarantee the introduction of a national autism strategy which will set out how services should be improved covering health, social care, employment and training. Importantly, it will place a legal obligation on local authorities and NHS bodies to meet specific requirements and is expected to be published by April 2010 with the accompanying legal guidance due by December 2010.

A key tenet of the Autism strategy is likely to be the development of specialist autism teams aimed at improving diagnosis, training and developing capacity to support adults with autism. As part of this momentum, Skills for Care has launched additional knowledge sets to include; 'Supporting People with an autistic spectrum condition'. These knowledge sets will be used to establish learning disability focused vocational qualifications as part of the new Qualifications and Credit Framework.

In response to the introduction of the Autism Strategy, Care Academy is pleased to announce the launch of our latest course; 'Supporting people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders' which has been mapped to the required Skills for Care knowledge set. 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 our Autism e-learning course please call 0161 228 1712 or contact us via our on-line form.

Monday, October 05, 2009

The Department of Health has launched a capital investment fund named 'Get Connected' to enable registered providers of adult social care in England to access digital technology more effectively. The fund will be administered by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and is intended to allow those who use, visit or work in adult social care to benefit from the learning, knowledge and access that the internet can bring.

The launch of 'Get Connected' is particularly timely given that Care Quality Commission will require registered providers to provide their returns online from April 2010.

Details of how to apply for the grants will be posted via the SCIE website

If you are considering making a bid once funds have been announced, Care Academy will be pleased to provide support in creating and submitting a bid. To discuss further please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Following the successful launch of our Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) Care Academy is now available to established training providers as a ‘White’ label solution.

Training providers can now become part of one of the UK’s leading e-learning communities and gain access to our innovative range of learning technologies. We currently provide on-line learning and assessment materials to over 25,000 users including Common Induction Standards for adults and children's services, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SOVA), Safe Food Hygiene and we are the only provider of a City and Guilds accredited on-line LDQ-IA qualification. We are also currently working on a number of specialist courses which include 'End of Life', 'Understanding Dementia' and 'Nutrition and Well-Being'. 

By signing-up as a Care Academy partner, training organisations will be able to deliver a wide range of courses including our unique LDQ-IA. This scarce, yet highly sought after qualification is delivered entirely online, including learning content, assignments and assessor feedback, making it a very cost-effective option.

We are currently receiving enquiries from individuals and care organisations throughout the UK looking to identify providers of LDQ-IA and we will be happy to pass these onto our registered ‘White Label’ training partners. To-date we have received enquiries totalling in excess of 5,000 qualifications!

To help our training partners get the most out of Care Academy, we are also currently developing an NVQ ToolKit which combines our learning content, NVQ knowledge assessments and our Accredited Prior Learning (APL) tool to streamline candidate assessment and portfolio building tasks.

Care Academy is currently in discussions with many leading Health and Social Care training providers including; Colleges and Universities, Local Authorities, Care Partnerships and private training providers and aims to be the number one choice for technology enabled learning.

If you wish to become part of this exciting phase of development and really move your training provision forward, please contact us or download further details here.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Keeping up to date with regulatory and compliance training is never easy let alone cheap!

The cost of traditional classroom based training is often compounded by fairly high levels of staff turnover, resulting in significant recurring cost's such as trainers, classrooms, travel and resources.

Even before the economy slipped into recession, many organisations were looking for ways to ensure maximum value from their training budgets, whilst ensuring compliance with CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) audits.

After talking with some of our clients, we identified two common problems;

1. Difficulty in forecasting exact number of staff requiring training, especially across multiple sectors such as older people, children and learning disability services.
2. Investing in staff development only to see key personnel move on soon afterwards.

In order to address these key issues, Care Academy has taken the bold step of introducing two new pricing models.

Learning Pathway 1 - Induction

Under this innovative pricing model, customers can purchase access to all Care Academy Induction programmes under a single licence fee. Once agreed, clients are then free to 'mix and match' employees to the appropriate training programme. This concept provides customers with maximum flexibility and the opportunity to respond to the changing needs of the organisation without incurring further cost.

Current induction programmes available within Learning Pathways include:Common Induction Standards (CIS), Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC), Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) to name but a few.

Learn Now - Certify Later

From April 2009 we are offering Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award customers the opportunity to split both the learning content and certification. This means you can register staff on a dedicated LDQ-IA learning programme without registering (and paying) for the full certified qualification.

This provides a number of benefits including:

1. Clients can demonstrate to CSCI and other regulatory bodies a commitment to providing appropriate regulatory training.
2. Clients can choose to pay for the full certifcation at a later date when they are confident of the candidate suitability and commitment.

This is great news for learning disability services in particular, who can now take a significant step towards meeting their regulatory training requirements without incurring significant upfront expense.

To find out more about these offers please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via the online form

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Care Academy would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest client Sunshine Care, who have recently purchased Care Academy to help them deliver their regulatory training programmes.

Sunshine Care is a family-owned business providing both Domiciliary Care and Live-In Care to clients living in the South West of England. 

Sunshine Care Academy has been branded to reflect the corporate identity of Sunshine Care and has been personalised by the inclusion of bespoke policies and procedures. The programme allows carers to complete their training via an easy to follow on-line learning programme, which can be completed at their own pace and at a location of their choice.

For more information on how Care Academy can solve your training needs please visit our website or contact Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712.

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.