Care Academy Blog

Developments for 2009!

Here at Care Academy we are always looking for ways to improve the range of products and services avaialable to clients and as 2008 draws to a close here is a sneak preview of some of the exciting developments in the pipeline for 2009:

• Skills for Life audit tool to assist organisations with the assessment of numeracy and literacy skills. The audit tool is being created with a specific focus on care sector questions and scenarios and will form the basis for our 'learning pathway' concept, taking learners from induction through to NVQ and beyond.
• A range of on-line and tutor led numeracy and literacy programmes to support the delivery of Skills for Life programmes.
• Integrated learning content and e-portfolio solution to streamline the delivery, tracking and attainment of NVQ qualifications. A key feature of the system will be access to on-demand reporting specifically created to meet the requirements for access to funding streams.
• Specialised courses to address key topics including:
  • Dementia
  • Risk Assessment
  • End of Life
  • Administration of Medication
  • Equality and Diversity
  • Managing Challanging Behaviour
  • Lone Working
  • Infection Prevention and Control
  • COSHH
• Housing365 - a dedicated solution created specifically to provide Health and Safety training to Housing Assocaitions.

If you would like to find out more about any of our plans for 2009 please get in touch.

Policy-Safe a key feature of Care Academy

As we continue to work with more and more clients, it's become obvious that one of the key features of Care Academy that is of great interest is Policy-Safe. Policy-Safe is our solution for the creation, delivery, tracking and reporting of key documents such as recruitment guidelines, employment contracts, induction procedures, health and safety policies, quality assurance and compliance procedures to name just a few.

Policy-Safe has been designed to address four key issues:

• Policy creation
• Administration and delivery
• Tracking and assessment
• Auditing and reporting

Policy-Safe is particularly useful where evidence of regulatory or legislative compliance is required for either HR or training functions. To find out more about Policy-Safe download our brochure or contact us directly to arrange a demonstration.

Even more improvements to our Learning and Content Management System!

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.

Care Academy is now an approved LDQ-IA Assessment Centre

We are delighted to announce that Care Academy is now an approved City and Guilds assessment centre, offering both level 2 and 3 Learning Disability Qualification Induction Award (LDQ-IA) to all the candidates.

The LDQ Induction Award is the replacement of the Learning Disability Awards Framework (LDAF) and consists of four modules:

Module One: Principles of learning disability

Module Two: Your role as a learning disability worker

Module Three: Health and Safety in a learning disability Service

Module Four: Protecting people who have learning disabilities from abuse

Here at Care Academy we are thrilled to be an approved assessment centre and have chosen to run our programme with City and Guilds due to their wide range of courses, designed by people within industry to help students learn skills relevant to their employment ambitions.

The LDQ has been developed in conjunction with key bodies within care including the Valuing People Support Team (VPST), The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC), Skills for Health and the 'In Control’ Project'. Their involvement ensures the qualification is relevant, up to date and valued by employers.

Confirming the importance of the LDQ qualification, Skills for Care state:

"Completion of the Induction Award will enable learners to demonstrate that they have met the requirements of the Common Induction Standards in a learning disability context"

Here at the Care Academy we will be registering candidates for both level 2 and 3 of the LDQ. For more information please contact Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712 or visit our website.

LDQ Assessors and Internal Verifiers required to meet growth requirements of Care Academy

Due to growth of Care Academy, we are currently looking for Assessors and Internal Verifiers for the Learning Disability Qualification – Induction Award. This requirement is for both Level 2 and 3 and is on a call-off contract basis.

We are looking for individuals who have Learning Disability Service experience and either experience in the provision of LDQ-IA or H&SC NVQ Levels 2 and 3.

To apply for this job, please click here.

LDQ-IA and the QCA 10 week rule

Over the past few weeks we have been asked about the Learning Disability Qualification (LDQ) and the relevance of the QCA "10 week rule".

The QCA (Qualification and Curriculum Authority) put in place a 10 week rule for NVQ’s. This rule prohibits training providers from Certifying an Candidate within 10 weeks of their registration and was put in place to to prevent training providers withholding Registration fees until the NVQ was complete.

Many have assumed the rule will also apply to the LDQ.  In fact, there is very little guidance online to suggest otherwise.

However, City and Guilds Quality Manager has confirmed the 10 week rule does not apply to the LDQ.  This is particularly good news for Care Agencies, who need to have their staff inducted, and in the case of the LDQ, qualified in as short a time as possible.  Many of our Care Agency clients target their candidates to complete Induction within 6 weeks (the average time taken to receive a CRB check).

So, finally, confirmation that the 10 week rule does not apply to the LDQ.

Are You Having Problems Delivering LDQ?

Since announcing the launch of our online LDQ-IA we have been inundated with requests for further information.

We have spoken to organisations the length and breadth of the country and it seems many of you are experiencing the same type of problems.

In fact, we were so surprised at the initial response, we thought it might be useful to compile a list of the most common issues and explain how our online LDQ-IA might help address them. So in order of frequency, the most common problems are:

Problem 1: Availability
Their appears to be a general lack of qualified, local training providers prepared to offer LDQ-IA course with some regions suffering an acute shortage of options.

Solution: Care Academy is available nationwide. Care Organisations only need to deal with one supplier to provide training to all their service centres.

Problem No 2: Lack of flexibility
Many training providers need to enrol minimum numbers of students before they can hold a training day. Ultimately this causes delays, logistical headaches and the usual cost associated with facilitating and covering staff training days.

Solution: Care Academy is available online 24/7 which means staff can start and complete their LDQ-IA immediately with no minimum numbers required.

Problem No 3: Lack of consistent pricing
Fluctuations in price are evident on both a region to region and supplier to supplier basis.

Solution: Care Academy offers a single, nationwide cost-effective price of £275.00 +VAT per person.

Problem 4: Lack of consistency
Many organisations expressed concerns regarding the quality and consistency of current LDQ-IA provision with significant differences apparent when using multiple training providers.

Solution: Care Academy delivers a consistent, high-quality learning experience with detailed tracking and reporting facilities which has been acknowledged by CSCI as being extremely thorough and very effective.

If you would like to find out more about how Care Academy can help you meet your training and compliance requirements, visit the website or contact us on 0161 228 1712.

Launch of our Online Learning Disability Qualification-Induction Award (LDQ-IA)

We are pleased to announce the launch of our online Learning Disability Qualification-Induction Award (LDQ-IA).

This programme has been launched in conjunction with guidance from Skills for Care and City & Guilds and is the new developed learning programme, from what had previously been identified as the Learning Disability Award Framework (LDAF).

This training programme is up to date with current guidelines for all new starters in Learning Disability Service; who are expected to undertake this qualification, regardless of NVQ achievement.

This training programme offers great benefits and here at Care Academy we feel that our online approach offers learners something individual in its educational flexibility and geographical coverage. For more information feel free to call Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712 or take a look at our website to discover these benefits for yourself or request a demo.

CWDC: Delivering the Big Deal

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) recently announced the completion of stage 3 of its Sector Skills Agreement, bringing together research from stages one and two to analyse the gap between demand for skills and the supply of training.

The full report – Delivering the Big Deal – sets out the skills challenges and priorities for the children’s workforce identified during the SSA process and outlines how these will be addressed. Not surprisingly, the priority areas for skills covered in the report include recruitment and retention, workforce skills, qualifications and training, funding for training and development and workforce intelligence.

Support for Alzheimer’s care training

Training has hit the headlines again this week with a new poll from The Alzheimer’s Society showing overwhelming support for trained staff in care homes. The poll undertaken to mark the release of the charity’s new guide to choosing a care home - Putting Care Right - shows that ninety seven per cent of people agree well-trained staff are important when it comes to deciding on a good quality care home.

However, despite the weight placed on training, care staff receive no compulsory training in dementia - a condition affecting two thirds of all care home residents. Neil Hunt, chief executive of Alzheimer's Society says: “Our Putting Care Right campaign is about ensuring people with dementia get access to quality care. This means compulsory dementia training for all staff and tougher inspection and regulation systems. It also means challenging our views and raising expectations of care for people with dementia in care homes.”

At Care-Academy we have a comprehensive range of learning resources including an Introduction to Dementia programme for Care Workers. For more information and advice on our specialist training solutions call me, Paul Allman, on 0161 228 1712.   

Lone Working Guide for Employers

The Workplace Law Network has published new guidance for employers on lone working – an issue right at the heart of the care sector. Covering the legislation, health & safety and risk assessments, the guide - Lone Working 2008 - is written by health & safety lawyer, Dale Collins, from Bond Pearce, Louise Smail, a risk consultant and has contributions from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. 

Thousands of care workers work remotely, visiting people in their homes, traveling long distances on their own and sometimes working late into the evening. Care workers face unpredictable situations and challenges every day. This guide brings together the latest information and goes some way towards helping employers keep their carers safe. At Care-Academy, we go one step further and have developed an online learning solution for care workers themselves, offering high-quality online training in personal security and risk assessment. To find out more about how we can help call me, Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712 or email using our online form.   

New Technology Goes Live

Further to my previous posts, I am delighted to announced that the new version of SKILLS365, the technology behind Care-Academy has gone live.  Those people with live or demonstration accounts will be able to experience the new site at here.

Opening up Care-Academy

Following feedback from our clients we have opened up Care-Academy on a new Enterprise License.  Organisations can now run Induction and complete refresher training for unlimited employees for the cost of a couple of external trainer days per month.

For more details go to our registration page

CWDC Update

Our development team have been hard at work this summer (well, with the weather, there was nothing else to do!).  As a result clients will be able to use the CWDC Induction programme from Mid-November.

LDQ-IA

Our Learning Disability Qualification – Induction Award content is well in development.  Each Qualification has been split into 14 learning units, with self assessments and written assignments.  The programme will be developed during November ready for testing and implementation in January.

We are also pleased to announce plans to become an Assessment Centre for this programme.  In the future we will be able to offer clients a complete solution to their LDQ-IA Certification.  For more details click here.

Learning Disability Service Takes Care-Academy

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.

Project Update

Back in June I announced that we were developing a more robust and feature-rich SKILLS365, the technology behind Care-Academy.  That technology is now in the final Testing phase and will be available from mid-November.  Our generic clients will be first to benefit, but all our existing clients will be transferred to the new system by January 2008.

This technology is the result of a lot of hard work from our development team and I am personally very pleased with the results.

Care-Academy Welcomes New Clients

Edgeworks are very pleased to announce that Henhaw’s Society for Blind People are the latest organisation to join our client list.  They will also be the first people to complete the Care-Academy LDQ-IA programme.

Talking about Care-Academy, Frank Ward, HSBP Director of Community Services stated:

“We are delighted to be working with Care Academy on a new development that should make a real difference to the way we deliver training. What has been invaluable is the experience that Care Academy has brought to the planning and development of this new venture and the confidence that we have that the finished product will be right for us”

Praise indeed.  I look forward to seeing Henshaw’s team using the Care-Academy very soon.

RNHA Care-Academy

Earlier this summer Edgeworks agreed a joint venture with RNHA to market the Care-Academy to their members. 

The RNHA Care-Academy launched on 29th October – for more information go to http://rnha.care-academy.co.uk

Happy Anniversary to CIC Care-Academy

CIC Care-Academy celebrated it’s first anniversary in early October.  In this time, CIC learners have completed a staggering 36,000 learning activities and assessments.  The Academy has been a complete success, and has seen further developments in Autism training, NVQ provision and Central Office Inductions.

Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults – Content Updated!

Edgeworks has recently updated the Care-Academy 'Recognising and Responding to Abuse and Neglect' (POVA) training in response to the publishing of the new Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Knowledge Set from Skills For Care.

For a demonstration of this content please click here.

Policy-Safe Website Launches

Edgeworks has today launched the marketing site for Policy-Safe.  This product integrates perfectly with Care-Academy to further support your legislative requirements.  For more go to http://www.policy-safe.co.uk.

New Content Coming Soon!

Care-Academy clients will soon be able to benefit from the following content:

• CWDC Induction
• Origins of Challenging Behaviour (Adults)
• Origins of Challenging Behaviour (Children / Young Adults)
• LDQ Induction Award

To be informed of when this content goes live and receive a demonstration click here.

Care-Academy Technology

It has already been a busy year for Care-Academy.  This month has seen new clients, pilot projects, content and today the commencement of a major technology development project to update and enhance SKILLS365 – the technology behind the Care-Academy.

This has also been an opportunity to provide a new interface – have a look for yourself by clicking on the thumbnail:

This development will focus on the efficiency of Care-Academy – further improving your experiences.

If there is anything you would like to see in Care-Academy in the future please let us know!

NVQ Cross Mapping - Independent Verification

One of the questions I am always asked is how does Care-Academy content map across to NVQ’s.  Well Edgeworks recently tasked an External Verifier for OCR to review our content for this very purpose.

The results made very interesting reading – we found that our Adult Services Induction programme is comprehensive – there were no elements found to be light in content.  Far from it, many covered not only the basic Induction needs but went further – for example, meeting the guidance in the various Skills for Care Knowledge Sets.

We've always known that we had a quality service, but it is certainly good to have that verified!

This mapping forms the basis for our new NVQ Portfolio Builder technology.

If you are interested in how Care-Academy content links into NVQ’s please contact me.

New Functionality added to Care-Academy

Care-Academy has recently gone through a second routine upgrade to improve the functionality for learners and managers.  The upgrade includes improvements to:

• Learner Menu’s.
• Training Plan Scheduling.
• Online Reports.
• Automated Reports.
• Leaver Archiving.

With further enhancements planned throughout the year, this shows our commitment to providing the best possible solution by working and listening to our clients.

Free Care Training for Work Wise Week

As you may have read on this Blog, it is Work Wise Week. Work Wise is a Not-For-Profit initiative which aims to promote smarter working practices for the benefit of businesses and individuals.

We have long promoted, via the Care-Academy, the ability not only to Work Wise, but to Learn Wise – using a blended approach to benefit both you and your employees.

To mark Work Wise Week we are offering the first 10 respondents’ a free learners and managers access to the Care-Academy via http://your.care-academy.co.uk for a year.

This will allow one of your team to complete an Induction or Mandatory Refresher programme of your choice, and for you to track their progress.

To take up one of these licenses please contact me via email.

How does online induction work?

This is a response I recently added to the Discussion Forums of the SCILS website. A user had posed the question "How does Online Induction Work?"

Online Induction can only be successful if it is blended with other learning activities. For example, an online programme cannot teach you the practical elements of Moving & Handling or First Aid. Where it does benefit in these fields is that a trainer can ensure, through e-learning and the reports mechanism that people attending a practical course have all the necessary knowledge to fully participate and benefit. This means that practical, off the job training events can be either reduced in terms of man days or improved as more time is assigned to practical exercises and problem solving.

A good online induction programme will suggest workplace activities for the learner to complete to ensure that learning is taken into the workplace and their own workplace context is created. This can then be supported by an online recording function that allows managers to review the learners evidence before signing their induction programme off as complete.

In terms of the learning materials themselves you should look for a programme that is suited to your audience – the people who are to be trained. As a whole this means building the interactivity as you progress and making use of audio and not using too much on screen text. This has a secondary benefit that it builds confidence in use of IT equipment.

A good online Induction programme should also include content on Bad Practices in the industry and how these can be avoided / reported.

There are major benefits to using an online learning programme as part of your Induction process including:

1. Cost Savings.
2. Improved Induction records.
3. Consistent quality of learning.

We have also found that organisations using our system have found that the provision of Induction reports for Inspection is a straightforward task – no more hunting for paperwork etc.

Finally for now, a good online Induction programme should not stop there – it should allow the capacity to manage refreshers for your existing team, show attendance on practical training days and build an NVQ portfolio for the user.

Care-Academy at the Care Show

Edgeworks will be attending The Care Show (www.careshow.co.uk) this year at the NEC on the 25th - 26th October.

We will be exhibiting the Care-Academy at stand 101 and would encourage you to come along and view it in person to discover the benefits for yourself.

You can register for complimentary tickets at www.blaxx.net/2006/csoct06/reg/?link=8b8cf9d1deff831dbccc

I look forward to meeting you there.

Care-Academy - Initial Content

After completing numerous projects, we have found that just covering the requirements of the 'Standards' does not give a complete Induction programme. As a result, our Induction programme covers:

The new Combined Induction StandardsPrinciples of Care

Organisation and Role of the Worker

• Safety At Work
• Communication
• Abuse and Neglect
• Developing as a Worker

Underpinning Knowledge sets

• Understanding Dementia
• Non-care Workers
• Infection Control
• Medication

Additional Support Units

• Safe Food Handling
• Introduction to Learning Disabilities
• Introduction to Mental Health
• Death, Dying and Bereavement
• Effects of the Service Setting on the User

Content
The content has been developed in such a manner that it addresses some of the key bad practices found in the industry, for example, ‘getting multiple people up at the same time’ (Moving & Handling / H&S issue) or the many ways that confidentiality is broken – saying “Doris needs her pad changing” to a colleague in a busy corridor. This is achieved by use of case studies and scenario based learning. – “What did she do wrong?” – “What would you do in this situation?”

Technology
The solution is built on a robust and reliable technology, allowing the delivery of consistently high quality learning materials to carers whilst providing management, training and compliance teams with access to all the management data they require.

How Care-Academy Works

The programme delivers flexible and comprehensive learning materials in the following ways:

• In the home/organisation – learning is delivered via a computer (known as e-Learning), workplace activities, 1-2-1’s with managers, facilitators and colleagues.
• In the classroom – Practical and high value activities such as Safe Food Handling, First Aid, Moving & Handling, Group Discussions, Problem Solving, Person Centred Approaches and Conflict Resolution.

All elements of the learning are structured – the classroom events are dependent on the completion of certain online and workplace activities prior to attendance. After these successful completion, carers will be expected to carry out further workplace activities to consolidate learning – with access to computer based revision materials.

The programmes is structured over the 12 week induction period, with achievement targets throughout; however, the new format will allow care managers and their team the flexibility to manage each individual induction programme.

What is the Care-Academy?

Let's get things started with explaining what Care Training Online is and why we have taken this approach:

Edgeworks recently created and launched Care Academy our online learning solution dedicated to the Health and Social Care sector. Care Academy can be integrated with care providers existing training provision and the initial programme is based on the requirements for Induction in line with the 'Skills For Care Combined Induction Standards'.

The programme can be used in any service setting - domicilliary or residential and covers all the major client user groups - old people services, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Childrens Services. We have also included the Underpinning knowledge sets as well as Safe Food Handling.

In the future we will be able to provide solutions around the new Childrens Services Induction standards, LDAF and NVQ's in Care.