Qualifications and skills training play 'valuable role' in driving up standards of care

When a support worker starts their new role, there are various backgrounds they might have come from to access this career. Whether through a Government apprenticeship scheme, voluntary work, NVQ qualifications, or with no prior experience in the sector, people are entering the lives of older and vulnerable people, and building important relationships with them to promote independence and support their daily living.

Due to the varied entry routes into the role, employers are required by Skills for Care England to provide ‘on the job’ training and a 12 week induction programme to train people about the skills needed for the role.

Noel Williams of Blue Ribbon Community Care commented: “in my view it is essential for care agencies to provide their staff with comprehensive training, regardless of the qualifications the individual may hold or any previous experience.

“Care workers need to be aware of the latest statutory requirements and best practices in a continually developing sector. As we have seen with the recent launch of the Skills for Care - National Minimum Training Standards - there is continuous recognition of the need to ensure that all care workers have a relevant and universally recognised foundation of skills and knowledge in order to help them deliver high quality care.”

Training in dementia care has been developed for home care providers and care workers to learn how to communicate and work with clients with dementia, as well as how to notice any significant changes in a person who has the illness, which could indicate that further support is needed.

Home carer Jo, of Carefound, described the importance of her dementia training, saying: “I am able to use the specialist dementia training we receive at Carefound which is based on something called the ‘SPECAL method’. This includes things such as not asking direct questions (this is very hard at first but does make a huge difference), not contradicting, and gathering as much information as possible from the ‘expert’ (the person with dementia).

“I am able to use my dementia training to ensure that the client remains comfortable and trusting in communicating with me.”

Sharon Allen, chief executive of Skills for Care said: “the decision to see training as important” has been “driven by my personal view that having trained and flexible staff leads directly to better service delivery, but it was also a hard-nosed business decision. We saw that when we trained staff from day one they were confident in their roles very early in their careers, tended to stay with us much longer and their absenteeism was lower. In short we produced a confident flexible and reliable workforce.”

The high price of training has been calculated by Skill for Care in its report into the benefits of investing in the training of a workforce, which found that the average cost of supporting a replacement member of staff is estimated at £3,683. This covers the cost from recruitment through to the point where they can work alone, after time and money is taken into account.

However the benefits of Common Induction Standards training as well as on going professional development has been championed by both the Government and care providers as a necessary process which carers need to do to make sure the security and dignity of service users are protected.

Initial training has been recommended to be completed in the first three months of employment, and covers topics such as Infection control, health and safety at work, fire safety and safeguarding adults.

Phil Pegler, chief executive of Carewatch said: “Providing care workers with high calibre training and on-going development for their role, whether they are experienced or inexperienced is essential for providing our clients with the best home care and support services. It also provides our care workers with the confidence, and competence required to perform their roles and responsibilities. A confident care worker will instil confidence in the individual they are supporting, helping to build trust with the client.

Mr Pegler said: “An aspect of training a care worker receives is to ensure they understand how to retain a client’s dignity, especially when the client needs assistance with daily personal care routines. These are highly personal and sensitive routines so a care worker is trained on how to treat the client with the utmost respect, care, and empathy.

“Our care workers may also specialise in a specific area that they find interesting, or particularly rewarding such as dementia care which again, keeps them engaged in the role and helps us to provide a more specialised service to our clients.”

As well as training and qualifications, a set of values have been associated to the carer’s role which includes the ability to relate to people from a wide variety of backgrounds, behaving with tact and sensitivity, having a respectful approach to clients, and a sense of humour.

Vocational education has been a focus of the Government, with the amount of apprenticeships in this sector increasing in order to train young people in the skills needed for the role of support workers. The reputation of vocational qualifications has often been seen as an inferior qualification to academics qualifications, but this is something the Government is now hoping to change.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Dr Vince Cable MP said: "The Government is committed to putting vocational education like this on a par with academic learning. That's why we are delivering 25,000 higher apprenticeship places over the spending review period - up from just 200 since 2010.

"We need a workforce with advanced skills in the health and social care sector to meet increasing demand. These advanced apprenticeships will help healthcare professionals progress their careers and deliver the excellent standard of care that people deserve.”

Qualifications and skills training has been championed as an important step to take in order to improve standards of care for patients and service users of home carers, whether it is care worker induction training, or managerial standards training.

Lord Howe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health said: "We have committed to doubling the number of apprenticeships in social care to 100,000 in the next five years to help us find and train the leaders of the future. This will allow us to nurture managers who can go on later to work in the health and social care services and play a valuable role in driving up standards of care for patients and service users."

Mr Williams of Blue Ribbon said: “There is no doubt about the value an experienced and compassionate care worker who has cared for people with a diverse range of conditions in multiple situations, however, I would always encourage any care worker, regardless of their experience, to take the opportunity to continuously develop their knowledge by attaining the relevant qualification in health and social care as well as improving their knowledge and skills throughout their working life by attending conferences, observing other care professionals at work, and reading sector news.

“As well as helping the individual to grow their professional abilities, this also helps to drive up the standards of the care industry as a whole.

“To this end I would highly recommend to all social care providers to create a development plan for their workers through the implementation of a Continuous Professional Development program, I would highly recommend using the Skills for Care guidance for the adult social care workforce.”