The demand on all healthcare providers working in England has been rising, requiring that everyone in their organizations must know how to work with individuals with learning disabilities and autism. No matter if you run a small residential setting or a big domiciliary care service, getting quality health and social care training Bristol professionals can rely on is the first thing to do. The article will explain the Oliver McGowan mandatory training in simple words. We will cover its description, requirements, and planning of it for your team.

What Is the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training

Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is the recommended standardized training course for health and social care workers employed in England. It aims at ensuring that each employee receives the skills and competence needed to offer safe and competent service to individuals with autism and learning disability.

It revolves around the theme that education will ensure quality care. Instead of concentrating on theory only, the training stresses the experience and explains to the employees how a small change in communication, environment and attitude will result in a big change. This training is now part of the overall expectation of workforce development where care teams should integrate the training in their induction and ongoing education plan.

Since it covers all job roles ranging from support staff, nurses to administrators, it ensures a common level of knowledge among the entire workforce.

Why the Training Was Created and Who It Hon ours

This training is dedicated to Oliver McGowan, a young boy with autism and mild learning disability who passed away in 2016, aged 18. Oliver had been admitted into hospital due to a seizure but was prescribed anti psychotic drugs, in spite of the fact that Oliver’s family made it clear that Oliver should not be given such medications. This contributed to Oliver's death and the whole situation highlighted significant deficiencies in knowledge and understanding of the health and social care workforce in regards to people with a learning disability and autism.

Oliver’s parents, Paula and Tom McGowan, tirelessly strives for making sure that no other family had to go through similar suffering. As a result, the training in question was developed. It is important to remember the background of this training since this will help your care team see it as something much more than a simple mandatory activity.

Who Needs to Complete the Training in Health and Social Care

The training is supposed to be for all the staff members working within health and social care services in England that are regulated, irrespective of whether they offer direct support or are in supporting roles. This means the training is supposed to cover care assistants, senior carers, nurses, therapists, managers, receptionists, kitchen workers, drivers, and administrators among others. The tier of training is determined by the level of contact that the staff member will have with people with autism and learning disabilities. 

The responsibility of determining the tier of training that should be completed lies with the employer. It is easy to determine this through assessing all the job roles in the organization, then mapping out the level of contact with people using the service, then recording your determination. This way, you get to avoid having challenges later on, and you also prepare for any inspections since your process would be clear.

Oliver McGowan Tier 1 Training Overview

Tier 1 is for employees who require a general understanding of the support requirements for autistic individuals and those with a learning disability. This is ideal for those whose work does not involve frequent interaction or those that do not require any personal care provision like receptionists, catering staff, general office personnel and maintenance workers.

Tier 1 Training Programme is composed of an e-learning module and an interactive online session where fundamental knowledge will be taught, the need for Oliver McGowan Tier 2 training will be explained, and issues concerning respectful communication and reasonable adjustments will be highlighted.

Though it may appear like a less intense training programme, Tier 1 training should never become a simple compliance activity. It establishes the base for an organization’s culture that enables each employee to ask questions and respond to any individual's needs in a respectful manner.

Oliver McGowan Tier 2 Training Overview

Tier 2 focuses on staff that may have to offer care and support to autistic people or people with learning disabilities as part of their usual duties. The program is meant for care workers, nurses, allied health professionals, and managers who manage care services.

Firstly, the program entails the same e-learning offered in Tier 1. Secondly, there follows an entire day of an interactive learning activity led jointly by a trainer with lived experience of autism or learning disabilities and a professional trainer. In this way, participants get to listen directly about what good and poor support is like.

Communication, sensory requirements, reasonable adjustments, mental capacity, consent, and signs of poor health are among the issues discussed. After this training, staff are able to use practical skills they gain from the training in their work within a few hours. That is why most employers find Tier 2 to be the most useful training sessions for their staff.