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Jennifer Lindsay-Finan

River Park

Learning & Development Consultant

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Care Industry – Advice Required

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Hi everyone,

I'm a soft skills and IT end user trainer with experience in various industries including contact centres and law.  I've been approached by a potential client to deliver training in his care homes.  He's keen that I deliver a mixture of communication, management and IT skills, but also wants me to become qualified to deliver their core training:  Manual Handling, Health & Safety etc.  

I've no experience of this industry at all, so can anyone tell me what qualifications I'd need to start training social care workers in these core elements?  These are private care homes for the elderly in Scotland.

Thanks,

Jennifer

3 Responses

  1. Hi Jennifer, you don’t need
    Hi Jennifer, you don’t need to have specific qualifications to deliver training yourself unless you will be assessing care workers to achieve part of their SVQ qualifications (some of the training you have mentioned sounds like it would be similar to some of the SVQ content, so to prevent staff from repeating activity, you may want to think about how some of this could be assessed, although this may already be happening). Much of the effective delivery of social care services is about having the right values, as well as the appropriate knowledge and skill, so you may want to undertake some observational work in the care homes, read some of the inspection reports published by the Care Inspectorate (www.careinspectorate.com) and read some of the relevant Scottish Government policy so that you have an understanding of the context.

    Most social care workers need to be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council in order to work in care services in Scotland. They also need to achieve a specific qualification related to their job function. Most of the care staff in the care home should be either already qualified or working towards a qualification. It is up to employers to identify the training needs for their workforce outwith these requirements. Some work is currently underway by Scottish Government, the SSSC and key stakeholders to identify the components of an Induction Passport, so it is worth keeping an eye on progress in this so that you can adapt your training accordingly.

    I suggest that you look at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) main website to see the details of the types of workers who need to be registered at http://www.sssc.uk.com and the learning zone resources at http://www.workforcesolutions.uk.com. You can also download apps on the App store, and these contain content relating to moving and handling etc, and are aligned with the qualification requirements. Search for SSSC or CactusID (the developer) to see the range of apps available.

    It’s likely that the employer is a member of Scottish Care, or the Coalition of Care Providers Scotland (CCPS). Both of these employer representative groups have their own websites, resources and support networks, and you may be able to find more information there, or connect with others who have learning and development responsibilities: http://www.ccpscotland.org and http://www.scottishcare.org

    Some of the care home staff are likely to have nursing qualifications. Nurses are beginning a new process called ‘revalidation’ when they will have to demonstrate their continuing competence. Aligning your training programme to meet the revalidation requirements might be a helpful approach to take. More information on revalidation is available from http://www.mc.org.uk, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, who are the UK nursing regulator.

    1. Thank you so much for such a
      Thank you so much for such a detailed and informative response! I’ll check out the websites you suggest. Thanks very much for all your help. Jennifer

  2. I work in the care industry
    I work in the care industry in London so i do have a lot of experience working in the sector. There are no specific qualifications to deliver these training other than attending specific train the trainer courses for each topic. when i first started i attended train the trainer courses in manual handling and fire safety. Now the organisation i work for has moved most our core training to elearning. My direct email is mobolaji.owoade@gmail if you want to contact me.

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Jennifer Lindsay-Finan

Learning & Development Consultant

Read more from Jennifer Lindsay-Finan
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