NHS England have developed a powerful video animation to help the health and social care workforce understand the importance of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training package.
It has been made available as the Department of Health and Social Care runs a consultation on its draft code of practice for the training.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training for Learning Disabilities and Autism was developed to help revolutionise training for those who work with and support individuals with learning disabilities and/or Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
Developed by the former Health Education England (recently merged with NHS England) and Skills for Care, it is the government’s preferred and recommended training route for CQC-registered providers to meet the new legislative requirement introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022.
A result of years of campaigning by Oliver McGowan’s family, the Health and Care Act 2022 requires all registered health and social care providers to ensure that all their staff receive training in learning disabilities and autism appropriate to their role.
Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training ‘vitally important’
Designed, delivered and evaluated with the help of people who have lived experience of learning disabilities and autism, the standardised Oliver McGowan training package provides health and care staff with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to individuals who have autism and/or a learning disability.
It includes training on how to interact and communicate appropriately with people who have autism and/or a learning disability.
Now, NHS England has released an animation which they have co-designed and co-produced with people with autism and people with a learning disability. Lasting 4.5 minutes, it is designed to help staff and employers across the health and social care sector understand the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training framework and why it is so vitally important.
NHS England says: “Together, we can prevent the many avoidable deaths like Oliver’s from happening again.”
Give your views on the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Code of Practice
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care is inviting individuals and organisations to respond to their consultation on the draft Oliver McGowan code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism training.
Closing at 12pm on 19th September 2023, the consultation asks whether the draft code provides CQC-registered care providers with sufficient guidance to meet the legislative requirement to provide all staff with learning disability and autism training.
The views and feedback gathered from the consultation will inform the final version of the code to be laid out in Parliament.
When the draft code of practice was published in June this year, Maria Caulfield, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy), said in its foreword:
“The introduction of the requirement for learning disability and autism training by the Health and Care Act 2022 and publication of this code of practice represent a significant moment in the journey towards improving the care and treatment of people with a learning disability and autistic people.
“I have heard from people with a learning disability and autistic people and their families and carers about how care is often not good enough and how this can lead to poorer health outcomes and, in some cases, premature death.
“Every person with a learning disability and autistic person has the right to excellent care and service from wherever they choose to access it. Services must treat people equitably but should also acknowledge and adapt to the individual needs of people with a learning disability and autistic people.”
She added that all care providers “will need to demonstrate to the CQC how their training meets or exceeds the standards set out in this code of practice.”
Oliver’s training to bring meaningful improvement in care
As an infant, Oliver McGowan suffered from meningitis and later received diagnoses of mild hemiplegia, focal partial epilepsy, a mild learning disability and high-functioning autism.
As he grew up, Oliver experienced seizures and was hospitalised several times.
Despite having no diagnosis of psychosis or any other mental health disorder, Oliver was, on a number of occasions during his stays in hospital, physically restrained and given antipsychotic medication. He reacted badly to this medication.
Oliver tragically died on 11th November 2016, aged just 18, after the antipsychotic medication was once again administered to him despite medical staff being told repeatedly by both Oliver and his parents that he had suffered adverse reactions to it in the past.
Following his death, Oliver’s family campaigned for years to see meaningful improvements made in healthcare for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.
Delivering Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training
First Response Training (FRT), as a dedicated national training provider, is proud to be one of the first training providers to be able to offer the official Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training for Learning Disabilities and Autism.
The only standardised training package guaranteed to meet the requirements laid out in the code of practice, it incorporates two tiers of training for different staff roles, and FRT can deliver both with a trio of qualified trainers. An experienced subject matter trainer will lead delivery, supported by a person with autism and a person with a learning disability, both known as Experts by Lived Experience.
As Maria Caulfield explained:
“The training is named in Oliver’s memory, in recognition of his story, his family’s tireless campaigning for better training for staff, and to remember him and others whose lives were cut tragically short.”
She also set out how the package “represents and clearly demonstrates the standard that the government expects training in this area to meet as set out in further detail in this code of practice.”
She added:
“The training has been trialled with over 8,000 participants and independently evaluated to ensure the final package is robust and high quality.
“Most importantly, people with a learning disability and autistic people have been involved throughout the development, trial, evaluation and now delivery of the training, ensuring that personal experience is always reflected. Co-production and co-delivery are at the heart of the training, and this is what sets Oliver’s training apart.”
For more information on the training, please contact FRT on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.
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Skills for Care says
In total, the adult social care workforce had an estimated 1.635 million filled posts in 2022-23, and these were filled by 1.52 million people. This equates to 5.2% of England’s total workforce and outnumbers the amount of people working in the NHS, schools or food or drink manufacturing.
First Response Training
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The workforce development charity for adult social care has worked with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and other partners to co-develop the 
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Often referred to as delegated healthcare interventions, these are any healthcare activities, usually of a clinical nature, that a registered healthcare professional transfers to a paid social care worker. This could include Personal Assistants (PAs) providing care and support to adults or children with specific healthcare needs.
Delegation can be an effective tool for helping nurses to manage their many responsibilities.
Crucially, the successful delegation of clinical tasks also requires care workers and PAs who are willing to undertake specialist training and carry out these important clinical interventions. They must feel safe, supported, confident and competent when it comes to delivering the intervention.
The health and social care watchdog has published a 
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Care home residents lacking vital care from dental practitioners remains an issue. CQC inspectors found that residents did not always receive professional care at the right time and in the right place. Many care home providers reported that there were not enough dentists available who were wiling and able to visit care homes and provide dental care for people who were less mobile.
First Response Training
The national workforce development charity is celebrating the remarkable people who work in social care and is encouraging others to join in their celebrations throughout April.
Skills for Care will be sharing good news stories from the care sector across their website and social media channels and are asking that others get involved by sharing their own positive stories and shoutouts for hard-working care workers on social media.
NHS Highland was prosecuted by the 
Commissioned and funded by Skills for Care, the new framework has been developed by the “innovative partnership” of Dr Trish Hafford-Letchfield of the University of Strathclyde and the 
Skills for Care states that the experiences of many older LGBTQ+ people may have had a lasting impact on them, and that its therefore vital that anyone providing care and support services for them has an understanding of these.
The framework also includes recommendations for leadership, education and service development to enable providers to continue to improve care and support in this area.
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider. They deliver over 7,000 courses each year in the fields of 
Skills for Care
The report shows that, since March 2021, filled posts have also fallen by around -1.8%. It represents the first time that the number of jobs (filled posts) has fallen in the sector, and as it is happening at the same time that vacancy rates are increasing, it indicates that care providers are struggling with both recruitment and retention.
Although the National Living Wage (NLW) has helped to boost the median nominal care worker hourly rate by 6% since March 2020, the report reveals that employers in the sector have found it more difficult to maintain differentials for more experienced workers.
Dr Owden, who worked in a hospital discharge ward at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, told the BBC that carers needed to be better paid, with a proper career structure and recognition of their skills. He said a better resourced system would relieve pressure from the NHS when they need it most.
Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for 
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Tributes to care workers can be shared on 
Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for health and social organisations, such as 
The detailed report from mental health digital platform 
The study found that the majority of staff (60%) had an extremely poor work-life balance, with paramedics, emergency nurses and physicians most likely to report this.
Mental health learning and development solutions can also play a significant role in helping managers, supervisors and frontline workers to recognise mental health risks and proactively support positive mental health and wellbeing across the workforce.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to present his plans to reform social care in England to MPs and will also announce extra funds to help the NHS deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Such workers can only ignore self-isolation guidance if they have no Covid symptoms and have received a negative PCR test. They must also have daily negative lateral flow tests for the required self-isolation period.
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learning and development, including new technologies, and have access to the tools they need to deliver high quality training. They will support employers to upskill staff and look to remove barriers to the use of technology
Ahead of the publication of their provider collaboration review (PCR) on people with a learning disability living in the community this month (July 2021), England’s care watchdog has looked at how services have worked together to meet people’s needs over the past year.
Particular issues have also been noted with transitioning people from children to adult services and the fact that people can often end up in inappropriate settings when things go wrong.