A new approach to skills development and training for learning disabilities healthcare staff in the West Midlands has paved the way for a similar strategy across the rest of the country.
The health and care of people with learning disabilities and the strengthening of the specialist workforce that supports them are crucial issues. The government response to the confidential inquiry into the premature deaths of people with learning disabilities, Transforming Care: A national response to Winterbourne View hospital and the Winterbourne View Concordat all stress the importance of workforce development.
The initial development work in the West Midlands now underpins Skills for Health’s national programme of support for the Transforming Care Agenda. It also builds on the successful Skills for Health’s Positive and Safe programme, jointly developed with Skills for Care in 2014, to provide workforce development guidance to commissioners and employers seeking to minimise restrictive practices in social care and health.
There are four main elements to Skills for Health’s programme of support for the learning disabilities work that are designed to provide a coherent and structured approach to development. First, a competence framework identifies the necessary skills and knowledge required and enables the establishment of new ways of working and, where appropriate, new roles. Subsequently, a learning needs analysis tool assesses learning requirements of staff, whether in new or extended roles. Once the learning needs have been identified, the Core Skills Education and Training Framework offers guidance and standards for the delivery of learning disabilities education to achieve appropriate learning outcomes and development of the required skills and knowledge. Finally, these elements are supported by an elearning resource, which offers a quality assured approach to supporting training.
Marc Lyall, Skills for Health regional director – west of England, explains the sum of these parts: “The combined work is about laying down guidance and a framework within which providers can start to [establish] where [their] staff development needs are, and address these. It’s vital to work out what your future staffing needs are and to be more targeted in providing [the appropriate] education.”
Skills for Health created an electronic tool so providers could design bespoke learning needs analysis surveys for staff. Lisa Proctor, operational delivery manager for Health Education England’s learning disabilities workforce programme – Transforming Care, says the regional, joined-up approach not only identified gaps in expertise, but helped organisations to collectively develop education and training solutions. As a result of the work, the West Midlands Health Institute Learning, Education and Training Council commissioned a new framework for positive behavioural support (PBS) training for the area.
A pilot learning needs analysis in the West Midlands last year examined the skills and competence of staff working with people with learning disabilities. This revealed, among other issues, a need for specialist training in PBS, which aims to understand why someone exhibits challenging behaviour, then addresses the issues triggering it.
Providers can use the competence framework, which incorporates competences specifically for PBS, to help them plan and identify existing or future workforce skills while commissioners can use it to focus on the kinds of support they need services to deliver. Education and training providers can use the Core Skills Framework to design programmes that help deliver more appropriate and targeted education for staff, which will ultimately help ensure better services delivered to people with learning disabilities.
The framework, developed in partnership with Health Education England and Skills for Care, determines the standards for learning disabilities education and training. It allows employers to recognise training is to an assured standard and minimise any duplication in training. This is an advantage as today’s workforce is highly mobile, and staff may move from one area or organisation to another, therefore benefiting from consistent approaches to education and development.
Christina Pond, Skills for Health executive director products and services, says the framework describes core skills and knowledge that is common and transferable across different types of service provision. She adds: “It ensures that if you’re an employer or commissioner of education, you can commission [training that maps to the] framework [standards] and be confident you’ll get the right learning outcomes.”
Skills for Health has involved people with learning disabilities and their families in developing its work in this area. The framework, for example, was supported by a steering group, which included not just care providers, but advocacy specialists and carers, family members and people with a learning disability.
Pond adds that one advantage of using a competence based approach is that it focuses on functions and the necessary skills, instead of job titles: “That has major implications for the skills mix across the whole team.”
It’s a way of ensuring that care and support is delivered in an integrated way that meets individual needs, says Pond.
She adds: “The delivery of learning disabilities services involves a workforce that is extensive and diverse. In assessing the skills that staff need to deliver high quality compassionate care you need to start from the principle of what it is that the person receiving that care requires.”
Skills for Health, along with partners Health Education England and Skills for Care, will be launching the new Learning Disabilities Core Skills Education and Training Framework on 28 of July. There is a Thunderclap campaign to announce its launch. Click here to join
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