Skills for Care Consultation
Important updates on nutrition training and request that members take part in Skills for Care Consultation on the Common Induction Standards
IMPORTANT NOTICE CONSULTATION ON COMMON INDUCTION STANDARDS CLOSING DATE 10/2/10
Skills for Care are refreshing the Common Induction Standards to ensure that they
reflect current policy and practice
- and cover key areas for new workers – thereby ensuring that workers receive the correct underpinning knowledge to enable them to work in our sector.
Please take a few minutes to comment – the standards look a little different but we need your support as Skills for Care have included nutrition and hydration. The link is http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk – you can then access the consultation paper via the participation heading.
The 10 Key Characteristics of Good Nutrition Care – Fact sheets
As you are all hopefully aware as part of our commitment to the DH’s Improving Nutritional Care Action Plan we have been working with the National Patient’s Safety Agency to develop fact sheets to support the 10 Key Characteristics of Good Nutritional Care (search via nutrition on the www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources webpage – free to download) and with the NHS Core Learning Unit, Skills for Care and People First to ensure that staff receive appropriate training – particularly around nutrition.
Free elearning package on Nutritional Care
I am pleased to tell you that the elearning packages on nutrition for both Health and Social Care continue to be free – these can be accessed via www.socialcare.corelearningunit.com – but be aware the funding is being reviewed so use it now!
News from our Sector Skills Councils on Nutritional Qualifications
In respect of our work with Skills for Care – there is more good news on their progress and plans to address the training needs of our sector in relation to food safety and nutrition.
Skills for Care has been working closely with colleagues from the Food Standards Agency, ourselves and representatives of the DH’s Nutrition Training Sub-group, as well as sector experts on under nutrition and finally Awarding Organisations. They have also liaised with People First and intend including aspects of their work – which many of you commented on either at their workshops or on line.
They have now produced an initial scoping for units based on input from everyone, from the current Skills for Care Knowledge Set and National Occupational Standards 213 and 214 (Health and Social Care) . They are clear that workers must have an awareness/understanding of food safety and also of nutrition to ensure all nutritional needs are met, and in order to ensure that the people we support are not malnourished or dehydrated. They are listening carefully to the views of a range of experts in this field, so that they can be certain the units/qualifications produced are appropriate and meet the widest possible needs.
The new Health and Social Care (HSC) Diplomas at levels 2 and 3 will have units on Health and Safety in the workplace (mandatory) and Supporting individuals to eat and drink (optional). Both of these units will contain learning outcomes about food safety in line with current practice as advised by the Foods Standards Agency. The Common Induction Standards (England) will also be reviewed to reflect Food Safety and nutritional awareness. This is in addition to the current statutory requirements for training for those handling food as a major part of their job role. Please take part in the consultation – see above.
Their intention is also to produce a separate and specific qualification on nutrition in the care sector this year to enable workers to gain a depth and breadth of knowledge/competency in this area, and to increase the level of service provided to those we support. Once available, some of these units will also be included in the HSC Diplomas. This will enable wider, more generic use, and provide a link into the specialist qualification.
The work on nutrition has not progressed as fast as they had hoped, due to capacity issues, but also the need for detailed expert advice. They are confident, however, that the material produced will be worth taking time to get right, and will be available this year.
You might also be interested in the following:
Skills for Care have been asked by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to develop best practice guidelines – to be used by CQC and the sector as a whole, to underpin the workforce components of the new CQC regulations.
Please contact me if you need any further information
Ros Speight
National Secretary
