Care Home Staff Training: What New Care Workers Need
Hannah B
Hiring Care Home Staff? The Training New Care Workers Need in the UK
Interest in care home jobs, home care jobs and care assistant jobs continues to demonstrate the demand for employment across the care sector.
For applicants, the question may be:
“How do I get a job in a care home?”
For the person running the service, however, the question is very different:
“How do I make sure a new member of staff has the knowledge and skills they need to provide safe, compassionate and person-centred care?”
Recruitment is only the beginning.
Once someone joins a care organisation, managers need to consider induction, training, competency, supervision and ongoing professional development.
For workers who are new to health and social care, the Care Certificate provides an important framework for developing fundamental knowledge, skills and behaviours.
What training do new care workers need?
There is no single answer that applies identically to every worker or care service.
Training should reflect the individual's role, responsibilities, experience and the needs of the people receiving care.
However, new care workers need to develop knowledge across fundamental areas including:
understanding their role;
duty of care;
equality and diversity;
person-centred care;
communication;
privacy and dignity;
fluids and nutrition;
mental health, dementia and learning disability awareness;
safeguarding;
health and safety;
handling information;
infection prevention and control; and
personal development.
For employers looking for structured introductory learning, the Care Certificate from Certified CPD brings together learning across the core Care Certificate standards.
What is the Care Certificate?
The Care Certificate is a set of standards associated with the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of people working in health and social care.
It is particularly relevant to workers who are new to care.
For care home managers, it can provide a useful framework around which induction and early development can be organised.
Importantly, online learning should be considered part of the wider learning and assessment process where practical competency needs to be demonstrated.
A course can help a learner develop knowledge and understanding, while employers remain responsible for making sure workers can apply relevant skills appropriately within their role.
Why should care home managers focus on induction?
Recruiting someone does not automatically prepare them for the realities of providing care.
Even an enthusiastic new employee needs to understand:
what their responsibilities are;
where the boundaries of their role lie;
how they should communicate with individuals;
what duty of care means;
how confidentiality should be maintained;
how dignity should be protected;
how risks should be reported;
and when they need to ask for help.
A structured induction helps turn a new recruit into someone who understands what is expected of them.
One logical starting point is Care Certificate – Understand Your Role.
Understanding duty of care
Duty of care is fundamental to health and social care work.
New workers need to understand that their decisions and actions can affect the safety, wellbeing and rights of the people they support.
They also need to understand what to do when they encounter concerns, mistakes, difficult situations or circumstances beyond their level of responsibility.
Managers can incorporate Care Certificate – Duty of Care into the development of this knowledge.
Person-centred care should start from day one
A care service is not simply a collection of tasks.
The person receiving care should remain at the centre of decisions about their support.
New workers therefore need to understand the importance of preferences, needs, wishes, choices and individuality.
This is especially important for recruits who have never previously worked within health or social care.
The Care Certificate – Work in a Person-Centred Way module explores these principles.
Communication skills for care workers
Communication is one of the most important skills in care.
A worker may need to communicate with:
the individual receiving care;
family members;
colleagues;
managers;
healthcare professionals; and
other organisations.
Communication needs can also vary considerably between individuals.
Workers should understand that effective communication involves much more than simply speaking clearly.
The Care Certificate – Communication module provides focused learning in this area.
Privacy and dignity in care homes
Supporting someone with washing, dressing, eating, medication or other aspects of daily life can involve extremely personal situations.
Protecting privacy and dignity must therefore become part of everyday practice rather than something workers think about only during training.
New care workers should understand how their words, behaviour and decisions can either protect or undermine an individual's dignity.
Care providers can support this knowledge through Care Certificate – Privacy and Dignity.
Equality and diversity
Care workers support individuals from many different backgrounds and with different identities, experiences, needs, beliefs and preferences.
New employees therefore need to understand equality, diversity, inclusion and discriminatory behaviour.
This is both a workplace issue and an important component of providing respectful, person-centred care.
The Care Certificate – Equality and Diversity module provides introductory learning around these principles.
Mental health, dementia and learning disability awareness
A new care worker may support people with a wide range of needs.
Basic awareness of mental health conditions, dementia and learning disabilities can help workers better understand the individuals they support and recognise the importance of adapting their approach.
This does not make a new employee a clinical specialist.
It provides foundational awareness upon which role-specific training and experience can build.
The Care Certificate – Awareness of Mental Health, Dementia and Learning Disability course covers this important area.
Fluids and nutrition
Supporting adequate nutrition and hydration can be an important responsibility within care environments.
Workers need to understand why food and fluid intake matters and recognise that individual needs can vary.
They should also understand the importance of following care plans, workplace procedures and any instructions relevant to the people they support.
Training is available through Care Certificate – Fluids and Nutrition.
Health and safety training for care workers
Care homes are workplaces as well as people's homes.
Employees therefore need appropriate knowledge of workplace health and safety and their own responsibilities.
Managers should consider the hazards associated with each employee's particular role and provide training appropriate to those responsibilities.
The Care Certificate – Health and Safety module introduces workers to important health and safety principles.
Infection prevention and control in care homes
Infection prevention is particularly important in environments where some individuals may be more vulnerable to illness.
New workers need to understand their own role in reducing the risk of infection.
That includes following appropriate workplace procedures and understanding how their behaviour can contribute to infection prevention and control.
The Care Certificate – Infection Prevention and Control module provides focused learning in this area.
Handling confidential information
Care workers can encounter highly personal information about the people they support.
Employees therefore need to understand that information must be handled appropriately.
That includes recognising why confidentiality matters and following organisational procedures when accessing, recording, sharing and storing information.
New employees can develop their understanding through Care Certificate – Handling Information.
Training should not end after induction
One mistake care providers should avoid is treating staff development as something that finishes once induction has been completed.
Care workers continue to learn throughout their careers.
Managers should consider:
What does this worker already know?
What does their role require?
Where are their knowledge or competency gaps?
What additional training is appropriate?
When should knowledge be refreshed?
How will practical competency be assessed where necessary?
Personal development is itself an important concept for people beginning a career in care.
The Care Certificate – Your Personal Development module introduces workers to their role in continuing to develop their knowledge and skills.
Frequently Asked Questions About Care Home Staff Training
What training should a new care assistant have?
Training should be appropriate to the worker's responsibilities and the needs of the people they support. For workers new to health and social care, the Care Certificate provides a recognised framework of fundamental standards around which employers can structure learning and development.
Can someone complete the Care Certificate online?
Online training can support the knowledge component of learning. However, where a standard requires skills to be demonstrated in practice, employers need to ensure that appropriate workplace assessment and competency requirements are also met.
Is the Care Certificate useful for someone with no care experience?
The Care Certificate is particularly relevant to people beginning work in health and social care because it introduces fundamental knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with providing appropriate care.
What should a care home manager include in staff induction?
Induction should be appropriate to the employee and service but may include their role and responsibilities, workplace policies and procedures, duty of care, safeguarding, communication, person-centred care, privacy and dignity, health and safety, infection prevention, information handling and other role-specific requirements.
Is care worker training finished after the Care Certificate?
No. Training and professional development should continue according to the worker's responsibilities, competency, experience and the needs of the service and people receiving care.
What training do care home staff need for CQC?
Rather than thinking of training as a single list of courses needed to “pass CQC”, providers should be able to demonstrate that staff have appropriate knowledge, skills, competence and support for their roles. Training needs should therefore be considered alongside induction, supervision, competency assessment and ongoing development.
How can care home managers train multiple new employees?
A structured training programme can make onboarding easier to manage when several employees join an organisation.
Managers can map learning against relevant standards, monitor completion and combine online knowledge training with workplace induction, supervision and practical competency assessment where required.
Recruiting care staff is only the first step
The current interest in care home jobs, care assistant jobs and home care jobs is understandably focused on people trying to enter the sector.
For employers, however, recruitment creates the next challenge:
How do you turn a new recruit into a knowledgeable, confident and competent member of the care team?
That requires more than handing someone a uniform and showing them around the building.
It requires structured induction, appropriate training, workplace support, assessment and continued professional development.
For organisations onboarding employees who are new to care, the Certified CPD Care Certificate provides online learning covering the core Care Certificate standards.
Individual modules are also available for organisations or learners who need training in specific areas.
Good recruitment brings people into care. Good training helps prepare them to provide safe, compassionate and person-centred support.