Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism
Aiming to save lives by ensuring the health and social care workforce have the
right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to
autistic people and people with a learning disability.
Oliver’s Campaign
Paula McGowan OBE set up and leads #OliversCampaign which she started following her son Oliver’s tragic death in an NHS hospital in November 2016. Paula believes all health and social care staff need appropriate and meaningful training to help them to understand people who have a learning disability and autistic people.
National Trials
In 2018, Paula McGowan launched a parliamentary petition to address this need – getting over 56,000 signatures. As a result, the Government published ‘Right to be heard’ in November 2019 – its response to the consultation on proposals for introducing mandatory learning disability and autism training for health and social care staff. This included a commitment to develop a standardised training package.
The training was developed and trialled during 2021 involving over 8,300 health and care staff across England.
The Health and Care Act (2022)
On 1st July 2022 the Government introduced a requirement for Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered health and social care service providers to ensure employees receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role.
The Secretary of State is due to publish a Code of Practice in autumn 2023. This will set out the requirements of the training, such as the nature of the content, delivery and evaluation. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism was designed and developed for this purpose. It is the Government’s preferred and recommended training for health and care staff to undertake.
Training Content
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism has been developed with expertise from people with a learning disability and autistic people, as well as their families and carers.
It has been designed to be delivered in two tiers so all staff working across CQC registered services receive the right level of training. Both tiers are split into two parts:
- Part 1 for both Tiers is a 90 minute e-learning package which is available on NHS England’s e-learning for healthcare (elfh) website. It is free to access but you will need to register an account.
- The Part 2 element of the training for both tiers is delivered by Trios of Trainers, comprising two experts by Experience (an autistic person and a person with learning disabilities) and a Facilitator. For Tier 1, Part 2 is a one-hour online workshop; for Tier 2, Part 2 is delivered face-to-face, either as one full day session or split into two half-days.
Devon Pilot Project 2023-24
Funding has been made available by NHS England for the ICS (One Devon) to deliver the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training for Learning Disability and Autism across the county (including Torbay and Plymouth). This means the training will be made available to staff working in both the health and care sectors.
Living Options Devon have been contracted by NHS Devon to provide the recruitment, management and pastoral care for all the Experts by Experience and Facilitators/Trainers. We are an Exeter-based charity who provide a wide rage of support services for disabled people, people with long term health conditions and members of the Deaf Community.
If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a trainer, or would like to find out more about the project please contact:
Charlie Miller, Training Co-ordinator
OMMTDevon@livingoptions.org
01392 459222
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Devon Brochure provides the full background and detailed information including the Devon Pilot Project.