What are some of the most important mandatory training courses for care workers?

Mandatory training for care staff is one of the cornerstones of what it takes to provide the very best person-centred care and provide an environment of holistic wellbeing for everybody involved in care, whether it’s residents or members of staff. As such, it’s important to always maintain training standards to remain at the forefront of best practices and the latest protocols of care provision.  

Though it could be argued that all training has the potential to be mandatory because it very much depends on the individual circumstances of your residents and the nature of the care home, there are some fundamental aspects of training that should always be included in any overall programme.  

Below are a few of the most important aspects of mandatory training for care homes, including what they are and why they are so important, that you should be including in your overall programme. 

Health and safety 

In many ways, good levels of care begin with a fundamental understanding of health and safety. Without adequate training in health and safety, no matter how well-intentioned or emotionally giving the level of care aspires to be, it will always be undermined and prone to poor quality of life. 

Health and safety training will ensure that everyone within the organisation has the knowledge and practical skills to ensure best working practices that in turn promote better outcomes and greater quality of life for residents. Subjects on health and safety can include the correct use of equipment, safety protocols and procedures, creating and following through with risk assessments, among others.  

Health and safety could also extend into areas such as infection control training, which is a crucial guard to ensure that care homes remain as free from infections, as well as covering topics like proper waste management, correct use of PPE and hand hygiene, that can seriously compromise the health of residents, as well as manual handling, which is training that will impart knowledge and practical skills around how to safely lift residents other heavy objects, and will teach the correct techniques and ways to minimise risk,  

Fire safety 

Fire safety training doesn’t just include providing knowledge around what to do in the event of a fire, but it also increases awareness and knowledge around the preventative measures that can be taken to prevent fires from happening in the first place. Fire safety training can teach staff about how to spot certain hazards and how to avoid them – this could include safety measures around cooking, electrical appliances and others. More still, as well as preventative techniques, fire safety also includes training around evacuation procedures and how to correctly use fire-fighting equipment.  

Equality, diversity and human rights 

Equality, diversity and human rights training underpins the way in which the home needs to operate if it can function as a community that promotes and provides holistic wellbeing and quality of life, not just for residents but for staff too. This topic of training will help staff to understand not just the importance of treating everybody fairly and equally, regardless of age, background or gender, but it will teach them the ways that they can practically do this, and impart on them the knowledge of how to approach equal opportunities in an inclusive and meaningful way, whilst also helping them to spot the signs of when equal rights are not being respected.  

Nutrition and Hydration (and general food safety) 

Nutrition and hydration are both extremely important aspects of managing overall quality of life within a care home because you need to ensure that all residents are getting a balanced diet that will maintain their health. Training should include aspects such as the knowledge of how to support individuals to make choices about food and drink, how to promote diet and nutrition, understanding the principles of a balanced diet and also how to monitor fluid intake so that residents do not suffer from dehydration or malnutrition. But alongside learning how to provide a nutritious and balanced diet comes with training that should include aspects such as food allergy and intolerance awareness, ensuring dignified mealtimes, and overall food safety. 

As far as food safety is concerned, training should be centred around areas like how to maintain appropriate standards of hygiene when handling food and drink, how to meet safety and hygiene requirements when preparing and serving food, as well as the safety and hygiene requirements for storing and disposing of food and drink. All of these elements of training should come together to form a cohesive programme that can impart the skills and knowledge needed for staff to ensure a community of residents that are eating healthy, nutritious food regularly in a safe and hygienic way and staying hydrated. 

Clinical record keeping 

Not only are high standards of clinical record keeping a regulatory requirement for the CQC and other bodies, but it is fundamental to any care home to ensure high levels of oversight, governance and organisation. Not only does high standards of clinical record keeping ultimately boost the chances of providing better levels of care through consistent and up-to-date records that reflect an often-changing environment such as a care home, but it can also help to promote teamwork and continuity of care among everyone involved. 

Managing medications 

Understanding the best practices for safely managing medications is a crucial aspect of providing good levels of care and avoiding potential health risks. Overall, training for understanding the proper management of medications should be one of the central points of training to ensure best quality of life because it often intersects with many other aspects of person-centred care, and it should include elements like the safe administration and handling of medications, safe disposal of medications, any legislation and policies that revolve around medication management, common types of medications and their use as well as potential side effects, this can also include the proper use of topical medications. 

Points of training should also include procedures and techniques that help facilitate safe medication management, the proper recording of medication administration, and how to monitor and adapt medication use when necessary.  

Mandatory training for care homes to suit your needs and your residents’ needs 

These are just some of the most important aspects of mandatory training for care workers that should be considered in order to ensure that your staff have the right mix of knowledge and skills to always provide the best levels of person-centred care. Other subjects might include mental capacity and safeguarding, dementia awareness, positive risk taking, activity planning and many more, but the best place to receive all of the training your care home will ever need to ensure that current best practices are always being observed is by investing in our Mandatory and Compliance Training platform. 

Part of the Connected Care Platform, our learning and development solution offers a wide variety of training courses for everyone involved in care, whether it’s care managers, care staff or healthcare providers. All of these training courses are tailored to deliver specific care-related care outcomes, and with new training courses coming out regularly, our Mandatory and Compliance Training platform, part of our learning and development solution, will help care homes navigate the unique and often changing landscape of health and social care.