NHS Health Care Induction Campaign
Since February, the team at Vital Workplace Training have been working alongside the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership to deliver a fully tailored induction package to both prospective and qualified health care assistants, completing or refreshing their Level 2 Care certificate.
Dr Sharon McDonald Head of Nursing & Midwifery Transformation for the Mid & South Essex Health & Care Partnership says, “we were looking for a fully comprehensive training package that recognised the reality of the role of a health care assistant. Vital Workplace training were able to draw on their first-hand experience of working within the NHS to pull together an induction package that fulfilled our unique requirements on all levels, and met the standards and competencies outlined by the NMC”.
When considering the content of the course, it was noted that generalised training often didn’t fully prepare health care assistants for the reality of everyday situations that they would encounter within their role. Many health care assistants were leaving the service within a very short time after qualifying due to feeling under prepared and overwhelmed.
We took into consideration that health care assistants work within many different areas of the NHS, and so our training needed to concentrate on the wide variety of situations they would encounter day to day, and the settings in which they might be employed. These skills needed to be effective and transferable across all sectors, whether it be community support, pre-hospital and in-hospital support, or mental health support; adaptability was key.
Meeting the statutory requirements of the NHS care certificate, we developed a programme that covered modules such as safeguarding, basic life support, infection control, health and safety, mental health, learning disability and dementia awareness, fluids and nutrition, privacy and dignity and communication, as well as personal development, duty of care, equality and diversity and information handling.
Having now trained our third cohort of healthcare assistants over the last 6 weeks, we have been delighted to see them complete their qualification with confidence, and it gives us such satisfaction to know that they will be fully capable and prepared for the invaluable role they are set to play within the National Health Service