There is no doubt that to carry out the best job and make your client feel safe and secure in the hands of their home carer, the key is not just in experience but that it is backed up solidly by excellent training and the knowledge of up-to-date practice and policies. I’m Tahira, a Recruitment Consultant at Access Care and I am always happy to talk through our training requirements with carers when they call to register with us.
All Live-in Carers should be professionally trained. Whether you are employed by a live-in care agency that provides your training or you are a private self-employed Live in Carer you should ensure you have adequate training to care for your clients.
This article looks at the training requirements of an agency that Living in Carers register with for the purpose of finding work (clients to care for). Each agency will have a different registration criterion for training so asking ‘what training do I need’ is a good one.
All will want their Domiciliary Carers to have been recently training in the following as a bare minimum:
Moving & Handling - This teaches the carer to move and support clients who may have mobility issues, with best possible practice, to ensure that the client can be safely and securely moved without injury to anyone. Techniques learned include how to use a wide variety of moving equipment, e.g. different hoists, and also in ensuring equipment is also kept in good condition.
First Aid or Basic Life Support - An essential set of skills and techniques on how to respond to a wide range of emergencies, keeping the client safe and alive until paramedics can take over. Many of these skills need to be learnt hands-on with a trainer in a classroom environment.
Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults - This involves learning and putting into practice the means by which wellbeing, health, and human rights of adults who are at risk, can live safely and free from abuse and neglect, and that their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs are respected when taking any action in their service.
Medication- This involves the carer knowing how to administer medication carefully, following the basic rules of medication administration, which are —right patient, right dose, right medication, right route, right time, right reason, right response and right documentation, to avoid medication administration errors.
There are a wide range of further training modules available and these are always welcome as they show dedication to expanding skills which are useable for a wide range of client conditions. The list is endless, but may include Alzheimer’s or dementia, palliative care, neurological conditions, disabling conditions, stroke, cancer. And also in practical skills, such as nutrition and food hygiene, fire safety awareness, health & safety, infection control, and so on.
For practical and health & safety reasons, it is preferable that training is learnt in a classroom, where the carer is face-to-face with the trainer. This ensures that the carer gets hands-on experience and learns first-hand the reasons for best practice when using equipment or carrying out certain techniques. This is especially true for training in Moving & Handling and First Aid training.
Will My NVQ Training Count And Do I Need To Retrain?
Having NVQs, nursing and/or care degree certificates are all impressive and you should be rightly proud of these achievements. However, it is expected that training is kept up-to-date and knowledge of the latest policies and procedures are proven.
Best practice also expects that Livein Carers update their skills regularly in the future as well. Regular training gives your client and client’s family peace of mind, knowing that they are in safe hands. You may also be asked for your training details from your carer insurance company, in the event of an accident.
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