The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism

What is it and why has it been introduced?

The training is named after Oliver McGowan.

Oliver was a teenager who died in 2016 after being given antipsychotic medication he was known to be intolerant to.

The training is part of the government’s ‘Right to be heard’ commitments.

The training will equip the health and social care workforce with the right skills, knowledge & confidence they need to improve provide safe, compassionate and informed care and outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people.

The training will be standardised & accredited, drawing on:

existing best practice
the expertise of people with a learning disability, autistic people and family carers
subject matter experts.

Why do we have to do it?

The Government has introduced a requirement for Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered service providers to ensure their employees receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role.

This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022 .

What exactly do we have to do?

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2022, health and social care providers will need to complete training on learning disability and autism, but can find an alternative training package to the Oliver McGowan package if they prefer

Everyone has to complete the “e-learning for health” training package. The e-learning will help staff understand learning disability and autism, as well as methods of communication and reasonable adjustments people may need.

The e-learning is:

FREE
Takes 1.5 hours
Available now
Contents
- Section 1 – Introduction
- Section 2 – Understanding learning disability
- Section 3 – Understanding autism
- Section 4 – Communication
- Section 5 – Reasonable adjustments
- Section 6 – Summary

Once we have done the e-learning, what else do we need to do?

Tier 1

People not delivering direct patient care and who need general awareness will be Tier 1.

People in Tier 1 will need to complete a 1 hour online interactive session co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator

This training covers all the Tier 1 capabilities of the Core Capabilities Frameworks

Tier 2

People delivering direct patient care and who may need to provide care and support for autistic people or people with a learning disability

Those in Tier 2 will need to complete a 1 day face to face training course co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator

This training covers all the Tier 2 capabilities of the Core Capabilities Frameworks

Tier 2 training includes Tier 1 material, so individuals only need to do one training package, either Tier 1 or Tier 2, whichever is most relevant to their role.

When do we have to do this?

The free e-learning is available now

However, there is a suggestion that the Tier 1 and Tier 2 learning resources have to be completed within 6 months of the e-learning and the Tiers 1 & 2 materials are not out yet

CQC

It is unclear whether CQC will expect practices to have started to access the e-learning straight away.

Training staff to support autistic people and people with a learning disability - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)

ICBs

Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are being supported to develop training capacity across England. As the number of trainers grows, the access to the online interactive and face-to-face training will increase. Each ICB will make its own decisions about how it organises and prioritises its delivery.