Partners In Care

Around 38,000 employers and 1.3 million staff currently work in adult social care. To deliver a high-quality service it’s vital that care workers can access training at different stages of their career for their continued professional development.

Skills development opportunities for staff working at all levels, are available in your area.

Partners in Care is not a training provider. We do not deliver training directly, but we work closely with local authority training teams and training providers across Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole to develop and promote training opportunities for people working in adult social care.

On this page, you will find the local authority training schedule for your area, together with details of some care specific courses and a list of training providers, click an entry to view further information on a particular provider.

If you can’t find what you need here, please get in touch and we will do our best to find a solution for you.

In response to your feedback at our recent events, Partners in Care are delighted to be working with the School of Health and Social Care at Bournemouth University to support a Nutrition course, designed specifically for those delivering care for older people.

Date: Wednesday 8th September 2010 Times: 9:30 – 4:30 Venue: Bournemouth University

A practical one-day course delivered at the University.

Topics include:

• Principles of nutrition and healthy eating • Meeting nutritional needs of the elderly • Common nutrition-related disorders of the elderly • Overview of improving nutrition in the elderly – overcoming disabilities

Course Fee £75 - Refreshments and lunch are provided.

Numbers are limited. If you would like to reserve a place(s) please email Sam Clarke or call her on 01202 639026.

These are now available on the Skills for Care website.

Following consultation with the sector, Skills for Care has refreshed the standards to ensure they are fit for purpose and reflect current policy and practice. The Common Induction Standards are for people entering social care, and those changing roles or employers within social care.

The effective implementation of the Common Induction Standards is a significant step towards the delivery of high quality care and support The Care Quality Commission's Essential Standards of Quality and Safety highlight the importance and value of strong and comprehensive induction and they will need to be assured that all new staff have undergone a thorough induction process.

You can download the details from our website – www.skillsforcare.org.uk/cis.

Extension to Funding for NVQ level 2 and 3 Social Care Qualifications

Skills for Care has welcomed the decision by the Skills Funding Agency to extend the time limit for new learners registering on NVQ Level 2 and 3 Social Care qualifications.

The NVQ funding was due to be withdrawn in August 2010 as part of the transition to the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). But the Skills Funding Agency has now agreed to continue to provide funding for eligible learners in this area starting NVQ Level 2 and 3 Social Care qualifications up until 31 December 2010.

This Skills Funding Agency list of NVQ qualifications that will not be funded beyond 31 July 2010 can be found at Skills Funding Agency.

From January 2011 a new range of qualifications will be introduced to replace the current Health and Social Care NVQ at level 2 and level 3. These will be called Health and Social Care Diplomas at Level 2 and level 3. There will be options to take a generic HSC Diploma or a specialist Dementia pathway or Learning Disability pathway which will allow learners to tailor their learning to their job role.

Skills for Care is committed to the introduction of the new qualifications as part of the QCF and is working closely with all partners to ensure that all the necessary arrangements are in place for their introduction.

QCF Update - April 2010

Source: www.skillsforcare.org.uk/qcf

Qualification development is happening at speed. QCF units/qualifications have been broken down into workstreams these include:

• Commissioning Procurement & Contracting in Care Services (CPCCS)
• Health and Social Care Diploma Level, 2, 3 & 5(HSC)
• Leadership & Management in Care Services (LMCS)
• Moving and assisting individuals
• Dementia
• Learning Disability
• Physical Disability
• Sensory Services
• Activities Organiser

These units have been out for sector consultation and subsequent changes made following feedback. We are at the final stages of unit development working with awarding organisations to upload units into a qualification. We will be able to share final units at the end of this process. Please check this webpage for further updates.

The way that qualifications are organised and structured is changing. This includes all vocational qualifications in all sectors - not just social care.

The current National Qualifications Framework (NQF) will be replaced by the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). This is a government initiative across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The QCF is a new flexible way of recognising and rewarding skills and qualifications. The QCF will present units and qualifications in a simpler way and it will lead to qualifications that are flexible and meet the skills and knowledge needs of the workforce.

The QCF is designed to capture the flexibility of a 'mix and match' approach to meet a wider variety of the workforce's needs. How will it work? Credit and level

Every unit and qualification in the framework will have a credit value(one credit represents 10 hours, showing how much time it takes to complete) and a level between entry level and level 8 (showing how difficult it is).

There are three sizes of qualifications in the QCF:

• awards (1 to 12 credits)
• certificates (13 to 36 credits)
• diplomas (37 credits or more)

So each qualification title will contain the following:

• the level of the qualification (from entry level at the bottom to level 8 at the top)
• the size of qualification (award/certificate/diploma)
• details indicating the content of the qualification

The QCF will allow Skills for Care to develop units and qualifications in different ways to meet the changing needs of the workforce as highlighted by our Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) and our Sector Qualification Strategy (SQS).

One day study days..

The interactive workshops aims to provide an opportunity for GPs, District Nurses, Community Matrons, Doctors and Specialist Nurses, senior staff in Care Homes and Social Care to explore the issues and challenges related to Advance Care Planning and its application in the provision of end of life care.

The content will include: * What is meant by Advance Care Planning * Aims and Principles of ACP – including documentation and legal aspects * Roles and Responsibilities

The study days will run from 9.30 to 16.30. CPD points (5/6) are awarded to each training day by the Royal College of Physicians.

The BSc (Hons) Nutrition programme is a three year course at Bournemouth University. This programme covers a number of subjects including human nutrition, human food chain, psychology, health promotion and food safety. The students are expected to undertake an unpaid work experience placement between their second and third year. This is expected to be at least 20 days but students can elect to work for longer if mutually beneficial to themselves and the placement provider. The placement is expected to be carried out sometime between mid June and late September.

In the past students have undertaken successful placements in the following areas:

• Encouraging healthy eating in residential homes for adults with mental health problems.
• Working alongside chefs in organisations to ensure government guidelines for nutrition and healthy eating are being met when delivering the meal service.
• Promoting healthy eating in day centres for adults and families.

This placement is hugely beneficial to the students concerned as it gives them an opportunity to put into practice the theories learnt at university. To date we have received a great deal of very positive feedback from the placement providers about the benefits of this student experience for their organisation.

If you would like to take the opportunity to have a nutrition student undertaking a placement this summer with your organisation then please e-mail Joanne Holmes or call her on 01202 961584.

If you have any questions regards to any of the above please do not hesitate to e-mail Partners in Care or call 01202 639026.

Free English course delivered across Bournemouth & Poole by experienced and qualified techers. Courses are accredited and lead to recognised qualifications.

Download the below voucher for more information and to claim your free course.

Apprenticeships are the proven way to train your workforce. Apprenticeships deliver real returns to your bottom line. In a recent survey*, the majority of employers said that Apprenticeships helped them to improve productivity and to be more competitive. They also said that training apprentices is more cost effective than hiring skilled staff, leading to lower overall training and recruitment costs. The Apprenticeship programme has been designed to help your employees reach a high level of competency and performance and with over 190 different types of Apprenticeships, there?s bound to be a place for an apprentice in your organisation.

The National Apprenticeship Service focuses on increasing the number of Apprenticeship opportunities and provides a dedicated, responsive service for both employers and learners. We are simplifying the process of recruiting an apprentice through Apprenticeship vacancies, where vacancies can be advertised online free of charge to young people interested in Apprenticeships in your local area.

An additional incentive to encourage new employers to benefit from Apprenticeships has been launched by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) in the South West. The new grant offers small and medium sized eligible businesses up to £1000 when starting a new apprentice in its organisation and £750 when placing an existing employee onto an Apprenticeship. The scheme is limited, so businesses should contact the NAS to find out more about eligibility. To find out more about the how Apprenticeships can benefit your business and the funding available contact 08000 150 600 or visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk.

Apprenticeships, survey conducted by Populus on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council, February 2009.

The Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), enables measurement from the users' perspective of key social care outcomes such as cleanliness and comfort, good nutrition, control over daily life, social interaction and dignity. It will assist commissioners in their move towards contracting adult social care services on the basis of accurately measured outcomes in order to provide better value for money. It will also assist commissioners, in partnership with service users, to find the best care services so that they can achieve their desired outcomes.

The toolkit has already been tested in around 170 care homes across the different sectors.

Government Today

Skills for Care developed the care training codes to help organisations purchasing training and development for the adult social care workforce.

The codes provide:

• an overview of the core values which should form the basis of social care training and development

• questions and issues that should be thought about when purchasing training and development.