Do we have to do the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training?

There is a legal duty in the Health and Social Care Act 2022 that health services and staff (including General Practice) demonstrate an understanding of the needs of people with Learning Disabilities and Autism. According to CQC providers must “ensure that all staff receive training in how to interact appropriately with people with a learning disability and autistic people, at a level appropriate to their role.”

You can choose an alternative course to Oliver McGowan but it must meet the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice standards including; curriculum content, training specific to role and organisation and co-designed and co-delivered with lived experts and for Tier 2 training it must be a full in person (face to face) training.

Which staff roles should do which training?

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism: Tier guidance for employers states it is at employers discretion but we are happy to guide below.

Tier 1 is for general awareness raising non patient facing roles, but our recommendation is all roles that come into contact with patients including receptionists, care navigators undertake Tier 2. Receptionists, care coordinators and other non-clinical staff an important role in navigating and signposting patient care. Practices and organisations may consider all staff undertake Tier 2 supporting the Code of Practice that when we understand and communicate well with patients with LD and Neurodiverse conditions including Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Tourette’s, we have better experience patient outcomes. At the Hub Plus, we also celebrate and recognise the diversity in our workforce and this training can also apply to understanding autism, LD and neurodiversity in the workplace positively impacting team culture.

• For non-clinicians with less experience and knowledge of LD and Autism, it would be a good idea to start with Tier 1.
• Tier 1 part 1 is the e-learning for health module which must be completed before attending a 1 hour online live webinar.
• Tier 2 is for anyone who is patient facing including clinical and non-clinical roles.
• Tier 2 consists of the e-learning for health module plus a full day face-to-face training. This is suitable for all patient facing clinical colleagues and non-clinical staff wishing to increase their understanding and experience from Tier 1.

We are testing splitting Tier 2 into 2 half day sessions but the LD must be completed first followed by the Autism and both parts must be completed ideally within 2-4 weeks. There is NO guarantee if you miss one half of the training that you can attend another and may have to sit the whole day again. All attendees do Tier 1 live webinar and Tier 2 training must submit their E-learning for health certificate or they cannot attend and enrol on the day leading to cancellation of place and full course costs charged.

What is the minimum and maximum numbers per course?

Tier 1 is a max number of 35 for the 1 hour online delivery. For Tier 2 the guidance has changed from 25 to 30 providing it doesn’t affect quality of learning experience. This is a maximum set from NHSE and Oliver McGowan Code of Practice. We do need minimum course numbers of 15 for Tier 1 and at least 20 for Tier 2 to run the course to cover costs.

What’s different about The Hub Plus Oliver McGowan Training?

We have worked hard with our trainers and co-trainers to add in some supplementary content to support Primary Care learning. This does not detract from the excellent Oliver McGowan curriculum which we deliver but does adhere to the role specific training and organisational relevancy parts of the Code of Practice. We can work with other sectors to ensure we flag any internal policies or procedures that are relevant to the training. We also use local to Derbyshire trainers and co-trainers, this means you are supporting trainers and co-trainers in local employment opportunities. All of our trainer/facilitators work in Primary Care or Health and Social Care and have in-depth topic knowledge of Autism and Learning Disabilities and Neurodiversity. Our team of trainers and co-trainers have lived experience in autism and LD themselves or are carers of relatives with LD and autism.

Why do we have to pay?

NHS England provided funding for several years and there was a Derbyshire free system offer. A project team was seconded. This team completed their secondment and responsibilities passed to each organisation to ensure roll-out. It is necessary due to costs of running the programme with 2 co-trainers, a trainer and all the required QA, travel and project costs to charge competitive market rates for this course, within our not for profit structure. Significant investment and time has already been made by The Hub Plus in training the trainers and supporting co-trainers to enable this programme to be delivered for Primary Care.

Once booking is confirmed, any cancellations or non-attendance will still be charged the full rate. 

Can I do this training as an individual or do I need a whole practice/organisation/team?

We offer whole cohort bookings if your practice has 30 or more people that would like to do the training. 

I’m outside of Primary Care. How will you support us in making training applicable?

We will ensure the full Oliver McGowan content is delivered as per the standards set out in the code of practice and curriculum. We can also include some supplementary information should this be necessary, but overall, Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training has been designed for use in social care and health care environments with excellent feedback and evidence.