Health and Social Care: Empower your Staff With Knowledge and Skills

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No matter the workplace, having staff who are fully trained and equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills to do their job efficiently is essential for day-to-day work. Within the care sector, friends and family of those in need want to know that staff are able to do their jobs competently and consistently. In addition, staff are required to fulfil their duties efficiently and demonstrate this to the Care Quality Commission. When staff have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge, they will feel empowered to their job confidently.

There are many skills required for those working in the health and social care sector: child and adult safeguarding, health and safety, plus many more areas of proficiency. Ensuring that staff have up-to-date knowledge through e-learning courses is crucial in the workplace.  

Benefits of Health and Social Care Training

• Empowerment and Confidence: If employees feel confident in their knowledge and skills, they will feel more positive about the job overall. A confident employee may also be willing to take on new challenges and feel more comfortable working with others.

• Better Quality of Service: A study by The University of Kent found a positive correlation between trained staff and the quality of life for care home residents. This is a key reason for thorough staff training, as the quality of service provided is an essential part of working in health and social care.

• Retention of Staff: Employees who receive training and development from their employer are more likely to feel satisfied in their job. In turn, this can lead to an increase in retention rates, which is beneficial for the whole organisation.

Analyse the Gaps in Skill

In order to prepare training for staff, you first need to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Even if staff have already been fully trained and have the required skills and qualifications, keeping up with legislation and developing their knowledge is essential in Health and Social Care.

For example, staff may have been working for a long time and need a refresh on the safeguarding procedures or information on data protection. There are a few ways you can analyse the skills gap, but the most important thing is to understand what the goal of the job role is and where the gaps lie.

Talk to Staff

Deciding what additional training your staff need to feel confident and empowered comes from talking to them. You might think they have an excellent understanding of health and safety, but by participating in a discussion with them, you may discover that they are concerned about their skills in this area and decide that further health and safety training is necessary.

Talking to staff and finding the common gaps in their knowledge and expertise will help you evaluate what training to choose. E-learning courses offer a variety of topics to develop learning.

Book an e-Learning Course

Finding appropriate training courses for Health and Social Care can be difficult. The cost of organising training days are high and getting all of your staff available can be problematic. In order to reduce travelling costs and trying to get the staff together all at once, consider e-learning courses.

Online training has many benefits, as it allows staff to go at their own pace and learn bite-size chunks about different topics. With the most up-to-date information, you can rest assured that all staff have consistent, high-quality training. You will also receive management reports to keep you up to date with how staff are progressing.

Although online training focuses on the individual, allowing staff time to talk as a group about the training is another great way to increase their confidence. This allows them to discuss their new skills and how best to use them in practice.

EduCare for Health and Social Care is the new e-learning package which maps to the Care Certificate and the UK Core Skills Training Framework for Health. The package is a great investment for all staff working in the Health and Social Care sector. Call EduCare on 01926 436 211 to find out more and discover how your staff can feel empowered in the workplace.

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