Which mandatory training courses are compulsory for health & social care providers?
Mandatory training for health and social care providers – statutory & mandatory requirements
At LearnPac Systems, we get alot of enquiries from doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and health and social care staff about their mandatory training requirements. In fact, a number of healthcare and social care providers are not at all clear about which mandatory training courses they sould provide for their staff. What does ‘mandatory training’ mean? Also, what is the difference between ‘mandatory training’ and ‘statutory training’? We get many enquiries from health and social care workers and organisations alike across the UK about mandatory training.
What is mandatory training?
In simple terms, mandatory training is a compulsory requirement for employees in all sectors. It is usually provided as part of the mandatory induction training, then annually thereafter. The annual training is often described as ‘mandatory training refresher’, or ‘mandatory training update’.
The term ‘mandatory training’ is most commonly used in NHS and private hospitals, care homes and other health and social care settings. In health and social care, mandatory training is often defined as the training that is required, based upon the responsibility for medical, nursing and care staff to work in a safe manner. The mandatory training course modules are delivered at different levels to ensure that they are appropriate for the individual roles and responsibilities, for example, Safeguarding training at Level 1, Level 2 and level 3.
Is mandatory training the same as statutory training?
Statutory training is the training that is required by law or where a statutory body has instructed organisations to provide that training on the basis of specific legislation. Examples of such specific requirements include the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. They both place legal responsibility on every employer in the UK to ensure all their staff have the knowledge to maintain a healthy and safe working environment for themselves and their colleagues.
NHS Trusts and other employers have a responsibility to provide various statutory and mandatory training and to ensure that all their staff attend training courses. Statutory training is required to ensure that NHS Trust and other health and social care providers meet their legislative duties. On the other hand, mandatory training is an organisational requirement to limit risk and maintain safe working practice. However, employers often use ‘mandatory training as a ‘catch all’ phrase for both statutory and mandatory training courses. Others refer to statutory training as ‘essential’ or ‘compulsory’ training to describe both mandatory and statutory training. Some simply refer to both as ‘statutory mandatory training’.
What does mandatory training include?
In health and social care sectors, the training requirements vary from one organisation to another. As such, training courses are guided by the range of service that are offered by the organisation. As such, each organisation has to undertake a needs assessment to establish what training is required to ensure that they deliver services that are safe and effective. In addition, the training courses have to be delivered at the appropriate level of understanding that is required for each group of employees. For example, Level 1 Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults awareness course for administration staff, then Level 2 for junior staff and level 3 training courses for those who have reporting responsibilities.
The following courses are some examples of mandatory courses that may be delivered by health and social care organisations (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Safeguarding vulnerble adults training
- Safeguarding children training
- Nutrition and hydration training
- Food hygiene or food safety awareness training
- Basic life support (BLS) training
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training
- Automated external defibrillator (AED) training
- Anaphylaxis training
- Medicines management training
- Verification of death training
- Information governance (Caldicott Principles)
- Consent training
- Complaints handling
- Conflict management training
- Safe moving and handling of people training
What does statutory training include?
In all Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated organisations (including the NHS), all new employees are required to undertake core health and safety awareness training courses. This usually includes:
- awareness of the local health and safety policy
- awareness of the control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH)
- when and how to report injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences (under RIDDOR regulations)
- fire safety awareness training
- manual handling training
- basic risk assessment training
- annual updates in essential areas of fire safety and manual handling
Is online mandatory training adequate?
Many organisations provide classroom based mandatory training courses. Other use a combination of classroom based and online training courses (blended learning), while others solely use e-learning. There are advantages and disadvantages of each format of training. Organisations should always fully assess their training needs, and in turn, evaluate the available training methods to meet their statutory and organisational requirements. A good learning management system (LMS) will be required to deliver effective e-learning. Choosing an appropriate LMS may be a challenge in itself. Follow the link below to find out more about how to select and appropriate learning management system for your organisation.
It is important to note that some courses cannot be delivered solely online. For example, moving and handling, basic life support and resuscitation training courses are best delivered using the classroom format. However, blended learning can also be useful for these courses, i.e., learners can take online courses covering all the theory, then a practical session where they can use equipment, role play etc. and also be formally assessed. Alternatively, they could do a classroom based course, then undertake their online assessments and additional learning using the e-learning portal. You can read more about blended learning, e-learning and learning management systems on our previous post on the links below:
- E-learning – a short introduction
- Blended learning environment – a short introduction
- Learning management systems – a short introduction
Alternatively, contact our Support Team on 0845 862 9555 or via email info@learnpac.co.uk to find out more about how LearnPac can help your organisation to benefit from our services. LearnPac Systems is a UK accredited provider of mandatory health and social care training courses online.
Mandatory Training | Statutory Training | Accredited E-Learning Provider | LearnPac Systems
