CQC has published information today (Tuesday 24 March) that sets out what we expect from health and social care providers ahead of the introduction of a new Care Certificate from 1 April.
The Care Certificate follows on from an independent review in February 2013, carried out by Camilla Cavendish, into valuing and supporting care assistants and support workers in health and social care settings.
Publishing of The Cavendish review in July 2013 proposed that all healthcare assistants and social care support workers should undergo the same basic training, based on the best practice that already exists in the system, and must get a standard ‘certificate of fundamental care’ before they can care for people unsupervised.
Since then, Health Education England (HEE), Skills for Care (SfC) and Skills for Health (SfH), have developed the Care Certificate which contains 15 standards and outlines what health and social care workers – including assistants within hospitals, care homes and people’s own homes – should know and be able to deliver in their daily jobs.
It has been produced to address inconsistences in training and competencies in the workforce so that people and families experiencing care services can have confidence that all staff have the same introductory skills, knowledge and behaviours to provide safe, high quality and compassionate care of the highest standards.
Regarded as ‘best practice’ for the induction of new healthcare assistants and social care support workers, the Care Certificate will also offer existing staff opportunities to refresh or improve their knowledge.
The Care Certificate officially launches from April building on, and ultimately replacing, the Common Induction Standards (in adult social care) and the National Minimum Training Standards (in healthcare).
We expect that providers who employ health care support workers and adult social care workers should be able to demonstrate that those staff have, or are working towards, the skills set out in the Care Certificate.
Guidance is being issued to providers with reference to the Care Certificate made under Regulation 18 on staffing, and Regulation 19 on fit and proper persons employed.
The guidance will also include links to the relevant Care Certificate materials to signpost providers to resources that can help them implement the standards as part of their induction and staff development programmes.
Our Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Andrea Sutcliffe, said: “We welcome the launch of the Care Certificate from April as a framework for good practice for the induction of staff across health and social care settings. I encourage all providers to be aware of the new Care Certificate standards.
“As part of our new approach to inspecting, monitoring and rating health and social care services, we expect providers to recruit, support and develop their staff appropriately.
“It is a crucial responsibility of providers to make sure that their health and social care staff are skilled, valued and trained to do their job well. We know from our inspections that those who do are more likely to deliver the sort of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services that people have every right to expect.”
More about CQC’s position on the Care Certificate can be found here.
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We welcome the launch of the Care Certificate from April as a framework for good practice for the induction of staff across health and social care settings.
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care