The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism launched
Following a long campaign led by Oliver McGowan’s mother Paula McGowan OBE, HEE and partners at DHSC, NHS England and Skills for Care launched The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism e-learning.
Oliver McGowan was a bright, kind and happy young man with a mild learning disability and autism. Oliver tragically died on 11 November 2016 in an NHS hospital and his death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training in understanding, communicating with and treating people with a learning disability and autistic people.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training aims to provide the health and care workforce with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training has been co-produced, trialled with over 8300 health and care staff and independently evaluated by NDTi. It has been designed in two tiers so all staff working across all CQC registered services receive the right level of mandatory training. The e-learning is the first part of The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training and everyone in health and care needs to do this no matter where they work and what tier of training they need to complete.
Research has shown that on average, people with a learning disability and autistic people die earlier than the general public, and do not receive the same quality of care as people without a learning disability or who are not autistic.
We want and need to change this.
We need to do everything in our power to prevent a story like Oliver’s from having to be told again and launching the training is a vital step to help us all achieve this.
Level 1 e-learning is available on ESR now and you will be able to play this directly. Please do allow yourself adequate time to complete, on average the training is taking 90 minutes. You can start the training and return to it though.
If you are affected by the story of Oliver McGowan, remember that we have support services in place across DCHS. You can access free and confidential 1-1 counselling through our staff support service, Resolve.
Our wellbeing team is also on hand to advise, signpost and support your specific wellbeing needs. You can contact them at: dchst.yourwellbeingteam@nhs.net