The Care Certificate is a training programme for those working within health and social care.
The Care Certificate 15 Standards is an essential starting point for leaders and managers of care services to ensure that all their front-line staff deliver care that is safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led.
All leaders in adult care must ensure that each member of their staff undertakes the Care Certificate before the staff member is allowed to work unsupervised with any client, patient, or service-user.
The Care Certificate was originally intended as an induction programme for new starters in health and social care, however the Care Certificate provides comprehensive training for all staff and it is recommended for all staff at all levels.
What is the Care Certificate?
The Care Certificate is an identified set of care induction standards to enable staff working in health and social care to understand the minimum standards they must adhere to in their daily working life.
Although the Care Certificate was originally intended for the non-regulated workforce, the Care Certificate is recommended for everyone who works in any area of health and social care, whatever their level.
The Care Certificate is not a qualification.
The Care Certificate is not regulated in the way that qualifications are regulated, and in recent years this has resulted in some courses being sold by some people as Care Certificate even when their in-house course does not deliver the official Care Certificate 15 Standards, as indicated further in this article.
In the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF), the size of the qualification determines the title it is given, whether it is an Award, a Certificate or a Diploma.
Under RQF, there are three sizes of qualifications depending on the Credit Value and the Total Qualification Time (TQT) in hours.
Award is a qualification between 1 credit to 12 credits, with a TQT value of 120 hours or less
Certificate is a qualification between 13 credit to 36 credits, with a TQT value between 121 hours to 369 hours
Diploma is a qualification with 37 credits or more, and with a TQT value of 370 hours or more
The Care Certificate is a small course, it doesn't have a credit value, and the whole course often takes learners between 15 and 30 hours to complete. If the rules governing naming learning programmes were followed, it would have been named an "Award".as the title "certificate" confuses people.
The name "certificate" attached to the Care Certificate is a misnomer, and it confuses people who don't fully understand how the Care Certificate came about.
If the rules used for naming learning programmes in the UK were followed, then it would have been named an "Award" and title as "certificate".
Origin of the Care Certificate
In the early 2000s, many scandals emerged regarding abuses and ill-treatments by care workers and hospital staff against patients and service-users within hospitals and social care settings.
One of these scandals led to the Francis Review Inquiry into Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
As more reports emerged of failings in other hospitals and care homes, Jeremy Hunt, Conservative MP, the then Secretary of State for Health in 2013 asked Baroness Camilla Cavendish, a British journalist, who was a contemporary of the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, to review what can be done to ensure that unregistered staff in the NHS and social care treat all patients and clients with care and compassion.
The Cavendish Review found that most of the failings were due to untrained healthcare assistants performing a lot of tasks that used to be carried out by nurses and even doctors, There was no compulsory basic training for non-regulated staff, and this patchy training was leading to harm and deaths of patients.
The Cavendish Review found that induction, training and development of staff in health and social care settings were inconsistent, inadequate, and in some organisations, completely non-existent.
In her Review, Baroness Cavendish proposed new common training standards across health and social care, along with a “Certificate of Fundamental Care,” written in plain English, to make a positive statement about caring. And she asked that the CQC should require that all workers have achieved this Certificate before working unsupervised.
Following the findings of the Cavendish Review, published in July 2013, regarding serious cases of repeated abuse and harmful behaviour by care staff on patients, residents and clients, the then government in 2013 responded to the Cavendish Review findings by tasking the Sector Skills bodies to come up with a solution.
Skills For Care, Skills For Health, and Health Education England worked together to create the Care Certificate for minimum training for inducting new care staff
Who developed the Care Certificate?
The Care Certificate was jointly developed by the Sector Skills Councils namely Skills for Care (Sector Skills Council for Adult Social Care), Skills for Health (Sector Skills Council for Health) and Health Education England.
Sector Skills Councils create National Occupational Standards (NOS) for different job roles drawn from employers and the NOS are used to develop recognised and accredited competence-based national qualifications in the UK.
The Care Certificate is a set of 15 Care Certificate Standards that were created by these Sector Skills bodies for induction of all new care staff in all health and social care settings in the UK.
The Care Certificate applies to all areas of care, including health care, social care, community care, etc.
The Care Certificate gives everyone the confidence of knowing all those workers who undertake the Care Certificate have studied the same introductory skills, knowledge and behaviours to provide compassionate, safe and high quality care and support.
The Care Certificate:
applies across health and social care;
links to competences and National Occupational Standards for care job roles;
covers what is required to be caring;
will equip workers with the fundamental skill they need to provide quality care; and
gives learners a basis from which they can further develop their knowledge and skills as their career progresses.
All new staff should undertake the Care Certificate, regardless of their previous job role.
Why everyone must undertake the Care Certificate
Experienced care staff, including care managers, moving to a new job should also undertake the Care Certificate as a refresher.
Regulated staff such as Doctors, Nurses, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists etc often assume that they have gained similar skills and knowledge to the Care Certificate within their professional training, and they assume that they do not need to also achieve the Care Certificate as part of their induction, but that is an incorrect assumption.
Although health care and social care are closely related systems that work together to improve people's well-being, but each sector has a different focus.
Health care settings include GP services, hospitals, dental services, and rehabilitation services.
Health care is focused on medical and nursing needs, such as treating injuries, diseases, or disabilities, nursing care during and after treatment, and preventive measures like vaccinations and health education.
The training of health care staff is focused on medical and nursing needs as detailed above, and delivering that health care within a health care environment. Such training of health care staff are not focused on social care because that is not where they will work.
Social care services are usually provided in people's homes, care homes, or elsewhere in the community.
Social care focuses on supporting the individual with personal care and social support, such as helping people with daily activities, maintaining independence, promoting social interaction, and protecting people in vulnerable situations.
The training of social care staff is focused on delivering social care support as detailed above, and delivering that social care within a social care environment, which is often in the client's personal home, or in a residential care home which simulates the client's own home.
This difference in the basic training of health care staff is the reason why many health care staff struggle to adequately deliver social care aspects of care.
This lack of knowledge and understanding of basic social care training and delivery is also a key contributing factor for poor CQC ratings of some care services run and managed by medical and nursing staff.
It is a good idea for all staff to undertake the Care Certificate as a refresher of basic training what is required in social care.
How the Care Certificate 15 Standards should be used
Anyone intending to work in care should start their own training by undertaking the Care Certificate.
People must never overestimate their own knowledge because they have a university degree. Someone's life depends on this!
Care support is fast moving and dynamic work, and even the smallest mistake can result in serious harm or even death of a client. Therefore, everyone must ensure they undertake the appropriate Care Certificate basic training in order to provide safe care and support.
The Care Certificate 15 Standards provide training approved by Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the sector skills councils being Skills for Care, and Skills for Health.
The Care Certificate is a key component of the overall induction that employers must provide to their staff, legally and in order to meet the essential standards set out by the Care Quality Commission.
The Care Certificate is an agreed set of standards that define the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of specific job roles in the health and social care sectors.
The Care Certificate is made up of the 15 standards that should be provided during induction training for those new to care work, and ideally also for those changing jobs, and should form part of a robust induction programme.
Managers and Leaders of care settings must ensure that all their staff undergo the Care Certificate training and demonstrate knowledge and competence in the 15 Standards before the staff member is allowed to work unsupervised with clients and patients.
The Care Certificate is line with the latest UK legislation and meet the requirements set out by Skills for Care and endorsed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and other professional and regulatory bodies in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
15 Care Certificate Standards detailed learning outcomes covered.
Care certificate Standard 1 - Understand Your Role
Your responsibilities as a care worker,
Understand own role
Work in ways that have been agreed with your employer
Understand working relationships in health and social care
Work in partnership with others
Care certificate Standard 2 – Your Personal Development
importance of personal development at work,
understand different types of qualifications in the UK
how to create your personal development plan and why this is important.
how to develop your own knowledge, understanding and skills
Understand core skills,
use of supervision, appraisals and SMART objectives.
Care certificate Standard 3 – Duty of Care
the importance of duty of care in your role,
how duty of care contributes to safe practice,
support available for addressing dilemmas that may arise about duty of care,
the ways to deal with comments, complaints, incidents, errors and near misses in your work,
using policies and incident forms.
Care certificate Standard 4 – Equality and Diversity
the meaning of equality, diversity, discrimination,
the different types of discrimination, at the barriers to equality and diversity in care, The Equality Act 2010 and the nine protected characteristics.
how to work in an inclusive way
Care certificate Standard 5 – Work in a person-centred way
Understand person-centred values
the importance of working in a person centred way, including the 6Cs of care,
factors that may cause discomfort or distress
how to support individuals to minimise pain or discomfort
how to support the individual to maintain their identity and self-esteem
how to support individuals using the person-centred approach, the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Care certificate Standard 6 – Communication
effective communication and why it is important in your role,
different types of communication, including verbal and non-verbal communication,
how to meet the communication and language needs, wishes and preferences of individuals,
how to support the use of communication aids and technologies
why confidentiality in care is vital, and when confidentiality can be broken.
Care certificate Standard 7 – Privacy and dignity
the principles that underpin privacy and dignity in care,
how to maintain and respect privacy and dignity, and raise concerns
helping individuals to make informed choices
how to support active participation
Care certificate Standard 8 – Fluids and nutrition
the importance of nutrition and hydration,
importance of food safety and the relevant food safety legislation
how to assess nutrition and hydration needs in a person-centred way
circumstances that may affect an individual’s food and drink choice, such as beliefs, preferences, health conditions, medicines and support needed for individuals to eat and drink.
Care certificate Standard 9 – Awareness of Mental Health, Dementia and Learning Disability
awareness of mental health, dementia and learning disabilities,
relevant key legislation,
the ways to promote communication with individuals who have learning disabilities,
common mental health problems,
meaning of mental capacity in relation to how care is provided
Care certificate Standard 10 – Safeguarding Adults
the importance of safeguarding vulnerable adults
what constitutes harm
why an individual may be vulnerable to harm or abuse
types of abuse that can occur, including Domestic Violence and Abuse Awareness
signs and symptoms that indicate when a person is being abused,
relevant legislation that applies to safeguarding vulnerable adults,
how to reduce the likelihood of abuse
how to record and report any safeguarding concerns.
Care certificate Standard 11 – Safeguarding Children
the importance of safeguarding children,
types of abuse children can experience
signs and symptoms that indicate a child is being abused.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Risk factors that increase the likelihood of abuse of a child in their own home
Your Role in Safeguarding Children
how to record and report safeguarding concerns.
Care certificate Standard 12 – Basic life support
basic life support training,
importance of CPR and the role of hand-only CPR,
signs and causes of cardiac arrest,
causes of an obstructed airway
treatment of choking in adults, infants and children
UK Resuscitation Council Resuscitation Guidelines
Care certificate Standard 13 – Health and Safety
health and safety in care settings,
main health and safety legislation that apply to health and social care workers, employer and employee responsibilities,
health and safety in relation to administering medication, needles and sharps, moving and handling and using correct PPE
promoting fire safety
working securely
managing stress
Care certificate Standard 14 – Handling information
agreed ways of working and legislation regarding the recording, storing and sharing of information,
importance of secure systems for recording, storing and sharing information,
the eight Caldiott Principles,
data protection principles and relevant legislation,
how you can report concerns regarding the recording, storing or sharing of information internally, whistleblowing and reporting concerns externally
data breaches and how to avoid them
principles of good record keeping
responsibilities of health and social care organisations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
Care certificate Standard 15 – Infection control
different types of infections,
the chain of infection, the entry and exit routes of transmission and how to break the chain of infection,
short-term and long-term consequences of infections
employer and employee responsibilities regarding infection control
effective hand hygiene
principles of safe handling of infected or soiled linen and clinical waste
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