What does our Care Assistants Training Look Like?

What does a care assistant training involve?

“We spent a lot of time and care putting together our care assistant skills assessment,” explains Kieran our Interim Care Manager

“When care assistants start with us we run a full classroom-based five-day skills assessment that incorporates some practical aspects and some theory. It’s delivered to in small groups, so care assistants can share their experiences, which really helps to build that feeling of a team from day one.”

So… exactly what training do care assistants need?

How are carers trained at Bluebird Care?

“Our care assistant induction covers a variety of things,” explains Kieran. They include:

An induction to Bluebird Care with our directors
The 15 standards of the Care Certificate infection control, safeguarding, equality & diversity, fluids and nutrition, privacy & dignity, communication, working in a person centred way, to name a few
Medication
The Mental Capacity Act
Moving and positioning
Basic life support
Care notes
Operating the system we use for logging care notes - PASS
Our policies and procedures
A day in the life of a care assistant where we practice, washing, catheter care, shaving, changing support stockings, hair washing and teeth cleaning
Demenia Education Session with our very own Dementia Care Adviser Tamsin Hudson
Plus sharing as much knowledge as we can about completing care visits.

In every area of the training, empathy plays a huge part.

“Take the moving and positioning module,” says Kieran. “That’s hands-on. New starters on our skills assessment will be rolled in bed and hoisted out of bed to make sure they understand how potentially vulnerable a customer may feel when they’re experiencing that and where the potential discomfort may be.

Hoisting is not always a pleasant experience – it may be quite tight. So we feel it’s important our training teaches our team how it feels, and how to do it properly. If you’re being lifted out of bed and you’ve got poor mobility, you’ve got no control over that. The more our care assistants know how that feels, the more understanding they’ll be towards our customers.”

“Always training”

“We run training every month with new starters,” says Kieran "and annual refresher sessions for our existing care assistants.

"So when they start they have the 5day induction, then they go and complete shadowing care visits, before coming back in each year for those refreshers. So in a sense, we’re always training!”

Away from the classroom

In addition to our classroom-based training, we also offer care assistants training courses online as part of our e-learning platform. “It has to be completed through the new starter and following probation periods, with seven modules to go through including the care certificate qualification. It’s done on an online portal that’s incredibly easy to use – we haven’t had anyone raise any concerns. It gives further detail to follow on from the practical training, so it’s very useful carer training that all of our carers also have to complete annually."

For Kieran however, the learning really shifts up a gear when our carers’ training moves from the classroom to customers’ living rooms.

“That’s when our new care assistants go out and complete shadow shifts with confident care assistants who have been with the business a certain period of time, and customers who are comfortable with us sending shadow visits. Shadowing is that last step to make sure our care assistants feel comfortable before they go on care visits themselves. All of them tell us it’s an invaluable part of our Bluebird care assistants training.

Do care assistants get paid for training?

Another important aspect of our Skills Assessment is the fact it is paid. “ Our new starters show a great deal of commitment during those 5 days of training and we feel its extremely important that they are paid from day 1 to recognise that commitment and willingness to learn to be able to deliver exceptional care to our customers"

Curious about a career in care?

At Bluebird Care North Hampshire we’re always on the lookout for kind, caring people to join us on our monthly training sessions and move towards a career in home care.

“We’ve had such good feedback about our care assistant induction,” says Kieran. “It’s designed to put our care assistants in our customers’ shoes and our team love it. If you’re a new starter, we’re sure you will too!”

I am a week old here, and it's a totally new experience. They took me through an amazing induction that included training and meeting management and staff members. I really feel equipped and confident to go out and implement what l have learnt knowing that l have someone to lean on. Thank you Blue Bird for the warm welcome !!!

Dorothy

If that’s you, get in touch with us to find out more. Alternatively, check out our current North Hampshire care jobs at the Bluebird Care North Hampshire careers page.

The training was amazing! I felt so well informed and supported before entering the field. The team is amazing and made me feel so welcome, I'm looking forward to caring to the best of my ability for the clients the company and myself.