Welcome to episode 29 of Continuous Quality Compliance

Today I am talking about… Training and personal development

CQC ask for a training matrix. They wan to see that you are covering mandatory training. However it is important o note that as part of Regulation 18 Staffing. Staff skills and knowledge and development of staff appropriately. To me training should be looked at outside the box. Don’t assume that all training has to be either class room based or e learning. It should be a mix but also your staff will have different learning styles so the number one thing is to find out the learning style of staff. Why because they will learn better .

Also look at staff development broader then just today.

What do I mean. Well for instance in one organisation I am working with we have been discussing succession planning. The senior staff have been with the company for over 20 years so there will come a time when they are ready to retire. If they want staff from within the organisation to apply for their roles they need to be thinking about succession planning so that other senior staff are taught relevant tasks. This needs to be done over a at least 18 months to 2 years’ time frame. I despair because in the NHS I have seen succession planning being none existent.

When you are promoting staff especially into management roles please ensure you give them the tools to do their job. I have had personal experience of being thrown into a management role with no experience and it was difficult. I ended up being bullied. I learnt the hard way how to manage I would not wish that on anyone. I blame my managers it was not even in the job advert. There was no training provided I had to ask for relevant training. I learnt a lot but at the expensive of my mental health. My husband found it hard seeing me crying night after night when I was being bullied. The next time I knew what to do. No, I did not leave the organisation because I had not done anything wrong. I actually was being supportive, but the team had been so used to managing themselves in a bad way they didn’t like having a manager.

So training is not just about mandatory training it is about give the staff the right tools to do their job and develop them so they wan to stay. If you can have a career path that is even better. Staff who feel valued will usually stay.

Training can be learning from journals, personal development books ,going to forums in the local area and imparting the knowledge. It can even be learning from films. So think outside the box when you consider training. If you want some ideas get in touch with me through the contact form on my website

For instance Home Instead Care collaborated with the local hospital to reduce hospitalisation after falls and also to reduce unnecessary calls. By working as a team both parties were able to help each other and more importantly their clients. It meant the trust training the Home Instead Staff on a traffic light falls assessment system which they used in hospital . This is what I mean about outside the box thinking. You don’t need to find the answers only within your organisation collaborate with other that you refer to and see how you can help each other. Case Studies can be found on the CQC website

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