Posted on May 24th, 2022

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism programme can give nurses and other health and social care staff a better understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities or autism, enabling them to improve their management of those patients, the results of a two-year trial have shown.

The training programme is named after Oliver McGowan who was autistic and who died in November 2016 at the age of 18 after being given an antipsychotic medication even though he and his family warned that it could cause him harm. His death was determined to be “avoidable” by an independent review.

The training programme was developed by Health Education England (HEE) in partnership with organisations including Skills for Care and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and alongside Oliver’s family.

Autistic people, people with a learning disability and family carers, as well as subject-matter experts have all been involved in the design of the training programme, and are also involved in delivering the training.

The training is split into two tiers. Tier one is intended for staff working in any sector who may occasionally interact with people with a learning disability and/or autism, but who do not have responsibility for providing direct care or making decisions about care or support.

Chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May, at the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training forum

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism programme can give nurses and other health and social care staff a better understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities or autism, enabling them to improve their management of those patients, the results of a two-year trial have shown.

The training programme is named after Oliver McGowan who was autistic and who died in November 2016 at the age of 18 after being given an antipsychotic medication even though he and his family warned that it could cause him harm. His death was determined to be “avoidable” by an independent review.

“Our collective commitment will make sure that this doesn’t happen again"

Ruth May

The training programme was developed by Health Education England (HEE) in partnership with organisations including Skills for Care and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and alongside Oliver’s family.

Autistic people, people with a learning disability and family carers, as well as subject-matter experts have all been involved in the design of the training programme, and are also involved in delivering the training.

The training is split into two tiers. Tier one is intended for staff working in any sector who may occasionally interact with people with a learning disability and/or autism, but who do not have responsibility for providing direct care or making decisions about care or support.

Tier two is for health and social care staff and others with responsibility for providing care and support for an autistic person or people with a learning disability, but who would seek support from others for complex management or complex decision-making.

A trial of the programme, which started in 2020, included 8,300 health and care staff across England who underwent training either virtually, face-to-face, or via both methods.

The results of the trial were shared at the fifth and final stakeholder forum for the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism, held online today.

Feedback on the training was overwhelmingly positive, with the contributions from people with a learning disability or autism being rated as especially helpful by 95% of the participants in the trial.

Participants reported an increase in their knowledge, skills, confidence and confidence in communicating with people with learning disabilities or autistic people directly after the training and a few months later.

In a follow-up survey most people reported having made changes to their behaviour when supporting someone autistic or with a learning disability since their training (61-88%). These changes could include giving double appointments so that people with learning disabilities or autism are not rushed, moving to a quieter room, or simply giving someone more space.

Between 80% and 94% of people who did the tier-two training agreed or strongly agreed that it had given them new information about learning disabilities, made them more aware of the needs in healthcare settings of people with a learning disability and autistic people, and given them new ideas for things to do to better support people with learning disabilities and autistic people in their own work.

Moreover, in their follow-up survey, 27-43% of those working in roles where they could make changes to how things are done in their workplace reported doing so following their tier two training.

Oliver’s mother, Paula McGowan, who was presented with an OBE by The Duke of Cambridge earlier this month, said: “I am overwhelmed by the outstanding feedback that the evaluation has given us today.

“The standout comments for me were staff saying that they would change their practises going forward, to hear staff reflect on how they felt empowered to advocate better for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.”

Chief nursing officer for England, Ruth May, attended the forum and welcomed the opportunity that the mandatory training would offer to nurses and other healthcare professionals to improve the outcomes of people with learning disabilities or autism.

She described the development of the Oliver McGowan Training as a “huge step” and added that it would help staff avoid further preventable deaths, like that of Oliver McGowan.

“We want to[…] do justice to the memory of Oliver,” she said. “Our collective commitment will make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Speaking at the online event, minister for care and mental health Gillian Keegan said that these trial results would be used to develop the mandatory learning disability and autism training that will soon be rolled out in England for all health and social care workers.

“We will be using the outcome of the trial to develop the code of practice, which will determine what the training will look like,” she said. “This will ensure the culture change that is so needed.”

She added: “The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training will help people with learning disabilities and autism get the right care at the right time.”

An amendment to the Health and Care Bill made in the House of Lords in March means that learning disability and autism training will be mandatory for all NHS workforce once the Health and Care Act comes into force.

A final report on the evaluation of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disabilities and Autism will be published in June.

Source: Nursing Times