The Care Certificate – What’s It All About?
Ensuring the right standards…
Do you work in care, either supporting individuals in their own homes, residential care home or support individuals in the community, perhaps in a day service? If you do, then the Care Certificate is the minimum standards that should be covered as part of your induction training.
If you are a doctor, nurse, or perhaps another type of ‘professional’ in the health industry, you’ll have an organisation behind you that has made sure you’re qualified and have the right knowledge and behaviours. For non-regulated care workers outside of this, the Care Certificate provides the same assurance to individuals requiring care that the person caring for them has the right understanding and behaviours to give the best compassionate, safe and high quality care and support.
The Care Certificate is the start of the career journey and is only one element of the training that will make them ready to practice within their specific sector, and although the Care Certificate is designed for new staff, it also offers opportunities for existing staff to refresh or improve their knowledge and workplace practice.
The Care Certificate is based on a set of 15 fundamental standards of care, the understanding of which must all be evidenced and observed in practice. The standards are:
- Understanding your role
- Your personal development
- Duty of care
- Equality and diversity
- Work in a person-centred way
- Communication
- Privacy and dignity
- Fluids and nutrition
- Awareness of mental health, dementia and learning disability
- Safeguarding Adults
- Safeguarding Children
- Basic Life Support
- Health and Safety
- Handling information
- Infection prevention and control
So, you see there are plenty of subjects to get your head around but they’re all very important for you to know and do. And they’re not just to reassure the individual requiring care. The standards are designed to help you learn to progress and develop your knowledge and skills.
If you are ready to undertake your Care Certificate or have new staff starting that will need this, why not get in touch to see how we can help.
Next week, we’ll take a look at how the Care Certificate can be completed.
If you have any subjects you’d like us to cover in this Blog, please let us know and we’ll do our best to provide them for you.
