Mandatory learning disability and autism training - FAQ

The Oliver McGowan mandatory training will train health and social care staff, at the right level for their role, to provide better health and social care outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people.

The training will include face-to-face sessions and blended learning approaches, so it can be accessed and used by all learners.  

The training is focused on raising awareness and understanding amongst healthcare professionals. It does not include training about treatments or specific interventions.

One of the most important elements of the training, and something that Mencap has long called for, is that it is co-designed and co-delivered by people with a learning disability, autistic people, family carers and experts in the subject matter.

Together, Mencap and the National Autistic Society make up one of four delivery partners that have been chosen to co-produce and co-deliver the training in a trial for groups of health and social care staff.

Along with people with a learning disability and autistic people, Mencap will be responsible for designing and delivering trials of the training to health and social care staff.

After this, an independent evaluation will be co-produced to report on how the trials went.

Health Education England (HEE) carried out a robust selection and procurement process to appoint the trial and evaluation partners.  

This process included people with a learning disability, autistic people and family carers, as well as professionals from the sector at every stage.

All bids were assessed and scored against a criteria. Only bids which met the quality standard were invited to an interview stage, which included a panel.

Each panel included:

• people with learning disability
• autistic people
• family carers
• HEE
• Skills for Care
• the Department of Health and Social Care
• the Local Government Association
• employers
• NHS England
• NHS Improvement.

Four organisations, including Mencap and the National Autistic Society, are each leading diverse groups and networks involving a further 56 organisations.

Mencap are working with:

• the Royal College of Nursing
• Jeremy (Bethany’s Dad)
• the Challenging Behaviour Foundation
• Edge Training
• Be Well Learning and Development.

You can see who National Autistic Society are working with on their website.

You can find out more details about the other delivery partners on HEE’s website. 

The Oliver McGowan mandatory training must reflect the experiences and needs of people with a learning disability and autistic people, so it can improve their health outcomes.

Therefore people with a learning disability and autistic people will be involved in every stage of the training's design and delivery. This is a key requirement, and is something that all organisations involved in the pilot stage have to deliver on.

All of Mencap and the National Autistic Society’s partners have experience of working with people with a learning disability and autism. We will involve and provide the right support to people with a learning disability and autistic people to be at every step, from co-designing to co-delivering the training.

At Mencap, we know that the training trials are an important step forward in ensuring better health outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people. Therefore, we are committed to making the trials a success.

To help, we will have a steering group led by people with a learning disability, autistic people and family members. It will be made up of the organisations running trials of our pilot, .

The steering group will sit alongside the other organisations we are working with. It will guide the project and help us make improvements from lessons we've learned as part of the trial.

The steering group will play an important role in making sure that:

• the training is inclusive
• all of our partners are working well together
• we are all doing what people with a learning disability and autistic people have asked us to.  

The National Development Team for Inclusion are the independent evaluation partner.

They will carry out an independent evaluation to report on the impact of the training trials, identify the most appropriate content material and delivery methods and the cost for the wider roll-out.
 

Once the trials are complete the Department for Health and Social Care, Health Education England, and Skills for Care will use the evaluation to decide how to roll-out the training to more people.
 

Mencap has delivered learning disability awareness training to around 1,800 healthcare staff.

This training was designed to change attitudes and practice. After taking part in this training, 98% of participants said they wanted to change the way they deliver healthcare for people with a learning disability. 

Mencap and the National Autistic Society have worked with the government on training standards for health and care staff.

These are called Core Capabilities Frameworks and help ensure that staff working across health, social care and other sectors have the right training to understand the needs of autistic people and people with a learning disability, and make reasonable adjustments to support them.