About the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate – Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Settings programme
Healthcare support workers (HCSW) play a vital role in providing excellent care to children and young people across mental health inpatient services. The Healthcare Support Worker Certificate is a much requested opportunity and has been developed by NHS England, Health Education England, Experts by Experience and frontline staff.
41% of the children and young people mental health inpatient workforce is made up of support roles (NHS Benchmarking Census, 2021). From engaging with young people with lived experience, we know that children and young people often spend more time with HCSWs than any other profession. This certificate will equip HCSWs with the skills and knowledge to provide high quality care for young people and so they can continue to make a difference to young people’s lives.
This elearning is aimed at all HCSWs whose role is to provide support for children and young people in a mental health inpatient service.
To access the elearning in the elfh Hub directly, please visit here.
Frequently asked questions
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Who is this learning specifically for?
The Healthcare Support Worker Certificate is designed for healthcare support staff who provide care as part of a team within a children and young people’s (CYP) mental health inpatient service. This could include a General Admissions Unit (GAU), Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Eating Disorder Units (EDU), Low Secure Units (LSU), Medium Secure Units (MSU), Units (under 13’s).
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Why undertake this training?
This training will provide you with the knowledge and skills required to meet the changing and increasingly demanding role of a (HCSW). Whether you are new into your role or an experienced HCSW, we are aware that the acuity and complexity of children and young people’s mental health presentations have changed, especially since the outbreak of COVID. Therefore, all staff outlined will need to undertake this training to update their knowledge and skills.
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Do learners need to do this training if they are bank or a agency workers?
Yes. Everyone working in a healthcare support worker role needs to complete this training, whether you are new, experienced, bank, temporary, an agency, or permanent staff member.
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Should all 6 modules be completed at once?
You do not need to complete all 6 modules at once or in sequential order. You may want to do the ones that interest you the most first, or the ones that may help you the most. All modules must be completed to gain the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate, but you can choose the order and complete them over a period of time.
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How to access the learning
To access the elearning, please visit the elfh Hub directly
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How long will this take?
When you launch a module, it will give you an estimated time to complete the learning. This can vary from person to person and therefore these timings are to be used as a guide.
• The world of children and young people – estimated 25-30 minutes
• The Role of a HCSW – estimated 25-30 minutes
• Engagement within a CYP setting – estimated 35-40 minutes
• Professional standards and behaviours – estimated 45-50 minutes
• Practical application in the role – estimated 40-45 minutes
• Technical knowledge and expertise – estimated 45-50 minutes -
How is this learning different from the Care Certificate?
The Healthcare Support Worker Certificate has been developed specifically for child and adolescent mental health inpatient services. This bespoke training has been tailored for this specific environment.
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Do I still need to do this learning if I have completed the Care Certificate?
Yes. If you work within a child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit, then you must complete the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate, even if you have completed the Care Certificate.
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How regularly do I need to complete this learning?
You only need to complete the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate once, but it will still be available for you to access as a refresher or use as a revision tool.
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When should I do this learning?
The Healthcare Support Worker Certificate is available to complete now. You can access this using a computer and visiting elearning for Healthcare website. You should speak to your line manager to agree a suitable time to complete the learning.
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Does the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate have a pass rate?
Each of the 6 modules includes a short assessment which must be passed to achieve a certificate of completion. The pass rate is 80%.
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Can I fail the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate?
You must pass the short assessment for each of the 6 modules to gain a certificate of completion of the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate. You need to achieve 80% in order to pass, but you can retake the assessments as many times as needed. You may be prompted to read the content again if you fail an assessment multiple times.
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I’m not a healthcare support worker. Can I still complete this learning?
If you are not a healthcare support worker, or working in one of the other job roles listed above, you can still complete the learning. It is free and accessible to all.
If you provide direct line management to healthcare support worker staff, you may wish to complete this learning to help your staff consolidate the learning in practice.
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My role is an Allied Health Profession support worker (OT assistant, Physiotherapist support worker, Dietician support worker, Speech and Language Therapy assistant). Do I need to complete this training?
No. Other roles within CYP mental health inpatient services may complete this training if you wish and if they would find it helpful to their role, but it is only mandatory for mental health nursing support worker staff.
More information
The HCSW Certificate is mandatory set by NHS England and currently only needs to be completed once by HCSWs. However, this is subject to future updates and refreshes, ensuring the HCSW Certificate equips individuals with the most up-to-date knowledge and skills required to care for children and young people in mental health inpatient settings.
The HCSW role can also lead to a range of career opportunities. With the right support, those who exemplify the skills and core values essential to delivering high-quality, compassionate care could, and can, go on to become our future mental health nurses, nursing associate or other mental health professionals.
All the staff who work within children and young people’s mental health inpatient services have been vital in supporting more children and young people with mental health needs than ever before. It is essential that we continue to invest in education and training to grow the workforce further and encourage people to consider a career in mental healthcare.
Hear from a young advisor:
Bryony Waring, a young advisor with lived experience who helped develop this certificate, says:
Initially I was unsure about this work as it seemed quite generic in the early stages, however as the modules have progressed the content has become a lot more tailored to us young people rather than textbook teachings.
I feel this certificate will make a huge impact in the healthcare field as, from personal experience and friends’ stories, young people have often felt very neglected and side-lined. Especially when we receive treatment allegedly for us, but it is merely blanket statements and empty promises. I am thrilled to say that every step has been supervised by young people such as myself, meaning this work isn’t just another tokenistic show piece – rather an inclusive and modern insight into mental health and how practitioners should act. On the topic of modern: I’ve often encountered outdated practices used such as restricting internet usage because of its negative content or the age old “have a cup of tea, you’ll be fine”.
Hear from Janine Morton, Assistant Practitioner about how this certificate was created:
Primary and secondary audiences
Healthcare Support Workers who work within children and young people’s mental health inpatient services.
Other job titles may include healthcare assistant, senior support workers, nursing assistants, associate or assistant practitioners.
This includes bank and agency workers who work within children and young people’s mental health inpatient services across England.
Acknowledgements
Bryony Waring – Young Advisor with lived experience
Jemma Perkins – Expert by Lived Experience, Quality Improvement Taskforce, NHS England
Emma Wadey – Director of Nursing, NHS England
Martin Bennet – Clinical Lead, Quality Improvement Taskforce, NHS England
Tahmaiza Yaqub – Clinical Lead, Quality Improvement Taskforce, NHS England
Katherine Stevenson – Senior Programme Manager, NHS England
Rebecca Burgess-Dawson – National Clinical Lead (Mental Health), Health Education England
With thanks to the National Quality Improvement Taskforce for children and young people’s mental health inpatient services for their invaluable assistance in developing this exciting programme (LINK National Quality Improvement Taskforce for children and young people’s mental health inpatient services)
Meet the team
Alex Riley
Senior Project Manager, Health Education England
Yvonne Carey
Clinical Lead, Quality Improvement Taskforce
Emily Voss-Bevan
Project Support Officer, Health Education England
Kathryn Currah
Mental Health Nurse Advisor, NHS England
Janine Morton
Assistant Practitioner, Dewi Jones Unit
Laura Spike
Mental Health Nurse Advisor, NHS England
Dr Samantha Hartley
Principal Clinical Psychologist, formerly Pennine Care, currently Bradford District Care NHS TrustElaine Bowden
Programme Lead, Health Education England
Meet the elfh team
Rebekka Campbell
Programme Manager, HEE elearning for healthcare
Rob Taylor
Senior Project Manager, HEE elearning for healthcare
Victoria Ward
Lead Learning Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare
Rachel Grant
Learning Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare
Catherine Moran
Graphic Designer, HEE elearning for healthcare
Louise Garrahan
Senior Marketing and Communications officer, elearning for healthcare
How to access
To access any elfh programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate – Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Settings programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
If you already have an account with elfh, then you can enrol on to the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate – Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Settings programme by logging in to the elfh Hub, selecting My Account > Enrolment and selecting the programme. You can then access the programme immediately in the My e-Learning section.
NHS healthcare staff in England – ESR
The Healthcare Support Worker Certificate – Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Settings programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this e-learning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Not an NHS organisation?
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
Registering large numbers of users
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Healthcare Support Worker Certificate – Children and Young People’s Mental Health Inpatient Settings programme, please contact elfh directly.
Organisations wishing to use their own LMS
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
More information
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.
Select here for more information on the authorisations process to run reports on the learning activity of staff.
Select the following link for more information about CPD points.