Access the elearning
Access the elearning on: The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism
The training is named after Oliver McGowan. Oliver was a young man whose death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better skills, knowledge and understanding of the needs for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is the government’s preferred and recommended training for health and social care staff.
Oliver’s training is delivered in 2 Tiers. Staff need to complete either Tier 1 or Tier 2.
Both tiers consist of 2 parts.
The first part of both Tier 1 and Tier 2 is this elearning.
Everyone will need the elearning regardless of where they work and the Tier of training they require. It is free to access.
The second part of the training is either a live 1 hour online interactive session for those needing Tier 1, or, a 1-day face to face training for people who require Tier 2.
About the training
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Tier 1
Tier 1 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is for people who require general awareness of the support autistic people or people with a learning disability may need.
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Tier 2
Tier 2 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is for people who may need to provide care and support for autistic people or people with a learning disability.
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How to complete the training
The training is standardised and to complete it individuals must:
- Complete this elearning package and:
- Tier 1 – the 1 hour online interactive session co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator; or
- Tier 2 – the 1 day face to face training co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator
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When to complete the training
Your employer should inform you:
- when you need to complete and how to access the elearning
- whether you should complete Tier 1 or Tier 2 and when
- how to book on to the following part of your training.
It is important to follow your employer’s instructions to make sure your training is properly recorded.
If you do this elearning now and you need it to count towards your mandatory training, you will need to ensure it is recorded in line with your employer’s processes.
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Important information
- Tier 1 training covers all the Tier 1 capabilities of the Core Capabilities Frameworks.
- Tier 2 training covers only a selected number of Tier 2 capability learning outcomes from of the Core Capabilities Frameworks.
- Tier 2 training includes Tier 1 material, so individuals only need to do one training package, either Tier 1 or Tier 2, whichever is most relevant to their role.
- Employers need to continue to review the training needs of their staff and provide relevant training for each role.
- The online interactive session and face to face training that you attend needs to be the standardised Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism package.
- Updates on part 2, the online interactive sessions and face to face training can be found on the Health Education England webpage.
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elearning content
The content of the elearning session is mapped to the Tier 1 learning outcomes of the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting Autistic People and the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting People with a Learning Disability. It should take you one hour and 30 minutes to complete.
This elearning session covers:
- Section 1 – Introduction
- Section 2 – Understanding learning disability
- Section 3 – Understanding autism
- Section 4 – Communication
- Section 5 – Reasonable adjustments
- Section 6 – Summary
More information
The Government has introduced a requirement for Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered service providers to ensure their employees receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. This is to ensure the health and social care workforce has the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022.
The Health and Care Act code of practice is currently in development and should be published in 2023. Further recommendations made in this may change some elements of the way this training is delivered in the future.
You can visit The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism webpage for further information and updates.
Primary and secondary audiences
- Health workforce
- Social care workforce
- Family, parent, sibling carers and personal assistants of people with a learning disability and autistic people
- Any person who requires a general awareness of people with a learning disability and autistic people
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the many organisations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to Oliver’s Training. A list of contributors are listed below. Note: Some contributors wish to remain anonymous and are not listed.
Paula McGowan OBE, Oliver’s mum and ambassador for Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism
Tom McGowan, Oliver’s dad
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, with special thanks to:
Kate Allez – Consultant Clinical Psychologist for Learning Disabilities
Hannah Shilling – Clinical Psychologist
Simon Eddy – Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Learning Disabilities and Autism
Rozz McDonald – Project Lead, Occupational Therapist and Mental Health & Learning Disability Education Team Lead
Karin Parker – Project Administrator
Family Partnerships Solutions CIC, with special thanks to:
Jacky Martel – Family Carer, and her son, Tomas Green
Dawn Rooke – Director/Family Carer with lived experience of autism
Rosie Mockford – Director/ Learning Disability Nurse and sibling of neurodiverse people
Greg Mockford – raising autism and learning disability awareness
Inclusion Gloucestershire, with special thanks to:
Hayden Price – Expert by Experience
Kayleigh Connors – Expert by Experience
Tim Heaven – Expert by Experience
Sammy Roberts – Expert by Experience
Olivia Watkins – Expert by Experience
Michelle Shaw – Expert by Experience
Wendy Beresford – Coordinator
Dawn Crawford – Coordinator
Vicci Livingstone-Thompson – Chief Executive Officer
Karen Clayton – Deputy Project Lead
Gloucestershire County Council, with special thanks to:
Nicky Allen – Project Administrator
Angela Willis – Multi-Agency Workforce Development Manager
And
Andrew Cotterill – Expert by Experience and Co-chair of the County Autism Partnership Board
Dylan – for contributions to the communication section
Nikki Price – Learning Disability Nurse, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
Meet the team
Rozz McDonald – Supporting TEL Relationship Manager, HEE Technology Enhanced Learning
Tim Devanney – Learning Disability and Autism Programme Lead, DEQ Quality Transformation
Claire Carr – Programme Manager, National Learning Disabilities and Autism Programme, DEQ Quality Transformation
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 Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism elearning 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 Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism 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 Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism 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 to the Learning Hub, you may be able to access the service if you have an existing OpenAthens account. Please go to elfh and sign in with your existing credentials.
If you do not have an existing OpenAthens account, please contact elfh directly to check whether you may be eligible for access.
Staff in social care should contact elfh directly to request access to this programme.
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 Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism 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.