All GP practices in England must ensure their staff receive training in learning disability and autism, including how to interact appropriately with people with a learning disability and autistic people. This requirement was introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022 in July last year. The government’s preferred training programme is the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism.
However, the Act does not specify a training package or course for staff. The CQC cannot tell practices specifically how to meet their legal requirements in relation to training, and while NHS England and ICBs may share the government’s training programme preference and encourage uptake, it is ultimately for practices to determine how their staff are trained to meet their legal requirements.
It is mandatory for all CQC registered organisations to ensure that staff undergo appropriate training on Learning Disability and Autism. It is not mandatory to require staff to undergo the specific Oliver McGowan Training package, but if not, CQC will expect to see evidence that staff have completed an equivalent training package.
There are 2 tiers. GPs and other clinical staff will need to complete Tier 2 training, which includes both online training and a full-day face-to-face training. The online training is available via eLearning for healthcare.
The LMC is concerned regarding the impact this training will have on GP appointments and patient access. We estimate this this training will result in the loss of 22,000 GP appointments in LLR, as well as appointments for other Health Care Professionals.
The ICB is currently delivering a series of training sessions which the training will meet the legal (and CQC) requirements.
Further information is available here.