Huge investment in training needed to meet Dementia Strategy goals

Communitycare.co.uk reports on the large skills gaps amongst many residential and home care workers that must be met if the Government’s National Dementia Strategy is to achieve its aims. The Department of Health’s consultation on the Strategy has shown that it is often lack of knowledge, such as failing to recognise different types of dementia, that is hampering the quality of care given by social workers. With the right investment in workplace training and development, significant sums of money could be saved that are currently spent on care home places for dementia sufferers. The Strategy itself highlights the need for training as a ‘priority that runs across all themes’ and recommends that local authorities develop core competencies in dementia care for unqualified staff by 2011.

Although some authorities are already taking action, they face a number of problems, such as inconsistency in the standard and depth of training that is available and a lack of quality assurance. These are being addressed by the establishment of a new National Skills Academy of Social Care, which will be launched in autumn 2009. To read the full story, please visit the communitycare.co.uk website. For more on the Dementia Strategy, click here [link to other February news story on the Strategy].