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 training was developed as a result of Right to be Heard the Government’s response to the consultation on mandatory training on learning disability and autism for health and social care staff.

Access elearning on: The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism

Research has shown that on average, people with a learning disability and autistic people die earlier than the general public, and do not receive the same quality of care as people without a learning disability or who are not autistic. We want and need to change this. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is named after Oliver McGowan, whose story and death has shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training in understanding, communicating with and treating people with a learning disability and autistic people.

This innovative training has been developed from the beginning with expertise from people with a learning disability and autistic people as well as their families and carers and its delivery has been led by Health Education England, NHS England, DHSC, Skills for Care and the Local Government Association.

The training also aims to ensure the health and care workforce have the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning disability. The Oliver McGowan Training comes in two tiers and is designed so all staff working across all CQC registered services receive the right level of mandatory training.

The first part of The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training , the elearning package, can now be accessed following a two-year trial which involved over 8,300 health and care staff across England. Everyone in health and care should do the elearning no matter where they work and what tier of training they need to complete.

From 1 July 2022, the government introduced a requirement for CQC registered service providers to ensure their employees receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is the standardised training that was developed for this purpose and is the government’s preferred and recommended training for health and care staff to undertake. This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022 and the Secretary of State is to publish a Code of Practice in 2023. This will evaluate the nature of the content, delivery and ongoing evaluation of the training.