Training for care home staff on dementia at end of life

The initial grant funding was key. It didn’t cover every aspect of the course, but it gave the team an initial ‘stepping stone’ to start developing the programme. The grant also gave them access to helpful support and advice from the Hospice UK grants team. 

The hospice’s course was unique from other courses available to care home staff. It was face-to-face, rather than virtual, and it focussed specifically on dementia care at the end of life. These aspects helped the course stand out from the crowd and drive registrations. 

The course being CPD (Continuing Professional Development) accredited was another unique draw, as it signified to potential attendees that the course content was of a high standard. It also meant that the course could contribute to the CPD hours nurses and nurse associates are required to undertake for revalidation.

Use of practical tools helped engage people with the content. For example, attendees were able to try on ‘dementia goggles’. These alter your vision and help you understand what patients with dementia may be experiencing. Feedback routinely showed that this aspect of the course was ‘invaluable’ to attendees. 

The willingness and enthusiasm of the Barnsley Hospice team was essential. It made the whole project run smoother – especially during the more challenging aspects of development. 

Achieving CPD accreditation was more challenging than expected. There were lots of administrative ‘hoops’ to jump through to meet the standard, which was very time-consuming. It was valuable work to do though as, once accredited, a course can be reaccredited with little background work. This makes preparing to run any future training much easier. 

Some of Barnsley Hospice’s partners deliver virtual training around dementia. Some of these organisations felt like the hospice was ‘stepping on their toes’ by providing training of their own. The hospice team solved this by explaining how the unique elements of their course would complement existing training programmes, rather than replace them.  

Another challenge was instilling staff with the confidence to deliver training, especially those who had never presented before. Investing in developing the skills of these team members was a huge benefit. It enabled valuable learnings to be shared by staff who wouldn’t usually put themselves forward to present. 

Some care homes have lots of access to training and education, while others don’t. Identifying the right care homes to target was complicated. The hospice worked with their local Integrated Care Board (ICB) to find care homes they felt would benefit most from the course. 

It was challenging to balance the complexity of course content at the right level for attendees’ roles. For example, the Level 2 course was aimed at registered nurses and nurse associates, but was attended predominantly by healthcare assistants. This group found some of the content around medication difficult to follow. The facilitators had to adapt on the fly, changing terminology and presenting information in a way that was useful. In future, the team plans to have contingencies in place for these scenarios.