Health and care workers urged to sign up Oliver McGowan autism and learning disability training

2 mins read

Tuesday 2 November 2021

Health and social care practitioners in England who want to enhance their understanding of autism and learning disability are being urged to complete the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training trial this month.

Co-produced and delivered by disabled people and their family carers, this standardised training trial — funded by Health Education England — is being offered in November to anyone working across health and social care.

The course involves up to two tiers of training depending on your role. Visit the BILD website to sign up to start your Tier One certification.

The training focuses on awareness and understanding rather than on specific treatments or interventions. It aims to equip staff with the right skills to ensure that those with a learning disability or who are autistic have positive health and social care outcomes.

It was named after Oliver McGowan, a young autistic man whose avoidable death shone a light on the urgent need for better professional training in these disabilities. After tireless campaigning by Oliver’s parents, the government announced in 2019 that it would make such training compulsory.

Contact was proud to be one of the 15 organisations who helped co-design and deliver the training trial back in 2020.

How parent carers can help

If you don’t work in health or social care, you can still help spread the word by sharing this month’s training opportunity with any practitioners you may know. The more practitioners who attend this training soon, the better it will be for disabled people and their families.

You can also find out more about Oliver’s training by registering to attend a free online stakeholder event on 1 December. This event is open to everyone and will provide an update on the progress of the training programme to date. The closing date for registration is 19 November.