Contact to help co-design and deliver national Oliver McGowan training trial

2 mins read

Friday 17 July 2020

Contact and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) are two of 15 organisations who will help co-design and deliver a 12 month training trial aimed at health and social care staff who support patients with learning disabilities and autistic people.

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Trail will be co-ordinated by The British Institute for Learning Disability (Bild) – an organisation that works to develop the skills and culture necessary to understand the needs of people with learning disabilities and improve their quality of life.

The trial is named after a young autistic man who died after being given anti-psychotic medication in hospital. His death highlighted the need for health and social care staff to have better access to training that offers greater understanding of these conditions. His mother Paula McGowan led a campaign for more training.

We reported the launch of the criminal investigation into Oliver’s death earlier this month. And thanks to the family’s campaign for more training, the Government committed to introduce mandatory training for NHS and social care staff in learning disability and autism at the end of 2019 and released £1.4m to fund it.

Contact and the NNPCF will now work with Bild and other organisations which include social care providers, public authorities, academics and regulators, to develop the 12 month training trial in partnership with people with learning disabilities and autistic people.