Alzheimer's Society research reveals huge injustice in dementia training
Research commissioned by the Alzheimer’s Society and led by experts at the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University and IFF Research has exposed serious shortfalls in dementia training for care workers. PIF member the Alzheimer's Society has published a collection of reports – called The training gap: a hidden injustice in dementia care and how to fix it – which focus on dementia training for social care staff across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The research found that only just over half of care staff in England said they had received any dementia specific training, despite 7 out of 10 care home residents living with the condition. When training is given, half of it only lasts 1-2 hours and more than half is completed through e-learning. This is in spite of evidence showing that when used in isolation it delivers limited practical skills and is less valued by staff. It also does not reliably equip them to provide safe, high-quality-dementia care.
Shortfalls leave staff unprepared and unsupported
Despite some progress, the charity said the new research highlights serious shortfalls in dementia training. This is leaving social care staff unprepared and unsupported, and putting people with dementia at risk of inadequate care. In England, the findings from a review of training packages across social care providers, combined with a survey of care staff, revealed:
- Half of dementia training packages contain only one to two hours of dementia-specific content.
- More than 3 in 10 staff do not have the basic knowledge of dementia required to care for someone with dementia.
- Less than half of training is delivered at the level recommended for staff who regularly support people with dementia.
- Less than half of staff received dementia training as part of their induction, meaning over half of staff are starting to care for people with dementia with no training at all.
- Just over half of staff feel very competent in the care they provide.
- 8 in 10 care workers agreed they would like more dementia-specific training.
Shortfall is driving a hidden injustice
In conclusion, the report says: "It is clear that the current dementia training offer is falling short – and that this shortfall is driving a hidden injustice at the heart of dementia care. Urgent action is needed to improve dementia training – without this, we risk a workforce that is not only underequipped to meet the needs of people living with dementia today, but also the rising demand and complexity of the future."
Charity calls for new legal requirements
The Alzheimer's Society is calling for mandatory dementia training and said there needs to be a new legal requirement that:
- Direct care staff working in older adults' care, and direct care staff working with people living with dementia in other settings, undertake best practice dementia training.
- Providers and regulators in each nation ensure that relevant care staff receive best practice dementia training that allows them to meet the specific needs of people with young onset dementia.
The charity said the mandatory training should include both homecare and care home staff and should be given effect through new CQC statutory guidance on dementia.