With so many factors to consider when running a busy health and social care service, staff training can often slip down the list of priorities. However, providing regular staff training sessions can have huge benefits to your business. As well as the obvious new skills and knowledge that training provides, you can retain and develop the best teams. In fact, regular staff training can even positively affect your CQC inspection ratings. Below we explore our 5 key benefits of staff training:
1. Staff training increases morale
At the top of our list is staff morale. Training your team shows that you value them and want to enable them to succeed in their roles. In fact, training can be a key motivator for staff because they know that you care about them enough to invest in them.
Training also brings staff together outside the pressures of their typical working day. Learning together in a fun and inspiring training session, can create a positive team environment when back in their roles.
A team with high morale is far more likely to keep smiling and working hard through the challenges that present in care services.
2. Staff training increases confidence and competence
Regular and ongoing training sessions enable staff to perform better. Training is a safe environment where staff can try out their skills, ask many questions and develop best practice.
In addition to this, there are always changes and updates within the care sector that staff need to know. Even staff who have worked in care for decades need to regularly update their knowledge.
From a managerial point of view too, having confident staff who know what they are doing means less reliance on you. That way, everyone can get on with their roles in providing great care. Without adequate training, things can inevitably go wrong. Reducing any risks is a must for business owners and managers, particularly in an industry supporting vulnerable individuals.
So, equipping your staff with the tools they need to succeed can have an all-round positive impact on the business.
3. Staff training reduces turnover
Turnover of staff in the health and social care sector can present many issues including costs and added pressures on the existing team. And staff who feel unsupported and demotivated look elsewhere or leave the care industry altogether.
Continuity of care is massively important to people who are supported in the care sector and their families. Getting to know individuals and building up trusting relationships with individuals who have additional and complex needs takes time.
Owning a reputation as having staff who come and go can be detrimental to your business and can cause a low morale.
Quite simply put, great training encourages staff to stay and has direct benefits to your business.
4. Staff training enables career progression
If you have shining stars within the business who want to progress, training is a must.
What’s not to love about motivated budding managers who already know your business, the culture, the staff and the people who you support? Doesn’t it make perfect sense to train them up and help them achieve their aspirations?
The right training and support from within the company is essential to making this is reality. Showing a commitment to providing regular learning opportunities will help with career progression for those who are keen.
Health and social care providers with senior members of a team who have worked their way up can truly understand the challenges faced by the teams they line manager. This in turn can be hugely beneficial to the future success of your business and alleviate additional recruitment costs.
5. Staff training positively affects CQC inspection ratings
There is no surprise that all 5 key lines of enquiry (KLOE) in the CQC inspection framework are supported by effective training.
Is your service truly safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led if you don’t have staff training in place?
CQC inspectors want to see evidence of regular, effective and appropriate training happening. Not training as a one-off event at induction level, but on ongoing basis and recorded clearly.
A study carried out by Community Care illustrates brilliantly how services with gaps in training scored far lower CQC ratings than those with fewer gaps. See the link below for details:
In summary, seeing training as a positive and essential part of your health and social care business rather than a tick list will reap rewards for you and your staff. Providing regular training opportunities will help to motivate and retain the best staff, which in turn will enable services to provide the best possible care for the people you support.
TH Training Solutions provide both accredited and in-house training for businesses UK wide. Specialists in health and social care and mandatory training in first aid, moving and handling, fire safety and food safety.
‘Helping business owners and managers with compliance and to meet legislation with effective training solutions’