HMR Medical and Nursing Services
Medical and Nursing Services

Care Certificate for Health & Social Care Workers

The new Care Certificate for Health & Social Care workers officially launched on the 1st April 2015. Following the Francis enquiry Camilla Cavendish was asked by the Secretary of State to make recommendations on the recruitment, management and support of healthcare assistants and support workers. The Cavendish report followed and highlighted the inconsistent roles within the care setting, so a Care Certificate was introduced (by Health Education England, Skills for Care, Skills for Health) to bring every worker up to the same standard. The certificate allows the following:

* be applicable across the Health & Social Care sector
* be portable between roles and transferable between employers
* build upon the Common Induction Standards (CIS) and National Minimum Training Standards (NMTS)
* encourage high quality and consistency of delivery by being prescriptive about observation and assessment in the workplace
* works with and part of existing qualifications
* equip people with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide high quality care as well as testing their capacity to care

There are 15 standards to the certificate which must be met before the Care Certificate can be awarded. Those who are new to care from the 1st April 2015, will be expected to complete and gain the qualification within the first 12 weeks. The minimum level for quality assurance and certification itself will be down to the responsibility of the Employer. For further information, please follow the links:
* www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/standards/item/216-the-care-certificate 
* hee.nhs.uk/work-programmes/the-care-certificate-new/the-care-certificate
* www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Document-library/Standards/Care-Certificate/The-Care-Certificate-Framework-Healthcare-Support-Worker- and-Adult-Social-Care-Worker-Document.pdf