Training for unpaid carers

County Durham Care Academy offer a range of support to help people kick start their career in care. 

Considering a career in care?

As an unpaid carer you know what it takes to make a positive impact on the lives of others and you may be interested in using your skills and experience to start a career care. The Care Academy can provide a range of support to help you.

There are lots of different roles depending on what you want to do, who you want to work with and where you'd like to work. We have lots of flexible ways for you to develop your skills and experience and opportunities for further training, promotion and progression.

Take a look at Training and Employment page to find out more at Training and employment in social care.

We work in partnership with Durham County Carers Support to provide training courses and events for unpaid carers.

This is a great way for you to gain knowledge and to meet other carers in a relaxed environment.

Courses range from practical help with caring such as Managing Medication, Infection Prevention and Control through to digital skills and areas that focus on your own wellbeing and development.

The Care Academy are working in partnership with Barclays Digital Eagles and Durham County Carers Support to offer access to carers to a platform called Digital Wings.

Durham County Carers Support

Durham County Carers Support also offer a variety of different services to local carers including: Durham County Carers Support

specialist advice and information
home visits or meet in a venue more suitable to the carer giving time to talk through the challenges and find solutions
practical help with completing forms, gaining benefits, grants and other funding
a listening ear, telephone, email and social media support plus counselling
support in meetings, referrals to specialist services, find ways through the maze of services
training, workshops and events promoting opportunities for peer support, gaining skills and knowledge
ensuring carers have a voice shaping services

Courses for unpaid family carers from Durham County Carers Support

Infection Control Course for unpaid family carers

A half day course to help reduce the risk of infection whilst caring for someone with an illness or disability at home or that of the cared for person.

This course is suitable for unpaid, family carers either living in County Durham or caring for someone living in County Durham.

The aim of the course

Is to help reduce the risk of infection whilst caring for someone with an illness or disability at home or that of the cared for person.

The aim of this Infection Control Awareness course is to greater increase Carer's knowledge of infection, how it spreads, preventing spread, personal hygiene, and the relevant legislation. Infection prevention is crucial to saving lives and is vitally important for anyone caring for a relative or friend at home.

How and when it will be delivered

Please contact us to register on any of these courses.

There are no courses currently arranged

Moving and assisting course for unpaid, family carers

A half day course to prepare and demonstrate how Carers can protect their backs within their caring role.

This course is suitable for unpaid, family carers either living in County Durham or caring for someone living in County Durham.

The aim of the course

A four-hour course to prepare and demonstrate how Carers can protect their backs within their caring role.

What is moving and positioning / What are the benefits?
Practical techniques
Basic (visual) risk assessment
Posture, anatomy & common Injuries
The benefits of (appropriate) exercise
Principles of safer handling and practical scenarios (suggested by carers themselves on the day)

To show Carers the benefits of lifting correctly. To enable viewing and trying a range of small handling equipment.

How and when it will be delivered

Please contact us to register on any of these courses.

there are no courses currently arranged

Managing Medication Course for unpaid family carers

A half day course designed to help unpaid family carers understand the dos and don'ts of medicines management.

This course is suitable for unpaid, family carers either living in County Durham or caring for someone living in County Durham.

The aim of the course

To help carers to be more aware of the medication they are administering and managing.
To advise carers on how to store medication safely.
To dispel myths and fears especially around strong pain medicines.
To provide carers with the confidence to approach pharmacy teams with any concerns
and questions they may have
To make sure Carers feel part of the 'cared for' Medication review.

How and when it will be delivered

Please contact us to register on any of these courses.

There are no courses currently arranged

Anticipatory Grief

This course will provide support to promote health and wellbeing (including cultural, religious, and spiritual needs) by helping carers to understand the impact of anticipatory grief and loss and to identify strategies to help them through this difficult time.

Who the course is for

This course is for home carers and family carers and those working in the care profession.

Learning methods

The course is delivered face to face by St Cuthbert's Hospice facilitator.

It consists of two sessions of five hours each. You will watch a short video and participate in group discussions. Resources and books will be provided.

Benefits

This course will help carers understand the impact of anticipatory grief and loss and to identify strategies to help them through this difficult time. It will provide knowledge of managing your own grief, focusing on your own needs, and finding a way forward.

What you will learn:

identifying what anticipatory grief is
seeing how it affects you
talking about its challenges
coping with change
validating the past, adjusting to the present, redefining the future
support services available

How and when it will be delivered

For more information please contact Jan Burden at Durham County Carers Support via telephone on 0191 500 6034, or email jan.burden@dccarers.org.

Or alternatively please contact us to register your interest in this course.

Digital Wings training

This course is suitable for unpaid, family carers either living in County Durham or caring for someone living in County Durham.

The aim of the course

Digital Wings is a free training platform that offers a range of modules relating to digital skills that aim to increase digital confidence. There are a wide range of modules available in areas such as digital foundation skills, communicating online, being safe and legal online and keeping children safe online.

Benefits

Free training to improve your digital skills
Range of modules including those recommended by the Care Academy
Your own account to track your learning

How and when it will be delivered

Digital Wings is an online training platform. If you are interested please complete the form below to receive your unique code and web address:

Microsoft Form: E-Leaning in partnership with Barclay Wings and County Durham Carers Academy

Please note that this form has been provided by an external partner, and we are not responsible for the content, accessibility or data protection.

RESTORE2™ Mini training for unpaid carers

RESTORE2™ Mini is a model used for the formal recognition of deteriorating health and recording of 'soft signs'.

'Soft signs' are small changes in behaviour that are used to identify early deterioration in a person's condition and are used as a tool to help carers to communicate their concerns when escalating care to health professionals

Who is it for?

This course is designed for unpaid carers living in County Durham who provide support to adults with learning disabilities and or autism.

Course Benefits

You will be trained in utilising the RESTORE2™ Mini model which will support you in your caring role. Completing the course will:

Give you the tools to recognise deterioration in the people you care for, so you can get the right advice at the right time avoiding the need for hospital admissions.
Develop your skills and confidence to share information with professionals regarding the person you care for
Give you the opportunity to meet with peers and share knowledge and experience

Learning Method

The course is provided fully funded and is delivered in the classroom over two days with the option of a third day if you want to learn how to train others in the model.

Support with transport is available and lunch and refreshments are provided

The course is being delivered at:
Durham Leadership Centre,
9 Enterprise Way
Spennymoor
DL16 6YP

The first two days will concentrate on developing your understanding of the RESTORE2™ Mini model and the tools and techniques to use this when caring at home. You must attend both sessions

The third day, which is delivered three months later will be to evaluate how effective this has been and help you develop the skills and confidence to undertake a train the trainer role in the RESTORE2™ Mini tool so that you can support other people with the skills needed to use the tool. This session is optional

What do carers who have been on the course say about it?

"And I think it (the training] should be given more. I think we've got to give parents more... It'll empower parents. It'll give parents a voice."
"I have to say the training was brilliant. And it was great to speak to other people as well, in the breakout rooms."

Course Content

Vital Signs

Vital signs are the physiological variables that are used to inform medical diagnosis and treatment. They customarily include pulse rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature. These are often extended to include oxygen saturation and conscious level. When patients develop acute illness or a deterioration in the state of existing illness occurs this is reflected by abnormalities in the value of these clinical measurements. Minor changes of values are common, even in people who are "well". This makes interpretation of minor changes in vital signs difficult to interpret.

Early Warning Scores (EWS)

Early Warning Scores have been developed to improve the reliability of vital signs as an indicator of early deterioration. NEWS2 is almost universally used in the UK in the acute, pre-hospital, and community healthcare sectors. A score is derived from the values of the six physiological variables identified above. The score is used in conjunction with a chart that identifies an escalating response to the EWS.

EWSs in the Community

Patients presenting to general practitioners for routine care, those in home care, and those in community care rarely have significant changes to their baseline vital signs and regular monitoring to establish their baseline status is not ordinarily part of their care routines. Many of these patients have chronic conditions (cardiovascular, respiratory disease and cognitive degeneration) that are reflected in their baseline NEWS2 score.

Acute Illness in Persons with Learning Disability

Many individuals with learning disability are no more prone to acute illness than average. Some have associated physical disability that increases their vulnerability. Some people with learning disability are prone to acute episodes of illness such as chest infection due to gastro-oesophageal reflux, complications of constipation, and urinary tract infections. For over a decade it has been recognised that people with learning difficulty have poor outcomes from common acute conditions requiring treatment in the acute healthcare system.

Using EWS in Learning Disability Care

There are a number of problems encountered when using EWSs based on vital signs to identify early acute illness and deterioration in people with learning disabilities:

There are often no baseline measurements
Chronic comorbidities that change baseline vital signs are common in people with learning disabilities who are particularly prone to acute deterioration
People with autism and learning disabilities may not accept even the minor interventions needed to monitor vital signs
Equipment for monitoring vital signs is not available in most homes and some care homes
Carers are not trained in the monitoring procedures necessary for the recording of vital signs and the calculation of NEWS2 scores.

'Soft Signs'

A number of EWSs rely on the observation of 'Soft Signs'. These are early indicators that a person's condition may be deteriorating, and can include a wide range of behavioural, mood or visual cues and/or changes in eating, drinking, urination, or elimination. Typically, soft signs depend on carers' knowledge and experience of what is normal for any given individual. The advantage of using soft signs is that they capitalise on carers knowledge and experience of the boundaries of normality for each individual which is often unknown to health professionals who encounter them infrequently. Furthermore, soft signs do not need clinical training or experience in order to make clinical observations.

Course Benefits

You will be trained in utilising the RESTORE2™ Mini model and provided with the skills to help other members of your team develop skills in this area to help avoid acute deterioration of patients, get the right advice at the right time, and reduce avoidable hospital admissions within your care setting.

Course Dates and times

Date	Time	Venue
Monday 26 June 2023	9.30am to 3.30pm. Lunch is served at 12.30pm	Durham Leadership Centre 9 Enterprise Way Spennymoor DL16 6YP

How to book

If you require this training, please complete the RESTORE2™ Mini Training - Unpaid Carers enquiry form.

Positive Behavioural Support (PBS)

This course will provide an understanding of supporting an adult with a learning disability with behaviours you find challenging.

Who the course is for?

This course is suitable for unpaid, family carers either living in County Durham or caring for someone living in County Durham.

Learning method

The course is delivered Face to Face over 3 sessions, the sessions are 4 hours.

What you will learn

By completing this course, you will cover

Session 1 - Introduction to (PBS)
Session 2 - PBS Tools and how to use them
Session 3 - Well-being support and catch up

Course benefits

This course will help carers understand the tools that could help them and the person they support live a better life.

What do carers who have been on the course say about it?

"I do feel that the course was really good - very comprehensive and it's really made me think about how best to help."
"Thank you so much! You have given me a little more confidence & hope for a little more peaceful future."

Course dates and times (Lunch is provided)

Date	Time	Venue
Tuesday 6 June 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	Four Clocks, Bishop Auckland
Tuesday 20 June 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	Four Clocks, Bishop Auckland
Tuesday 18 July 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	Four Clocks, Bishop Auckland
Tuesday 10 October 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	East Durham Trust, Peterlee
Tuesday 17 October 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	East Durham Trust, Peterlee
Tuesday 31 October 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	East Durham Trust, Peterlee
Tuesday 28 November 2023	10.30am to 2.30pm	East Durham Trust, Peterlee