Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism
Join us in learning and working together to keep making healthcare more inclusive and equitable, reducing health inequalities
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is named after Oliver McGowan, whose death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training. The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a statutory requirement that regulated service providers must ensure their staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role.
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is the standardised training that was developed for this purpose and is the government's preferred and recommended training for health and social care staff.
Oliver's Training also supports the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan ambition by upskilling the wider health and care workforce to provide appropriately adjusted care for people with a learning disability and autistic people to reduce health inequality.
Join the team
Find out more about the Mandatory Training
Find out more about Oliver's Campaign
The training is hosted by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust on behalf of Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System for health and social care.
The Integrated Care System includes University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust, George Elliot Hospital NHS Trust, Coventry City Council and Coventry Social Care, Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire Social Care, Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board, and Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Primary Care.
Why is the training important?
Together we can prevent the many avoidable deaths like Oliver’s from happening again.
The animation below aims to help staff and employers across health and social care to understand Oliver's Training and why it is so vitally important.
Our Experts with Lived Experience respond:
- "To stop people staring at my disability"
- To help with "myth busting and fighting misinformation"
- "To make sure everyone can access healthcare and to improve health inequalities"
- "For learning new skills"
- "Provides opportunities"
- "Changing staff mindsets"
- "Giving us a voice that we didn't have"
- "Something won't happen to me that happened to Oliver"
- "Change making"
Navigating your training
Oliver’s training is delivered in 2 Tiers. Staff need to complete either Tier 1 or Tier 2.
Both tiers consist of 2 parts.
The first part of both Tier 1 and Tier 2 is the e-learning.
Everyone will need the e-learning regardless of where they work and the Tier of training they require.
Participants need to complete the e-learning before attending Tier 1 or Tier 2 sessions.
The second part of the training is either a live 1-hour online interactive session for those needing Tier 1 or a 1-day face to face training for people who require Tier 2.
For CWPT, you can access the e-learning through ESR.
Each organisation will have a bespoke way of accessing the training and they will need to contact their own training or HR departments.
Our Progress
Total staff who have completed the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training by CWPT Communications
Tier 1: 570 and Tier 2: 838 as of 05 April 2024.
Feedback on Tier 1
- I really enjoyed the session. Had questions answered to confirm my own thoughts which was great.
Have already used some of the helpful advice in my work life.
- I found the training very interesting. It proved to me that I did not have enough knowledge about Learning Disability and Autism.
- Everyone would benefit from this training.
- Essential for all people working in health and social care to have a better understanding how to meet needs and be aware of challenges faced.
- The training was delivered in a professional but friendly manner, very easy to listen to and understand. Having people with life experience helped alot.
- Excellent subject material delivered in a professional way. Very easy to understand the trainers and the issues/concerns raised by attendees.
- Learning straight from those with lived experience eliminates the possibility of incorrect information being given to staff. I rate the training highly and will recommend for all of my colleagues to attend.
- Very interesting format. Extremely useful to hear real people's experiences, explained in their own words.
- It was super informative and as a parent of a son with autism it helped me on a personal level which was fantastic. The delivery of the course was outstanding and I really respect the individuals for being so open and honest about their diagnoses and how they feel when spoken to.
- Great learning event to widen my personal and professional knowledge about the support I can provide to colleagues. The trainers were fab and the pace of the learning was really insightful. Hasten to admit this but for a learning event that was virtual, it had me completely engaged for the whole session, something that doesn’t always happen! Well done to everyone involved.
Feedback on Tier 2
- This is the best, most eye-opening training I have attended. The training was relaxed and felt excepting of diversity. The fidget aids really helped me focus.
- The trainers were very knowledgeable, and felt it was so important that there were trainers with lived experience, to gain real understanding from their experiences.
- I feel as though I gained a lot through the training and have already started to adapt my practice as a result.
I could not recommend the training more.
- Thank you and well done for a great session. The way training should be approached in all areas of the NHS!
- The experts with lived experience were brilliant and informative and really bring great character to the training.
- Best training I have been on in a long time. Lots of very useful information and shared experiences.
- The awareness this has raised will be useful in every aspect of life - work and personal.
- I thought the training was brilliant. It was so interesting and educational, and I will walk away from the training having learned a lot. I think everybody should attend this course as soon as they are able to do so.
- Really excellent, inclusive, engaging session, even for someone with lots of experience in autism and learning disabilities.
- I have worked in this area for 30 years, so I have a reasonable understanding of legislation, policy structures - particularly as it relates to people with learning disabilities. Supporting people who are autistic without a learning disability is not new to me, but this training helped me make connections and certainly gave access to research and current thinking which I really appreciated.
- I loved that the training was delivered with values and principles at its heart and for me, it struck the right balance between presentations, reflection, and discussion.
Useful Resources
Follow the links below for more information:
- National Autistic Society
- Mencap
- Information and Advice for Neurodivergent People and their Families in Coventry and Warwickshire
- Information and Advice for Neurodivergent People and their Families e-booklet
- Coventry and Warwickshire Neurodiversity and Autism Stakeholder Newsletter
- Coventry and Warwickshire All-age Autism Strategy
- Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust learning disability resource repository
(includes a range of useful documents and resources including information about annual health checks, health passports and reasonable adjustments).
- Free guide on how to make information accessible for people with neurodivergent conditions, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia.
- NHS England – Making information and the words we use accessible
- Health/ Hospital Passports: Find links to hospital passports for George Eliot Hospital, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire
(Please see section ‘Preparing for hospital appointments/admissions’)
- NHS Coventry and Warwickshire - Learning Disability and Autism
- Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System - Neurodiversity and Autism
- Autistica
- Foundation for people with learning disabilities