The Care Certificate: a step in the right direction?

An evaluation has found that the Care Certificate is a step in the right direction for training front-line carers, but that organisational size, leadership and resources determine its effectiveness

Nurses have often been identified as central to concerns about care standards for older people in hospital and community settings. However, unregistered front-line carers are an increasingly important section of this workforce, delivering around twice as much direct and indirect patient care as registered nurses.

Skills gap

Despite this, unregistered carers’ training needs have often been neglected. This is often attributed to a skills gap in the front-line care workforce with absent or inadequate training and a tendency to focus on tasks and mandatory competencies. For example, in 2017, Skills for Care found that less than half (48%) of the adult social care workforce had a relevant qualification.