What Training Do Carers Receive?

If you’re considering becoming a carer and you’d like to know the kind of training you’d receive as a Bluebird, we’ve put together this post just for you.

We’ll start by answering one of the most popular questions we get about becoming a carer…

Do you need training to be a carer?

You don’t need any prior training or experience to become a home care assistant – you’ll learn everything you need on our caring training courses.

At Bluebird Care Worthing (and indeed, Bluebird Care franchises across the country), we offer a comprehensive care assistant induction that covers theoretical and practical training across a number of modules.

Much of this you’ll learn in your first three days with us, while ongoing use of our e-learning platform and regular refresher training sessions will make sure your skills are always kept up to date.

What type of training do carers receive at Bluebird Care?

Our care assistant induction covers a wide variety of subjects to make sure our carers are fully prepared to give the best care possible to our customers. These include:

Basic life support

Our BLS training will teach you everything you need to know to handle an emergency in your place of work – which will usually be a customer’s home. You’ll be taught CPR and how to operate an automated external defibrillator (AED), first aid techniques to help unconscious and choking casualties, plus how to manage wounds, bleeding, and a host of other situations that might require quick thinking and emergency first aid. You’ll also learn about the laws and legislation behind first aid, and how to assess a scene to decide what you need to do.

Care notes

Care notes are a critical part of the care we provide here at Bluebird Care Worthing, and this is an essential module amongst our caring training course. On it, you’ll learn about correct note-taking procedure, the importance of documenting your care visits from a legal and compliance perspective, and how to use our digital system to make sure your care notes are captured and stored correctly.

Medication

After taking our medication awareness module you’ll have a good grasp of the legal rules around administering medication and will be able to recount how it should be both stored and recorded. You’ll also have a handle on how different meds work, the protocols and policies to follow when receiving, storing and recording medicines, plus the common adverse reactions and how to spot them.

Policies and procedures

Every aspect of the care we provide here at Bluebird Care Worthing is designed to meet the highest standards for our customers. For that reason, we’re incredibly thorough on our care assistant induction in making sure you’ll be armed with all of the knowledge about our legal policies, and the correct procedures to follow in any situation. At Bluebird Care, we care about our carers every bit as much as our customers, and we want you to feel fully prepared and supported as you embark on your exciting new life as a member of the Bluebird Care family!

Moving and handling

Moving and handling training for carers is essential for helping our customers get from A to B as safely and comfortably as possible. It will teach you not only best practice, but what poor moving and handling practices look and feel like, and the negative impact they can have on vulnerable people. Our moving and handling training for carers module includes using a hoist on another trainee carer as well as being hoisted yourself, plus stints pushing around and in a wheelchair – allowing you to get the full feel for life in your customers’ shoes.

Additional training

At the end of your care assistant induction you’ll be sent on what we call ‘shadow shifts,’ where you’ll get to observe an experienced Bluebird Care assistant on the job. This is an invaluable final part of the training process, giving our new recruits essential time in customers’ homes. We never want you to feel unsupported or out of your depth, which is why you can always request additional shadow shifts if you feel you need that extra bit of experience before going out on your own.

Additionally, as mentioned earlier, we also have an e-learning platform featuring 15 modules full of care theory. You must complete every module within three months in order to pass your probation and receive your care certificate – after which you’ll be eligible for a generous reward, and welcomed on board as a fully-fledged Bluebird!

What our carers say

Our care assistants tell us they love the training they receive at Bluebird Care. But don’t just take our word for it! These are just some of the comments we’ve had from carers who’ve completed their care assistant induction or refresher training courses in recent months:

“The medication reminder was easily explained; I needed the refresher and reminder as it’s been a year!”

“The practical aspect of manual handling was very useful, I now feel a lot more confident and definitely feel like I know what I’m doing!”

“I found the training very informative. In particular the visual demonstrations were incredibly useful for someone going through it for the first time.”

“Most recently the group I had in Worthing had the three days of training,” says Shirley, our Head of Care & Compliance. “In fact, they enjoyed it so so much that they wanted another couple of days!”

Considering a career in care?

If you’re a kind, patient and naturally compassionate person who’s thinking about moving into care work, we’d love to hear from you!

Take a look at our Worthing careers page or get in touch with us for a chat about everything to do with becoming a carer.

Want to know more about life at Bluebird Care? Take a look at the blogs below.

Related links

• Care Assistant Roles at Bluebird Care Worthing
• What’s it Like to Become a Carer?
• Working in Care Homes vs Being A Home Carer
• Five Surprisingly Big Benefits of Working in Social Care
• Why Carers Are Needed Now More Than Ever
• Acts of Kindness: Lauren’s Story