It is nearly March. Spring might be around the corner and we are gradually freeing up time to contine developing our staff. Most staff training stops in those difficult winter months so we can concentrate on coping with weather and flu difficulties.

So March has a full programme of training updates and a very exciting new training programme in Palliative Care. It is based on the MacMillian course “Foundations in Palliative Care”. We have tweaked it slightly to reflect domiciliary care. It is a twelve week course for one and a half hours per week. We have two groups of twelve staff going to undertake the course and a waiting list of ten staff ready for the next course we shall run.

Training is a very costly item of expenditure but brings with it great results in staff continuity and customer satisfaction. The CQC and local authority demand certain trainings which often means we are left with only a small budget to offer training such as the Palliative Care Course. So with our staff we split the cost; the company pay for all the resources and trainers, and the staff are coming in in their own time for the Palliative Care Course.

Full to overflowing Palliative Care Courses demonstrate that our staff take their jobs seriously, want to know how to do it right, and are willing to put themselves out to give excellent care. Need I say more? It is very humbling.