An analysis of allied health professional training in care homes for older people in Glasgow

The training of care staff in care homes for older people is important to ensure the maintenance of evidence-based and effective care. Moreover, training can assist in changing attitudes and promoting improved quality care for residents. To this end the Allied Health Professional (AHP) Care Homes Training Team provides training to care staff throughout the greater Glasgow area. This study sought to elicit service user views and opinions about the team's current provision to assist in informing prospective developments and enhancing future performance. Many of the responses discussed training in general in care homes and so should be of interest to all AHPs and others with an interest in care homes. Ten semi-structured interviews were undertaken with home management staff, which were thematically analysed. The response rate was 100%. 648 care staff had received training from the team in the ten care homes. However, only 36% of these staff remained employed by the homes at the time of the study. Therefore, only the remaining staff received postal semi-structured questionnaires. The response rate was 14% for these staff. A range of service users' opinions and views were elicited. Topics covered included: induction training, career progression through training, training records, team training and support provision, changes implemented as a result of training, barriers to implementing training, structure/times/content and delivery of training sessions, training gaps, information and training for managers and appropriate topics for training. Feedback was extremely positive but the study raised wider implications for older people's care in care homes, which merit further research and debate.