TRAINING & EDUCATION
Meeting
Complex Care Needs
Sue Handforth, Clinical Training Manager at The Practice Group (TPG), explores the role of the Complex Care Assistant, which is becoming ever more critical to the provision of home-based healthcare.
Given the UK’s ageing population and the number of elderly people with four or more serious health conditions, which is projected to double between now and 2035, the demand for complex care assistants, particularly those providing home-based care, has never been more critical.
Complex care, also known as continuing or long-term care, refers to the healthcare of those with significant long- term illnesses, conditions or disabilities. Some of the health issues that require this type of care can range from
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cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease, to dementia, spinal injuries and even those with ventilator dependencies. Given the complex nature of these conditions and the fact that many individuals require specialist care for more than one of these health issues, it’s not surprising to see a growing demand for complex care assistants.
EDUCATION
Getting the right people onboard to meet this demand is critical, but it’s also essential to recruit individuals with the right personal attributes and skills mix,
as the duties carried out by complex carers vary greatly to other caring roles. Subsequently, educating interested candidates about the key differences between a complex and a domestic care assistant’s role is crucial. Once recruited, they will also need to have the right training if they are to deliver the best possible care going forward.
To highlight the difference between these two caring roles, we firstly need to compare their duties. Typically, a domestic carer provides emotional and practical support, involving anything
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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