В Соутгемптоне требуют 100% прохождения обязательного обучения сотрудниками соцслужб

Only around half of council staff completed compulsory training in a social care service that has been told it requires improvement. Southampton City Council’s new adult social services director said the authority must get completion levels close to 100 per cent after councillors raised concerns over staff training. Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors found just 63 per cent of staff had completed safeguarding training, while 54 per cent had completed Mental Capacity Act training. The regulator also found that 69 per cent of operational staff had completed Oliver McGowan training, which covers learning disability and autism. The figures were discussed at the council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting on August 27. Cllr Peter Baillie, Conservative for Harefield, said the council could not expect to deliver a “professional and motivated service” while only around half of employees had completed some compulsory training. He said: “If you want a professional and motivated service, you don’t have 70 per cent as the target for those completing the training, which they are paid to do. “Are we really accepting the report, and how are we going to get the hearts and minds of the staff to change? Because, unless they change, it is not going to work.” Betty Butlin, appointed in May as Southampton’s director of adult social services, said the figures were not good enough. She said the authority had seen “extremely fluctuating leadership” and that changing the culture of the service was vital to its recovery. Ms Butlin told councillors: “Unless you have the right culture, everything else is going to be much more difficult to achieve. “We are completely focused on our staff functioning at the top end of their profession and making sure that they are completing their training.” She said she had spent more time than usual with staff during her first 10 weeks because it was “critical” that employees were supported. On mandatory training, she added: “Of course that number is not good enough. Who would say that is good enough? “It needs to be 100 per cent, unless somebody is off ill, on maternity leave, or if there are reasons, they cannot do that. I have already said to staff, you must do your mandatory training.” Following the publication of the report in June, the council said it is delivering an improvement programme, including a 29-point action plan, to address the regulator’s findings.