A report compiled by Biza Stenfert Kroese and John Rose investigating the training needs of staff who work with people with Learning Disabilities from the Judith Trust charity has recently been launched.
Biza Stenfert Kroese (pictured right) and John Rose (pictured below left) secured funding for a research project investigating the training needs of Judith Trust charity staff who work with people with Learning Disabilities, in 2008. This project was completed to schedule and a report has recently been produced on the research. The report highlights the importance of staff training in these two critical and often neglected areas; it also emphasises the significance of organisational systems for the effective delivery of services and the importance of individual differences, particularly gender.
The report was recently launched at a round table in London chaired by Dame Phillipa Russell, with keynote addresses from the authors and Bruce Calderwood, who is Director of Mental Health and Disability at the Department of Health. The Department of Health welcomed the report which is seen as timely in that it coincides with a review of training by the Department of Health for staff in Mental Health and Disability services. There is also considerable interest in developing policy in this area as a result of the recent revelations of poor practice by the BBC Panorama programme in the private hospital Winterbourne View that was supposed to care for people with Learning Disabilities and Mental Health difficulties. A major inspection by the Care Quality Commission of 150 similar facilities has been commissioned and a report is expected from the C.Q.C. on possible action to improve care in this area when legal proceedings have been completed.
The research can found on the Judith Trust website.
