Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training for learning disabilities and autism

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training (OMMT) for learning disabilities and autism officially launched nationwide in November 2022 and we’ve been making great progress at Achieve together with more to come.

Named after a 16-year autistic old boy whose preventable death in 2016 highlighted the need for health and social care staff to have better training. Oliver’s mother Paula campaigned for this outcome and features in the training, speaking about the circumstances of his treatment.

Although Achieve together already had robust learning disability and autism training in place for team members, we have implemented the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training alongside this. People with a learning disability and autistic people have been involved throughout its development, trial and evaluation, ensuring consideration of lived experiences.

It is the government’s recommended training package to support providers to meet the new legal requirement for learning disability and autism training and tackling growing health inequalities. This requirement is set out in the Health and Care Act 2022.

What does the training entail?

The training consists of two tiers, each of two parts.

Tier 1 – for people who require general awareness to support autistic people or people with learning disabilities
Tier 2 – for people providing direct care and support for autistic people or people with learning disabilities

Part 1 of both tiers is an e-learning module and we have incorporated this within our e-learning platform.
Part 2 – Interactive sessions

Co-production and co-delivery are at the heart of the training, which aligns well with our own priorities. However, this comes with challenges! Part 2 training is co-delivered by experts with lived in experience and a subject matter expert facilitator. Tier 1 team members must complete a 1 hour online interactive session and Tier 2 team members must complete a day of face-to-face training.

Understandably, there has been enormous demand to access the training from both health and social care providers across the country. At Achieve together we have invested in our own OMMT accredited in-house lead trainer who, in turn, is able to train other in-house facilitators. All co-presenters are experts by experience in either autism or learning disabilities and receive training and accreditation for their roles.

With our team of OMMT Facilitators and OMMT co-trainers continuing to grow we have been rolling out this training across the country and with more facilitators and co-trainers joining us we are now ramping up this roll out up through 2026. Initially we focussed on delivering the training for our homes and services that provide direct care to the people we support, now we are pleased to be rolling out across our Community Hub support functions, reaching all departments within our organisation.

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