Working in health and social care is more than a job - it's about making a positive difference to people’s lives. 

OneFile was founded by an NHS assessor, so we know first-hand how the right support can truly transform patient care. But we also understand how important it is to look after carers. In a demanding sector, every aspect of their training should be designed to help them deliver the lifeline services that so many people rely on. As we saw during the pandemic, care workers are a vital part of the UK's frontline support for vulnerable people in our society. Millions of children, families and elderly people across the country rely on these unsung heroes for support with their day-to-day lives. 

To help deliver excellence as standard, the government introduced in 2015 the Care Certificate - a set of standards to help all health and social care professionals to evidence they had completed relevant training. At that time, it was one of the biggest changes to workforce development seen by the care industry, and the new standards have had a huge impact on the quality of care delivered across the country. 

At OneFile, we are always working to help you to get ahead. So we asked our experts to give us the low down on the Care Certificate - and how our software can help your staff get the most out of their training. 

What is the Care Certificate? 

The Care Certificate is a set of standards to guide health and social care workers in their working lives. The standards focus on learning skills ‘on the job’ and evidencing competence. The aim is to give centres full confidence that their trainees have gained the knowledge, the foundational skills, and behaviours (KSBs) they need to deliver compassionate, high quality care and to progress within the sector.  

Is it compulsory? 

The Care Certificate is not mandatory within legislation, but the Care Quality Commission (CQC) refers to it very specifically within its regulations, and centres will be inspected against it. 

Once trainees start, they only have a set amount of time to complete the Care Certificate, so it's important that you have a quick and robust method for checking and assessing each learner's portfolio. 

How is it different? 

Unlike some training, The Care Certificate is built upon candidates providing evidence.  

In fact, The Care Certificate Framework Guidance spells out: 'Certificates of attendance, completing study days or elearning without assessment of what has been learnt is NOT evidence toward the achievement of the Care Certificate.' 

Instead, each learner must provide evidence that shows them putting their knowledge into practice. 

That's where OneFile comes in 

OneFile already works with a number of NHS Trusts to build specialist eportfolio software that simplifies how you manage the delivery of training. With our eportfolio, trainee carers can upload videos, photos and audio recordings as evidence of their competencies to a digital portfolio. Centres can monitor all training to see how their staff are getting on, and assessors can access the information to complete assessments remotely. 

It's that easy! 

What does this mean for your care organisation?   

It's a no brainer. You'll save time and effort by using a streamlined, paperless standard. Instead of frantically collecting sheets of paper from across your organisation and struggling to keep information up to date, you can just complete everything online and generate the reports you need at the touch of a button.  

Meanwhile, you could boost staff retention and satisfaction with trainees able to complete their programmes more quickly and efficiently, freeing up time to spend on patient care.