‘Better at Home’ training suite launched for parents and carers

Medicines for Children project partner WellChild and Edge Hill University have launched an innovative training resource for families of children and young people with long term and complex medical needs.

The ‘Better at Home’ training suite enables families to learn and practice skills in a supportive environment to then provide essential medical and nursing care, often involving complex technology, in their own homes. Based at Edge Hill University in Lancashire, the training suite is the first of its kind in the UK.

The training suite has been launched following a successful 24-month pilot phase which involved highly skilled health care professionals providing training to parents, grandparents and carers. The pilot has already resulted in the development of online learning tools for parents in areas of complex care such as tracheostomy care, gastrostomy care, oxygen, suction and care of the long-term ventilated child.

Families had previously reported difficulties in getting suitable and consistent standards of training, however during the pilot, families were overwhelmingly positive about the benefits of this facility, with one parent reporting: “It was really good, gave you loads of confidence. It’s not just beneficial, I’d say it was essential”.

Linda Partridge, Director of Programmes at WellChild, spoke about the benefits of the training suite:

“We believe that the growing population of children surviving with complex needs and requiring technology-assisted care should be cared for at home so that families can be together whenever possible. Their families and carers therefore need innovative models of care and training to bridge the current gaps. The ‘Better at Home’ training suite provides an excellent and much-needed example of good practice.”

Read more about the Better at Home training suite at Edge Hill University.