Common core principles and competences for end of life care

Caring for, and supporting, people approaching the end of their life is amongst the most challenging work any health and social care worker faces. It can also be amongst the most rewarding - if they have the right knowledge, skills and attitude to provide the care and support they need.

Skills for Care has worked in partnership with the National End of Life Care Programme, the Department of Health and Skills for Health to develop Common Core Principles and Competences for End of Life Care.

The document provides a basis for all health and social care workers to develop their skills - whatever their level of expertise and involvement in end of life care. It is aimed at:
 - Commissioners
 - Training providers
 - Managers and supervisors
 - Workforce planners
 - Individual workers

A wide scale consultation took place and the final full materials are now available:
common core competences and principles for health and social care workers working with adults at the end of life

The document is a framework for ensuring workers have the training, education, development and support they need and deserve. It uses case studies to highlight practical application of the competences and principles.

There are now Qualifications and Credit Framework units to support End of life care.

New qualification options - possible scenarios
The purpose of the documents below are to provide case study scenarios to demonstrate how learners may tailor their learning to their job role on the new qualifications and credit framework (QCF). We aim to support learners to make informed choices about the options available to them on the new framework.

For those working in end of life care (adult residential) - level 2 HSC diploma

For those working in end of life care (domiciliary) - level 3 HSC diploma

Free access to e-learning resources

Adult social care employers registered with the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC) can now access e-End of Life Care for All (e-ELCA). The new access in partnership with the Department of Health e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) is a free and innovative e-learning resource that aims to enhance the training and knowledge of all those involved in delivering end-of-life care.

Employers registered with the NMDS-SC will now have access to a user registration code. The code will enable each of their individual employees to self-register for access to e-ELCA at www.e-lfh.org.uk/nmds-sc.

If you would like to register with the NMDS-SC to receive the user registration code, visit www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk.

A framework of National Occupational Standards to support common core competences and principles for health and social care workers working with adults at the end of life

The primary purpose of this document is to provide the underpinning framework of core National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the end of life care workforce - from health care professionals (medics, nurses and AHPs), managers and social care workers through to care assistants and ancillary staff.

These standards can support workforce development, training and education, and the development of new and enhanced posts and roles:
End of life care national occupational standards