New facility transforms training of care staff

A new room equipped with the latest technology is transforming the training of staff at an award-winning home care company.
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The facility offers a hybrid of a studio and traditional training room at the Broadland office of Extra Hands, providing for remote learning as well as face-to-face training.

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With a range of specialist camera equipment and speakers, staff at the company can see demonstrations from different angles and ask questions and get answers while training sessions are being held.

A library of training videos is also being developed for an app created for Extra Hands staff, which means they will be able to dip in and out of learning resources whenever needed.

Justin Mayes, training manager with Extra Hands, which has run for almost 30 years, said the new facility offered the ability to deliver virtual sessions which are as close as possible to the experience of face-to-face training.

He said: “It is more like a hybrid studio and training room - so we have got the space to be able to do face-to-face training if and when we can after covid, but it has got proper facilities for being able to do remote training.

“For example there is a bedroom which has a bed with hoists, and one camera at a personal level on wheels which I can move around to get the best viewpoint.

“There is another one up near the ceiling which gives a birds-eye view in the corner of the screen, so you get the full image of what is going on. 

“I have got a speaker, so if I am asking questions I can hear responses. Training should be two-way and it is as close to possible as having face-to-face training.”

Justin said Extra Hands, which has offices in Horsham St Faith and Heacham and provides a variety of home care visit packages to suit all requirements and budgets, had to quickly adapt to moving training online because of the covid pandemic.

And there have been huge benefits in the remote approach.

He said: “Certain topics such as moving and handling will be going back to face-to-face training - but I think hybrid training is the way to go.

“Anything which can be done virtually will be - and then for areas that benefit from that hands-on approach, you will get people in. 

“Now it doesn’t matter where they are located - you are not limited in numbers and it is more accessible.”
He added: “For example I had someone on induction who had to go and pick their children up mid-afternoon. That might have put someone off being able to come and start employment with us. 

“But with Zoom you can record it and send them an email with the bits they've missed. It makes it much more flexible.”
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“Extra Hands has always placed high importance on staff training and we do a full induction covering everything from the principles to the more practical elements,” he added.