The British Dental Association (BDA) has issued guidance to help dental workers understand and implement mandatory Oliver McGowan training.
McGowan was a young autistic man who died in hospital after staff assessed him incorrectly and ignored instructions not to administer anti-psychotic medication.
Following Oliver’s death, the Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a legal requirement for CQC-registered health and social care providers to ensure their staff receive training on learning disability and autism.
And dental practices will need to arrange different levels of training based on staff roles.
Administrative staff, including receptionists and practice managers, will typically require tier one training, while clinical staff who provide direct patient care will need to complete tier two training.
Tier one consists of two parts: an on-demand e-learning module of approximately 90 minutes, followed by a one-hour online interactive session.
Both parts must be completed to meet the statutory requirements.
Tier two also consists of two parts: the same on-demand e-learning module of 90 minutes followed by a one-day face-to-face training session.
The face-to-face element is co-delivered by trainers with lived experience of learning disability and autism.
Both parts of the training must be completed within six months of each other.
Members can access the on-demand e-learning part one of Learning Disability and Autism: Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training through the BDA’s CPD hub, while non-members can access it through e-learning for healthcare free of charge.
The second part of the training, whether this is the online interactive session for tier one, or the face-to-face session for tier two, must be delivered by a provider on the list of Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training approved trainers.
Availability may be limited to begin with, but the BDA expects that training capacity will increase throughout 2026.
The BDA advises all practices to ensure their staff complete the e-learning component at the earliest opportunity.
It also recommends incorporating discussion of the learning points and any necessary adjustments into regular team meetings. This demonstrates initial compliance action and provides essential knowledge while arrangements are made for the live training elements.
Practices should begin investigating the availability of approved trainers for both the tier one online interactive sessions and tier two face-to-face training as soon as possible as demand for approved trainers is likely to exceed supply during the initial rollout period.
Should a practice face a CQC inspection before completing the full training requirements, they should be able to demonstrate pro-active compliance by showing:
Taking these steps will show inspectors a practice is actively working towards full compliance, even if training availability prevents immediate completion of all requirements.
Members can read more about decision making, mental capacity and competency, and obtaining consent from patients in the BDA advice section. There is also a new consent course on the CPD hub for legally-compliant and ethically-sound patient care.