WAJD Learning

Senior care workers

Training for senior care workers and shift leads

Also called senior carers, team leaders, shift leaders and lead care assistants.

  • 8subjects on the list
  • 25.0CPD hours available here
  • Freefirst module of each

The step from care worker to senior is the biggest change of responsibility in the sector that arrives with the least preparation. On the same shift you become the person who allocates the work, checks the medicines, receives the safeguarding concern and decides when to call the manager at home.

The list below covers both halves of the job: the refreshers every care worker carries, and the subjects that become yours the day you take a shift: medication accountability, supervision, and being the senior person present when something goes wrong.

The training list

SubjectWhat it is forTypical refresherLearn it
Leading practice on a shift, Level 3 The job itself: delegation, handover, quality on the floor, and difficult conversations. Once, then built on 4.0 hour course
Safe administration of medicines Seniors usually hold the keys. Errors, audits and covert administration land on you. Typically every year, with workplace competency assessment 3.0 hour course
Safeguarding adults You are often the first person a concern is reported to. That changes your duties. Typically every three years, more often for leads Standard 10
Supervision and line management Supervision that develops people rather than ticking a box, and notes that stand up. Once, then built on 2.5 hour course
Mental Capacity Act and DoLS Seniors sit in best interests conversations and spot unlawful restrictions. Typically every three years 3.0 hour course
Moving and handling of people
The practical update remains face to face, for you and the staff you supervise. 		You now check other people's technique as well as your own. Typically every year 2.5 hour course
Infection prevention and control Outbreak management starts with the senior on duty that day. Typically every year 8.0 hour course
Fire safety The senior on shift is usually the fire marshal after five o'clock. Typically every year 2.0 hour course

Refresher intervals are the conventions carried in employer training matrices, not statutory periods. Your own employer's matrix is what an inspector reads. Figures for course length are our declared study hours.

Courses that cover this list

Questions

Do I need a Level 3 qualification to be a senior care worker?

Usually not as a legal condition, but most employers either require one or require you to work towards one, and the Level 3 Diploma is the normal route. Our Level 3 course teaches the practice leadership knowledge behind the role; it is continuing professional development rather than the regulated Diploma, and it says so on its own page.

What extra training does medication responsibility bring?

Annual refresher knowledge, a workplace competency observation before you administer unsupervised, and usually a repeat observation each year or after any error. As a senior you may also be the person doing the observing, which is a competency of its own and belongs in supervision records.