Caring for Smiles is Scotland’s national oral health promotion, training and support programme for older people, particularly those living in care homes.
Information on training and resources that you can access to increase your skills and knowledge when delivering mouth care to dependent older people you look after.
Any health and social care staff can access training through your local Oral Health Improvement Team.
We work with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) on our training courses. We have a range of training options as detailed below.
Accredited training
The accredited training can go towards your SVQ, if you are completing one, or towards continuous professional learning, for example, as part of your Scottish Social Services Council registration.
We deliver SCQF training over two level:
- Foundation (at SCQF Level 5) – covers the importance of every day mouth care, an introduction to risk assessment, care planning and daily documentation.
- Intermediate (at SCQF Level 6) – covers the importance of every day mouth care as well as focussing on skills for providing care to people living with dementia, and people receiving palliative and end of life care.
To move on to the Intermediate training, you must have first completed the Foundation level.
More information on the accredited training can be found on the NES website.
If you would like to undertake the training contact your local Caring for Smiles Coordinator to talk about what is available in your area.
Non-accredited training
Your local Caring for Smiles Coordinator can also give you information on non-accredited training and what they can offer you or the service that you work within.
Open Badges
NES have also developed two Open Badges, one for care homes and one for care at home services, which can been accessed through the Scottish Social Services Council website.
Resources
Resources are available to support you in delivering every day mouth care to the people that you care for.
We have also developed information with the Care Inspectorate which will help you with your daily practice:
- Supporting better oral care in care homes: what quality looks like
- Supporting better oral care in care homes: Oral care policy for adult care homes