Health and Social Care

Health and social care is a diverse and continually evolving field that supports people to live healthy, safe and fulfilling lives.

Whether you work directly with individuals, support families and carers, or help deliver services within your community, ongoing learning is essential to developing knowledge, confidence and good practice.

This section brings together learning opportunities, resources and information covering a wide range of health and social care topics. From dementia and autism through to mental health, palliative care and complex care, the aim is to support continuous learning and improve outcomes for the people and communities we serve.

Learning Topics

Learning opportunities are available across a range of health and social care subjects.

Topics currently include:

Dementia
Learning Disabilities
Autism
Mental Health and Wellbeing
Palliative and End of Life Care
Complex Care
Continence Care
Falls Prevention
Pressure Ulcer Prevention
Substance Use
Promoting Physical Activity
Communication and Relationships

As new learning opportunities become available, they will be added to this section.

Dementia

Supporting people living with dementia requires compassion, understanding and a person-centred approach.

Learning opportunities are available through our Dementia Learning resources, including Dementia: Promoting Excellence Level 1 and other resources designed to support staff working across health and social care settings.

Additional information and resources can be found through Alzheimer Scotland and NHS Inform's Dementia Information Hub.

Learning Disabilities and Autism

People with learning disabilities and autistic people should be supported to live fulfilling lives and achieve outcomes that matter to them.

Learning opportunities and resources are available through Learning About Autism, Perth Autism Support Facebook Page (New website in development), and wider learning opportunities relating to learning disabilities and inclusive practice.

You may also find information from Scottish Autism, ARC Scotland, and ENABLE Scotland helpful.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental health is everyone's business.

Whether supporting others or looking after your own wellbeing, learning opportunities can help develop understanding, reduce stigma and improve confidence when discussing mental health.

Resources include Scottish Mental Health First Aid, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Mindful Self-Compassion and Suicide Prevention Learning and Development.

Useful external resources can also be found through SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health), NHS Inform Mental Health Services, and See Me Scotland.

Palliative and End of Life Care

Providing compassionate support at the end of life is an important part of health and social care practice.

Learning opportunities include EASE (End of Life Aid Skills for Everyone) and Palliative Care and End of Life Learning.

Additional guidance and learning can be accessed through Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care, Marie Curie, and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Supporting Health and Wellbeing

Health and social care staff play an important role in supporting people to maintain their health, independence and quality of life.

Learning opportunities are available in areas such as:

Falls Prevention
Promoting Physical Activity
Self Management
Community Equipment and Adaptations
Personal Outcomes and Wellbeing

You may also find resources from Paths for All, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, and NHS Inform Healthy Living useful.

Communication and Relationships

Positive outcomes are often built on good communication and strong relationships.

You can explore learning opportunities including Communication Awareness, Talking Mats, Sensory Awareness, Difficult Discussions Matter, and Sensory Advocacy Services.

These resources support confident communication, relationship-based practice and person-centred approaches to care and support.

Useful Organisations and Resources

A range of national organisations provide trusted information, learning resources and guidance across health and social care.

You may find the following helpful:

These organisations offer guidance, best practice resources, research, learning materials and information that can support both personal development and professional practice.

Related Learning Areas

Health and social care learning often overlaps with other areas of development.

Need Support?

If you are looking for learning opportunities, resources or guidance relating to a specific area of health or social care practice, please contact the Learning and Development Team.

Email: HSCPLearning@pkc.gov.uk