Skills for Care, in collaboration with Supported Loving, Care Quality Commission (CQC), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), has compiled resources to best support care staff to discuss matters of sexuality and intimate relationships.
The review follows the CQC report ‘Promoting sexual safety through empowerment’ (2020) which underlined the basic human right for people to express their sexuality and to be empowered, supported, and protected when using adult social care services.
Skills for Care research suggests that staff who discuss sexuality or intimate relationships with residents could benefit from training, yet just 37 per cent of organisations provide sexuality and relationship training.
Matters of capacity and consent, building confidence and removing taboo around discussions of sexuality, laws and rights, medical issues, and values are common areas.
Skills for Care hopes that this training offer will be the first step towards creating a standardised approach towards supporting people working in social care with discussing and supporting matters of sexuality and relationships in their role.
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