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HSC Learning release notes for August 2026

Release notes for health and social care eLearning content.

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Written by Thalia Galloway

Enhancing your learning experience with improved accessibility, refreshed content, and alignment with the latest standards.

What's New

Overview

  • Parkinson's Awareness eLearning is a brand new course in the catalogue, created following customer feedback, released 17 August

  • Two titles have been through routine maintenance

  • The Cleaning eLearning has had its question bank updated following customer feedback

Released in August

Parkinson's Awareness

A brand new course title to answer customer requests for content in this area.

This empowers you to look beyond a diagnosis and truly understand the person in front of you, building the confidence to recognise how Parkinson's can change hour to hour, not just year to year. You'll gain practical skills in supporting medication safely, knowing that even a short delay can undo someone's whole day, and in adapting the way you communicate so nobody's understanding is judged by how clearly they can speak. You'll feel more assured in spotting the quieter, easily missed signs, such as low mood or fatigue, and in knowing exactly when and how to escalate a concern. Most importantly, you'll be equipped to support the whole person, and the family around them, with the flexible, person-centred care that Parkinson's demands.

This will help you:

• Spot the difference between Parkinson's symptoms and everyday assumptions, including the subtle signs that often go unnoticed.

• Support medication with confidence, understanding just how much timing matters.

• Communicate in a way that respects the person, not just their diagnosis.

• Notice changes early and know exactly how and when to raise them.

• Feel prepared to support not only the person you care for, but their family too.

Released 17 August

Consent

Following our subject matter expert's review, we have renamed this course from Patient Consent to Consent, so it applies to a wider audience. Content has been updated to include more detail on the age of consent based on the Gillick competence, explaining how children under 16 can consent to treatment if sufficiently mature. The capacity testing section has been expanded to cover abilities such as understanding, retaining, using or weighing, and communicating information. We've added guidance on supporting communication under the Mental Capacity Act, including non-verbal responses. References to nurses have been broadened to medical professionals, and the section on refusing treatment has been rewritten. The assessment has been updated with new questions to align with the content changes.

Released 3 August

Professional Boundaries

Following a expert review, the content has been refined for greater clarity, consistency and accessibility throughout. You'll build a clearer understanding of how to maintain appropriate boundaries with the people you support, recognise the situations and gifts that can put those boundaries at risk.

Released 12 August

Cleaning

The assessment question bank has been updated. The wording of several questions and answers has been corrected and improved for clarity and to use more inclusive language, including updates to the "advised colour green" and "isolation areas" questions. True or false questions have been removed and replaced with new standardised questions for consistency. An outdated question relating to curtains and soft furnishings has been retired, and five new questions have been added to broaden coverage of cleaning topics.

Released 18 August

Released in July

Infection Prevention Control

A complete evolution of this content both for residential services and community services. There is a core module combined with a setting specific module for the learners to undertake.

Residential

You'll gain the confidence to prevent infection before it starts, understanding skills in hand hygiene, PPE, spillages and waste, so you can protect the people you support in every task. You'll also learn to spot infection risks and alert organisms early. The Residential module helps you approach isolation with compassion, recognise a potential outbreak, and know when and how to escalate. By the end, you'll feel equipped to make infection prevention second nature, whilst meeting your reporting duties to your manager, the IPC Lead, and the responsible regulatory bodies.

This new course will help you:

  • Understand how infection spreads and how to break the chain.

  • Follow the hand hygiene steps and choose the right PPE for each task.

  • Manage spillages, needlestick injuries and waste safely.

  • Recognise infection risks and alert organisms.

  • Set up source and protective isolation compassionately.

  • Recognise when a potential outbreak should be declared and escalate it appropriately.

Released 22 July

Community

You'll build the confidence to provide safe care in the homes of the people you support, even when the environment is unpredictable. You'll learn how to adapt your precautions on the go, manage PPE and waste correctly across visits, and respond calmly if someone refuses infection control measures. You'll also know exactly when and how to escalate a concern, so you're never managing risk alone.

This new course will help you:

  • Adapt standard infection control precautions to any home environment.

  • Manage clean and used PPE correctly to avoid cross-contamination.

  • Dispose of sharps and waste safely during domiciliary visits.

  • Respond appropriately when someone refuses infection control measures.

  • Take the right immediate action following an exposure incident.

Released 22 July

Personality Disorder

This course has been updated following SME review to reflect more inclusive language and best practice in supporting people with personality disorders. Content changes include revised terminology around neurodivergence and diagnostic labels, and clearer explanations of factors such as family, friendships, school, physical health and work. Course style and content have been refreshed throughout for clarity and accessibility, with improved learning objectives and lesson titles to better match course content. A new introduction and additional knowledge checks have been added to support learning retention and engagement.

Released 1 July

Mental Capacity (Northern Ireland)

Following a detailed expert review, the content has been updated to reflect recent legislative changes following the Supreme Court ruling, with improved accessibility throughout. Through realistic case studies, you'll explore everything from assessing capacity and supporting people to make their own decisions, to working out best interests and applying the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards correctly. You'll understand your legal responsibilities under the Act, know how to recognise a possible deprivation of liberty before it becomes unlawful, and feel equipped to speak up when someone's rights and freedoms are at risk.

Released 21 July

First Aid eLearning

  • The fourth question in the Define chapter now shows the correct accepted answer, in line with the feedback provided after answering.

  • We identified that several questions, including those relating to manual handling, had been pulled in from another course's question bank and did not align with the First Aid training content. These have now been removed.

  • While reviewing this, we also found that a section containing five questions had been missing from the assessment, so this has been added back in.

Released 17 July

MCA & DoLS eLearning

Following a detailed expert review, the content has been updated to reflect recent legislative changes following the Supreme Court ruling.

Released 28 July

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