Tracheostomy Care and Ventilation

Tracheostomy and ventilation care training delivered at your workplace. Half a day or a full day. Clinical knowledge and hands-on practice with real equipment for care staff supporting someone with an open surgical airway in the community.

Course Overview

During a Prima Cura training session delivered in a Personal Health Budget holder’s own home, the trainer recognised signs of concern in the person being cared for while the session was still running, and the appropriate response was taken immediately. That moment did not happen because of luck. It happened because someone in the room had been trained to notice what mattered. New personal assistants supporting someone with a tracheostomy for the first time have come into these sessions anxious and uncertain about handling real equipment, and left able to carry out stoma care, inner cannula cleaning, and tube changes within their authorised scope, with the confidence to deliver safe care from day one.

Tracheostomy care in the community happens without a ward team down the corridor and without a crash trolley nearby. It happens in someone’s living room, delivered by a care worker or personal assistant who may be the only person present when a tube becomes blocked, displaced, or dislodged, or when a ventilator alarm sounds and nobody in the room knows what it means. This course is built for care staff working directly with individuals who have a tracheostomy, with or without mechanical ventilation, in community and home settings. It combines clinical knowledge with hands-on practical work using real tracheostomy equipment.

This is not a clinical qualification, and it does not replace competency sign-off by the responsible clinician named in the individual’s care plan. What it does is prepare care staff to understand the airway they are responsible for, recognise what normal looks like, spot what is not, and act correctly within their authorised scope when it matters.

The course aligns with the National Tracheostomy Safety Project’s Principles of Care for Adults Living with a Tracheostomy within a Community Setting, and with CQC Regulation 12: Safe Care and Treatment under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Course Details

  • Duration: Half day or full day, depending on the depth required and the needs of the service
  • Delivery: Face-to-face in-house, strongly recommended for practical elements. Theory elements can be delivered remotely via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
  • Certificate: CPD-Accredited Certificate of Achievement in Tracheostomy Care and Ventilation
  • Awarding organisations: CPD-Accredited
  • Validity: Annual refresher recommended, or sooner in line with clinical competency requirements
  • Group size: Minimum of 4 learners, maximum of 12 learners per trainer

Who This Course Is For

This course is right for care and support staff working directly with individuals who have a tracheostomy in community, domiciliary, or supported living settings.

  • Care assistants and support workers in complex care
  • Personal assistants supporting individuals under Personal Health Budgets or Direct Payments
  • Domiciliary care staff supporting ventilated individuals at home
  • Supported living staff where care plans include tracheostomy management
  • Healthcare assistants working in community or complex care settings

This course also serves as a structured refresher for registered nurses, including RGNs, supporting individuals with complex airway needs in community settings. Not sure whether this course covers what your team needs? Get in touch, and we’ll help you work it out before you commit.

Why This Training Matters

Tracheostomy care in a hospital happens within reach of specialist teams and immediate escalation pathways. Tracheostomy care at home happens with a personal assistant who may have been supporting that individual for weeks or months and who knows them better than any clinician does, but who may never have received training that matches the clinical complexity of the care they are expected to deliver. That gap is where harm happens. Tube displacement and obstruction are among the most commonly documented causes of tracheostomy-related harm, and a trained first responder who knows what they are looking at is consistently the difference between a managed complication and a deteriorating emergency.

Under CQC Regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, providers must ensure care and treatment is delivered safely, with risks assessed and managed, that staff have the qualifications, competence, skills, and experience their role demands, that there are arrangements to take appropriate action in clinical or medical emergencies, and that equipment used in care is suitable, available, and that staff are trained in its use. For any provider whose staff support an individual with a tracheostomy, this training directly supports each of those requirements. It does not replace clinical competency sign-off, which remains the responsibility of the employer and the relevant clinician named in the individual’s care plan.

A significant part of the Prima Cura tracheostomy training caseload involves supporting personal assistants working with Personal Health Budget holders in their own homes. These are often highly motivated, deeply committed individuals who care enormously about the person they support, but who arrive with limited clinical background. The course is built to meet them where they are, starting with clear anatomy and airway fundamentals, moving through hands-on work with real equipment, and finishing with staff who can perform the tasks they have been clinically authorised to carry out.

What the Day Covers

All content reflects current NTSP guidance and CQC Regulation 12 expectations throughout. Topics covered include:

  • Tracheostomy fundamentals: anatomy, airway management, and why community care presents unique challenges
  • Types of tracheostomy tubes and equipment: cuffed, uncuffed, fenestrated, single and double lumen
  • Ventilation principles: invasive and non-invasive support in home and community settings
  • Routine care in practice: stoma care, skin and site assessment, personal care and hygiene
  • Recognising and responding to complications: tube displacement and accidental decannulation, tube blockage and mucus plug, cuff pressure issues, stoma site infection and breakdown, ventilator disconnection and alarm response, and respiratory deterioration
  • Suctioning in principle: what it is, when it is needed, and what it involves, as preparation for clinical competency sign-off
  • Infection prevention and control in tracheostomy care
  • Emergency response: what to do, in what order, and what to tell the 999 operator
  • Documentation, reporting, and scope of practice

Every course is also built to include the individual’s own care plan, equipment, and escalation pathway as standard.

How the Course Is Delivered

Face-to-face in-house delivery is strongly recommended for this course, and required for the practical elements. Remote delivery via Zoom or Microsoft Teams is available for theory components only.

Sessions are delivered at your workplace, the individual’s home, or your chosen venue. Groups are capped between 4 and 12 to ensure every learner gets sufficient hands-on time with real equipment. Where possible, training uses the individual’s own equipment and care protocols, so that what staff practise in the session matches exactly what they will do on shift.

Delivery includes:

  • Hands-on practical work with real tracheostomy tubes and equipment
  • Inner cannula cleaning and tube change practice under trainer guidance, for staff working towards or holding clinical authorisation
  • Recognition exercises based on the specific complications covered in this course
  • Emergency scenario work: what to do when a tube is displaced, blocked, or a ventilator alarms
  • Integration of the individual’s own care plan, clinical protocols, and escalation pathways wherever possible

Certification and Validity

On completion, learners receive a CPD-Accredited Certificate of Achievement in Tracheostomy Care and Ventilation.

This course supports, but does not replace, clinical competency sign-off. The tasks staff are authorised to perform, and the level of supervision required, are determined by the employer and the responsible clinician named in the individual’s care plan, and this varies by service and by individual. Annual refresher training is recommended, or sooner, where the individual’s care needs change, new equipment is introduced, a staff member has had a period away from tracheostomy care, an incident or near-miss occurs, or NTSP guidance is updated. A gap of more than six months without refreshing competencies warrants reassessment before staff return to independent practice.

Why Organisations Book With Prima Cura

Most training providers arrive with a course. We arrive with yours.

Before the day, we gather information about your workplace: your incident reporting forms, your internal procedures, and the specific hazards your team actually faces. On the day, your trainer works that into every scenario, every discussion, every practical exercise. If your staff work in a care home, they’re not practising on hypothetical office workers. If your team are lone workers, that context shapes how the session runs.

It means the training lands. Not because it was well-delivered in a generic sense, but because it was relevant to the people in the room and the situations they’ll actually encounter.

A few other things that matter to the organisations that book with us:

  • 98.9% learner satisfaction across all Prima Cura courses
  • All trainers hold Enhanced DBS certificates and maintain ongoing CPD
  • We advise honestly on the qualification level at the enquiry stage. If a different course is a better fit for your workforce, we’ll say so before you book, not after

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Where We Deliver

We deliver in-house training at your workplace or chosen venue across Manchester, Greater Manchester, and the wider North West. We also deliver nationally across England, including North England, South England, London, and Surrey.

All sessions are led by experienced Prima Cura Training instructors. Groups for this course are kept between 4 and 12 per trainer to protect the quality of hands-on learning with real equipment.

Our associate network means we can deliver across England. You can meet the team on our Associates page.

FAQs

Is this a clinical tracheostomy qualification?

No. This is a skills-based training course for care staff working with individuals who have a tracheostomy in community and home settings. It does not confer a clinical qualification and does not independently authorise staff to carry out any procedure. What it does is give care staff the knowledge, understanding, and practical familiarity with real equipment to carry out the tasks they have been authorised to perform, safely and with confidence. Clinical competency sign-off remains the responsibility of the employer and the relevant clinician named in the individual’s care plan.

What should staff do if a tube becomes displaced or blocked?

Follow the emergency procedures in the individual’s care plan and call 999 immediately. Do not attempt to reinsert a displaced tube unless specifically trained and authorised to do so. The NTSP’s Emergency Care guidance and algorithms set out clear first-responder actions for tracheostomy emergencies. This course covers recognition, correct initial response, and what to communicate to emergency services in detail.

Can staff carry out tube changes after this training?

Yes. Only where they have been authorised to do so by their employer and the responsible clinician named in the individual’s care plan. This course provides the knowledge and hands-on familiarity to support that sign-off, not to replace it. Whether a member of staff is authorised to change inner cannulas only or to carry out full tube changes is determined by the individual’s clinical needs and the governance arrangements in place within their service.

Do you deliver this training in our area, including in a PHB holder’s own home?

Yes. We deliver this training at your workplace, the individual’s home, or your chosen venue, across Manchester, Greater Manchester, and the wider North West, and nationally across England, including the North East, Midlands, London, Surrey, and South England through our experienced associate network. For a course involving real airway equipment, the setting matters, and we bring the training to where care actually happens.

Related Courses

Book or Enquire

Book your training or request a quote

If your staff are supporting someone with a tracheostomy at home and need training that reflects the real complexity of that responsibility, get in touch. Tell us your team size and your sector, and we’ll build a session around your service, your staff, and the individual in their care.

We respond to all enquiries within one working day.

Our Commitment to Quality and Compliance

At Prima Cura Training, all courses reflect current UK guidance and best practice. All trainers are experienced professionals with relevant qualifications and ongoing CPD. Because many of the organisations we support work with vulnerable individuals, all trainers hold Enhanced DBS checks.

For clinical and high-risk subjects such as tracheostomy and ventilation care, we apply additional rigour to trainer selection, subject knowledge review, and content accuracy. Trainers delivering this course are selected based on professional clinical experience in airway management alongside their teaching qualifications. We do not cut corners on subject matter that directly affects vulnerable people.

This course is reviewed against updates from the National Tracheostomy Safety Project, the Care Quality Commission, the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, and current UK legislation, including the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

You can read more on our Quality Assurance and Compliance page.

Reviewed by Stephanie Austin, Owner and Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training | 25+ years in health and social care | 15+ years as a trainer | Last reviewed: June 2026 | Next review: June 2027

This course provides skills-based training for care staff supporting individuals with tracheostomy and ventilation needs in community settings. It does not replace clinical training, competency sign-off, or the governance requirements set out in the individual’s care plan and organisational policies. All care must be delivered in line with the individual’s clinical care plan, the instructions of the responsible clinician, and the authorised scope of practice of each member of staff. Staff must never attempt a procedure they have not been specifically trained and authorised to perform. In an airway emergency, call 999 immediately. This page is for general guidance only and does not constitute clinical or legal advice.

< back

Enquire about Tracheostomy Care and Ventilation