• Aston University introduced Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training across healthcare programmes in 2025

• The interdisciplinary training significantly improved students’ confidence communicating with autistic people and people with learning disabilities

• It is the first evaluation of the scheme in a UK higher education institution and highlights the importance of embedding the training in universities.

Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training (OMMT) was introduced in the NHS to improve support for individuals with autism and learning disabilities, and now new research at Aston University has shown that embedding it in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes significantly improves students’ awareness and confidence.

The collaborative research, led by Dr Amreen Bashir, a lecturer in biosciences, Dr Mary Drozd, senior teaching fellow in nursing, and Dr Jayne Murphy, programme lead for pre-registration nursing, has been published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine and marks the first time that Tier 1 OMMT has been evaluated for healthcare students at a UK higher education institution.

Oliver McGowan was an 18-year-old with autism and learning disabilities who died in 2016 after a bad reaction to medication for epileptic seizures, which both he and his parents had requested should not be given after a previous adverse reaction. Oliver's death was ruled 'avoidable' and revealed serious gaps in training for medical professionals caring for those with autism and learning difficulties. Oliver's mother Paula set up a foundation to campaign for appropriate training, and in 2022, a UK act of parliament mandated learning disability and autism training for all healthcare staff registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Aston University was one of the first higher education institutions in the UK to pilot Tier 1 OMMT across undergraduate healthcare programmes, including Nursing, Biomedical Science, Pharmacy, Optometry, and Physician Associate Studies, in 2025.

The interdisciplinary training combined a 90-minute e-learning module with a one-hour interactive webinar featuring facilitators and experts by experience.

Dr Bashir, Dr Drozd and Dr Murphy, with Aston colleague Dr Karan Singh Rana, senior lecturer in biosciences, evaluated how well the training worked for students.

They found that the training resulted in significant improvements in students’ confidence in verbal communication and in using different methods to communicate with autistic individuals and people with learning disabilities. Students also demonstrated significantly improved understanding and awareness of autism and mild, moderate, severe and profound learning disabilities.

Students reported that they particularly valued learning from experts by experience and recognised the importance of personalised healthcare, reasonable adjustments and multidisciplinary approaches to ensure equitable care.

Dr Bashir said:

“Overall, the training enhanced healthcare students’ understanding of autism and learning disabilities and helped equip them with key skills for future NHS roles. The findings highlight the importance of embedding this type of training across higher education institutions to ensure future professionals are prepared not only to treat, but to understand, respect and advocate for autistic people and individuals with learning disabilities.”

Visit www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2026.1672094/full to read the paper in full.