Airway Suctioning training that gets your team CQC-ready
- CQC-aligned, mapped to the Care Certificate framework
- Completed in the hub in over 60 languages
- A certificate for every staff member, for your CQC evidence
- A wrong answer triggers a follow-up lesson, so gaps are closed
No subscription needed. Bulk discounts from 10+ licences.
From £25.99 per staff member, one-off. No subscription needed.
Trusted by UK care providers
Specialists in the technology behind it all
The same technology behind the world's best products powers CareStream, so your team's airway suctioning training stays accurate, always up to date with the latest guidance, and is delivered in over 60 languages.
Understanding Why Suctioning Is Needed
Some people cannot clear secretions, fluids or obstructions from their airway effectively themselves due to conditions like neuromuscular disease, spinal injury, tracheostomy or ventilator dependence. Without suctioning, these secretions can block the airway causing choking, aspiration, respiratory infection or hypoxia.
You perform suctioning to maintain a patent airway and support adequate breathing. Each person you support will have individual signs that tell you they need suctioning, detailed in their care plan.
What is the primary purpose of airway suctioning?
In the hub, a wrong answer sends the staff member a short follow-up lesson and a fresh question on the same point. They close the gap before they can finish the module, and every attempt is recorded for your CQC evidence.
That is how the training works. Give your whole team the full Airway Suctioning module.
Avg. Duration
About 35 minutes
Certificate
For every staff member
Available Languages (60+)
Course Published by
A clear, practical grounding in airway suctioning.
This annual refresher ensures you maintain safe, competent practice in airway suctioning for the individuals you support. It covers the essential knowledge underpinning this delegated clinical task, including when suctioning is needed, how to perform it safely, infection control requirements, and recognising complications. Remember this refresher covers knowledge only; your practical competency must be assessed and signed off separately by a registered nurse for each person you support.
By the end, your staff will be able to:
- Explain why airway suctioning is necessary and identify the signs that indicate a person needs suctioning
- Describe the correct technique for safe suctioning including catheter selection, suction pressure, depth and duration
- Apply strict infection prevention and control principles during suctioning procedures
- Recognise potential complications during suctioning and know when to stop and escalate
- Work within your delegated role and person specific competency when performing suctioning
A closer look at the airway suctioning module.
The module is built in short, practical sections. Each one teaches a part of the topic, then applies it to a real care scenario and checks understanding before moving on.
Understanding Why Suctioning Is Needed
Some people cannot clear secretions, fluids or obstructions from their airway effectively themselves due to conditions like neuromuscular disease, spinal injury, tracheostomy or ventilator dependence. Without suctioning, these secretions can block the airway causing choking, aspiration, respiratory infection or hypoxia. You perform suctioning to maintain a patent airway and support adequate breathing. Each person you support will have individual signs that tell you they need suctioning, detailed in their care plan.
Different Routes of Suctioning
Suctioning can be performed through different routes depending on the person's needs. Oral suctioning removes secretions from the mouth. Nasal suctioning clears the nose. Oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal suctioning reach the back of the throat. Tracheal or tracheostomy suctioning goes directly into the windpipe through a tracheostomy tube. Your competency is person specific, meaning you are only signed off to suction the particular individuals and routes you have been assessed for by a registered nurse.
Safe Suctioning Technique
Safe suctioning requires correct catheter size, safe suction pressure, measured depth and limited duration. The person's care plan specifies these details. Suction pressure that is too high can damage delicate airway tissue. Inserting the catheter too deep can cause trauma. Suctioning for too long can remove oxygen as well as secretions, causing hypoxia. You must follow the exact technique in the person's protocol, which has been set by a registered nurse or specialist clinician based on that individual's needs.
Infection Prevention and Control
Strict infection control is essential during suctioning because you are accessing the airway, which is normally a sterile area. Use aseptic technique to avoid introducing infection. This means thorough hand hygiene, using clean or sterile gloves depending on the route, using a new catheter for each suctioning episode, not touching the catheter tip, and cleaning equipment properly after use. In a home setting you are responsible for ensuring catheters and consumables are in stock, in date, and stored cleanly to prevent contamination.
Recognising and Responding to Complications
Complications during suctioning can be life threatening and you must recognise them immediately. Watch for signs of hypoxia such as falling oxygen saturations, blue lips or increased distress. Bradycardia means the heart rate slows, which can happen from vagal stimulation during suctioning. Mucosal trauma causes bleeding. Respiratory distress means the person is struggling to breathe. If any complication occurs, stop suctioning immediately, position the person to support breathing, give oxygen if prescribed, and call for help. Know exactly when to escalate to the clinical team or call 999.
Working Within Your Delegated Role
Suctioning is a delegated clinical task, not a routine personal care activity. A registered nurse has assessed you as competent and delegated this task to you for specific individuals. You must work strictly within your signed off competency and never suction someone you are not assessed for. Your role has clear limits. If suctioning does not relieve the problem, if the airway becomes blocked, if equipment fails, or if the person deteriorates, you must stop and escalate immediately. You work alongside the clinical team including community nurses, respiratory specialists and therapists, and you must respect where your role ends and theirs begins.
The things your team must remember.
- Suctioning maintains a patent airway for people who cannot clear secretions themselves and prevents choking, aspiration and hypoxia
- You must only suction individuals and routes you hold a current person specific competency for, signed off by a registered nurse
- Follow the exact technique in each person's care plan including correct catheter size, suction pressure, depth and duration
- Use strict aseptic technique with a new catheter each time to prevent introducing infection into the airway
- Recognise complications like hypoxia and bradycardia immediately, stop suctioning and escalate without delay
- Work within your delegated role and know when to stop and call for clinical support or emergency help
Not a slideshow once a year. Training that sticks.
CareStream delivers airway suctioning training in the hub your team already uses, grounded in best practice and your own policies, so it fits your care setting and not a generic template.
Short teaching sections and a real care scenario, then an assessment that checks understanding.
Staff complete it in over 60 languages, while your records stay in English.
A wrong answer triggers a short follow-up lesson and a fresh question, so the gap is closed.
Automatic reminders at 90, 30 and 7 days, with a live compliance dashboard.
From your dashboard to your team, in the CareStream hub.
Training is delivered in the hub each staff member logs into. You allocate the modules, they complete them in their own language, and you get the completion records and certificates for your CQC evidence, with any gaps closed by automatic follow up training.
Assign Airway Suctioning to each staff member in seconds. No course builder and no setup for each person.
Staff work through the module on any device, in over 60 languages, teaching then checking understanding. A wrong answer sends a short follow up lesson.
See live completion status and a certificate for every person, ready as evidence for CQC.
Any step, in their language, in one tap.
Care teams are diverse and training should not leave anyone behind. On any lesson or question, a staff member taps the language button and the whole step flips into the language they think in. They understand it properly, and your records stay in English.
- One tap flips any lesson or question into their language, instantly.
- Over 60 languages, with no setup and no separate versions to manage.
- Completions and certificates stay in English for your CQC evidence.
Try the language buttons in the preview above.
Built for real learning, not box ticking
Every CareStream course goes further than a lesson and a quiz. These features come as standard on every course, giving your staff a richer way to learn and giving you the evidence to prove it.
Every course is built on recognised UK guidance and cites its sources, from NICE and Skills for Care to the NHS and the legislation itself.
A plain English glossary of the technical terms in each course. A simple way to support every learner, including staff with English as a second language.
A quick knowledge check before the lesson is compared with the final assessment, so every certificate comes with evidence of how much the course actually taught.
After passing, staff record what they will do differently in their day to day work. Their reflection is saved to their training record and shown with their certificate.
A printable one page takeaway of the outcomes, key points and key terms. Perfect for staff files, supervision conversations and the staff room wall.
A printable checklist for managers to confirm skills in practice, with a sign off section. It completes the picture beyond the knowledge assessment.
Wrong answers become lessons, not failures
Most e learning marks an answer wrong and moves on. CareStream does not. Every wrong answer triggers an automatic follow up loop that teaches the point again and rechecks it, so no knowledge gap is left behind.
A wrong answer immediately opens a short lesson explaining the point, so the gap is closed there and then.
A fresh question on the same point checks the lesson has landed. The loop repeats until it has.
Staff move on to the next module and their certificate once they genuinely know the answer, not just after one lucky guess.
Why choose CareStream?
Training built for the care sector, delivered the way busy teams actually learn.
- 90+ care-specific training courses
- Bitesize, engaging lessons your staff actually finish
- Mapped to the Care Certificate & CQC standards
- Available in 60+ languages
- Instant certificate on completion
- Flexible learning, anytime, on any device
- Content kept up to date with UK care regulations
- Time to complete: ~35 min
Frequently asked questions.
Is Airway Suctioning training mandatory in care settings?
How often should staff complete Airway Suctioning training?
Can CareStream deliver Airway Suctioning training in other languages?
Does the training include an assessment?
More training your team may need
More mandatory and role-specific training CareStream delivers to your team, in the hub, in any language. Add any of these to your basket.
Annual CertificateCultural Diversity in Care
This training helps you understand and respect the diverse cultural, religious and personal backgrounds of the people we support. You will learn how to provide person-centred care that honours each individual's identity, beliefs and preferences. This is essential to meeting CQC fundamental standards and ensuring everyone feels valued and respected in our service.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateDementia Awareness
This training helps you understand dementia and how to provide person centred care to residents living with dementia at our home. You will learn to recognise signs of dementia, support residents with dignity and respect, and follow our policies to meet their individual needs.
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Annual CertificateMental Health Awareness
This module helps you recognise signs of mental health difficulties in residents and respond with compassion and respect. You will learn how mental health affects wellbeing, how to support residents experiencing distress, and when to seek additional help. Understanding mental health is essential to providing person centred care that maintains dignity.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateEnteral Feeding and Stoma Care
This training gives you the knowledge to safely deliver nutrition, fluids and medication through feeding tubes and care for stoma sites for people who cannot eat or drink by mouth. It covers the different tube types, how to check tube position, give feeds safely, care for the stoma, give medicines through the tube and recognise complications. This is the knowledge part of your competency; you must also complete a practical assessment with a registered professional before you can give feeds in pr
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateCough Assist
This annual refresher covers the safe use of mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (cough assist) devices to help people with weak coughs clear secretions from their airways. You will review why this therapy matters, how the device works, the prescribed settings you must follow, how to recognise when someone needs help, and when to stop and get clinical support. This knowledge component must be combined with your person-specific practical competency assessment.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateShared Lives Arrangements and Matching
This training explains how we carefully match supported people with the right Shared Lives carer and household. Good matching is the foundation of every successful Shared Lives arrangement because it creates real, lasting relationships built on shared interests, compatibility and ordinary family life. You will learn how to assess people properly, involve them in choosing, introduce them gradually and support arrangements over time.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Give your team airway suctioning training that actually sticks.
Add it to your basket, allocate it in seconds, and let the evidence build itself.
Compared
Three ways to train a care team.
These modules are written and kept current by us, so your managers do not have to write or maintain them. We have compared what each approach does rather than naming providers, because products change and this should still be true next year.
| CareStream | A generic e-learning library | A trainer you book | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Try a real lesson and a real question before you buy | |||
| Learning outcomes and time to complete stated up front | |||
| Written lesson sections, each with its own illustration | |||
| Interactive exercises after the lesson that teaches them, in every module | |||
| Assessment in every module, with the key points to revisit | |||
| Taken in any of sixty plus languages | |||
| A wrong answer triggers a follow-up lesson, not just a re-sit | |||
| Practical sign-off by a manager where the subject needs it | |||
| Completion files itself into your training matrix and evidence pack | |||
| Bought one module at a time, with no annual contract |
Generic libraries are often cheaper per learner. They teach a national standard rather than being built, updated and evidenced around the way a CQC-registered service is actually inspected.
Care policies
Every module is written from a policy
If the policy behind it is out of date, the training inherits that. Sixty six policies written for your service, checked against current law and read by a person before they carry your name, from £39.
