FEBRUARY 2020
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Talking it through
Bringing counselling into care
People first
New tools for person-centred support
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The care sector’s most widely-used electronic care planning system The benefits of using technology to provide person-centred care Over 1,500 care homes use Mobile Care Monitoring system for electronic care planning, monitoring and reporting, here’s why:
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In this issue 05
Inside CQC Kate Terroni looks at the outstanding work she’s seen in recent months and shares CQC’s plans for the year ahead.
07
CMM News
09
Into Perspective New for 2020, this article looks at the issue of free personal care for over 65s.
30
NCF Rising Stars This month, we spoke to Rebecca Ogujor, Registered Home Manager at The Salvation Army.
33
Celebrating Excellence Kris Harrold won the award for compassion at the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards 2019.
46
Event Preview What to expect from the upcoming CMM Insight Dorset Care Conference.
48
What’s On?
49
Straight Talk Simon Bottery examines how social care could look under the new Conservative government.
50
24
36
FEATURES 20
REGULARS
From the Editor
40
20
Removing the barriers to counselling in care The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) gives an insight into the research it’s conducting with care homes to support the mental wellbeing of both staff and residents.
24
Embracing diversity: BAME representation in leadership roles A mere 5.4% of board members at the biggest care providers are from a black or minority ethnic (BAME) background. Ravi Bains explores the benefits of hiring BAME employees in leadership roles.
36
A new approach driving person-centred care How can we make care even more tailored to each individual? Graeme Partridge of Preparing4Care shares details of an innovative model of data-collection that could help providers deliver the most person-centred care.
40
Resource Finder CMM brings you information on some of the sector’s leading providers of technology solutions. CMM February 2020
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EDITORIAL editor@caremanagementmatters.co.uk Editor in Chief: Robert Chamberlain Editor: Angharad Burnham Content Editor: Emma Cooper
CONTRIBUTORS
PRODUCTION Lead Designer: Ruth Clarry Director of Creative Operations: Lisa Werthmann Studio Manager: Jamie Harvey
ADVERTISING sales@caremanagementmatters.co.uk 01223 207770 Advertising Manager: Daniel Carpenter daniel.carpenter@carechoices.co.uk Director of Sales: David Werthmann david.werthmann@carechoices.co.uk Senior Sales Executive: Aaron Barber aaron.barber@carechoices.co.uk
@CQCprof
@pogueface
@RaviBainsUK
@IndependentAge
Kate Terroni Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Care Quality Commission
Jeremy Bacon Older People Lead, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Ravi Bains Founder, Grosvenor Health and Social Care
Morgan Vine Campaigns Manager, Independent Age
@JamesBullion
@salvationarmyuk
@Preparing4Care
@FacetTrust
James Bullion Vice President, ADASS, and Executive Director of Adult Social Services, Norfolk County Council
Rebecca Ogujor Registered Home Manager, The Salvation Army
Graeme Partridge Head of Operations, Preparing4Care
Kris Harrold General Manager, FACET
SUBSCRIPTIONS Non-care and support providers may be required to pay £50 per year. info@caremanagementmatters.co.uk 01223 207770 www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk Care Management Matters is published by Care Choices Ltd who cannot be held responsible for views expressed by contributors. Care Management Matters © Care Choices Ltd 2020 CCL REF NO: CMM 17.0
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CMM February 2020
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From the Editor Editor, Angharad Burnham looks at the events of the last two months and shares details of a new feature. Since our last edition of CMM, we have not only entered a new decade, but have also seen the December General Election resulting in a majority win for the Conservatives. This majority, which is the biggest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher won in the 1987 election, has been hailed as the opportunity social care has been waiting for. Care leaders are calling on the Prime Minister to address the systemic issues faced by the sector, and are expecting big things given his commitment to finding a solution, which he made on his first day in office. Mr Johnson has also recently reiterated this commitment in an interview with the BBC, in which he clearly stated that he intends to bring forward a plan for social care by the end of 2020. He also suggested that reforms would be put into effect during this parliament. Part of the Prime Minister’s plan appears to be implementing his
pre-election promise to ensure that people can get the care they need without having to sell their homes to pay for it. However, we are yet to see how he intends to do this.
FREE PERSONAL CARE One of the suggestions that has been on the table for some time regarding the funding of social care is to increase taxation and offer free personal care for people aged 65 and over. This received a vast amount of attention during the General Election, with the Labour Party in particular pledging to introduce this if they were elected. Interestingly, the Conservative party was not one of those to put this forward in their manifesto. We’ve explored the concept of free personal care for over 65s in our new article, Into Perspective on page 30. This series will be a new monthly feature, bringing you discussion from sector experts on hot topics in adult social care.
This month, we’ve spoken to Independent Age, long-time campaigners for free personal care for older people, and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. Read their thoughts on the proposals and let us know where you stand by commenting on the feature on the CMM website.
COMING UP Elsewhere in this issue, we’ve got features on ensuring people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds have equal opportunities to become leaders in the sector (page 24), and the
latest research into supporting the mental health of all those in care homes – both staff and residents – on page 20. We also have a packed Resource Finder full of useful services offering support with technology, starting on page 40. The first of this year's CMM Insight events is just around the corner on 6th February and we hope to see you there. In the meantime, keep up with the latest news by becoming a member of the CMM website. Visit www.caremanagementmatters. co.uk and sign up for free if you’re a provider or if it's a benefit of any organisations you belong to.
Email: editor@caremanagementmatters.co.uk Twitter: @CMM_Magazine Web: www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk
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Thank you for taking the time to read my second Inside CQC column and Happy New Year! I hope that you have had a restful festive period and managed to take some time for yourself, to recharge and recuperate for the year ahead. I would like to celebrate all of the work that has gone into keeping people safe this winter, and, throughout the winter months, myself and the other CQC Chief Inspectors will be posting blogs on our Medium page. When I wrote to you in June, I had been in the position of Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care for the CQC for little over a month and was still settling into the role. Since then, I have had the chance to visit several services and meet with many of the people who are providing and receiving care, which has been one of the highlights of my job. Last week I had the pleasure of joining an inspection of a care agency, where I spoke to families who enthused about the quality of care provided for their loved ones. Families told me about feeling part of a team and working in partnership with the provider. One daughter talked about her dad with dementia and how staff knew exactly what words to say to reassure him. I heard that visits weren’t missed, the staff were rarely late and that the care workers were consistent, so they got to know the likes and dislikes of the people they supported. I spoke with a woman who received care and she described how the service had arranged a Christmas get-together for the people they provided support to, but that, in addition to this, on Christmas morning, the manager visited everyone’s home who didn’t have family and delivered a home cooked roast dinner. She said she burst into tears when she opened the door to her. I often talk about our social care workforce routinely going above and beyond what they are asked to deliver to ensure that people have a good quality of life, and this is a wonderful example of that. I am passionate about shouting about great work that is going on in the sector, but also about shining a spotlight on work that we are involved in which is aimed at improving adult social care. This year, I want to highlight the work that CQC and other national bodies in the sector are doing on medicines optimisation, as this is an important area of
Inside CQC K
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Kate Terroni, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) discusses plans for the year ahead and the outstanding work she’s seen in recent months.
focus for us going forward. In July 2019, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) launched Involved and informed to encourage better medicines support for people receiving medicines in community settings. There are 237 million medication errors reported in the NHS every year. However, notably, 50% of our Provider Information Returns report nil medication errors. We can’t learn how to support people to be more informed and receive the right medication when it is prescribed without having a robust mechanism for learning from when this does not occur. The NICE campaign aims ‘to ensure that people get the best possible outcomes with a reduced risk of medicine related harm’. As the regulator, we are in a unique position to be able to drive improvement in this area by highlighting to providers the importance of the guideline NG67 and the associated quality
standard. There are also plenty of tools and resources to assist providers, as well as our report on Medicines in Health and Social Care. Over the next few months, we are going to be focusing on a different medicine topic in our provider bulletins, which you can sign up to on our website. In the coming year, we will also be shining a light on the care that people with learning disabilities and/or autism receive, with the final report from our thematic review of restraint, seclusion and segregation due to publish in Spring. You can read the interim report with our findings from phase one of the review on our website. I look forward to writing to you again soon and talking in more detail about some of the really interesting subjects that CQC is tackling in 2020 and the reports that we are publishing, in particular our report on sexual safety in adult social care which is due for release soon.
Kate Terroni is Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission. Share your thoughts and feedback on Kate’s column on the CMM website, www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk where you can also find links to the guidelines and projects mentioned. CMM February 2020
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APPOINTMENTS SKILLS FOR CARE
National Living Wage set to rise The National Living Wage (NLW) is set to increase in April 2020, following Government's acceptance of recommendations from the Low Pay Commission (LPC). The acceptance of the LPC’s recommendations means achieving the goal originally announced by the Government in 2015, of raising the NLW to 60% of median earnings. The Chancellor has indicated he will set a further target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. The LPC recommended that the National Living Wage increase to £8.72 from £8.21 – a 6.2% increase on the 2019 rate. The April 2019 increase in the NLW directly raised pay for around 1.6 million workers in 2019. This year’s recommendations for younger workers are higher than in 2018, reflecting the strong
pay growth and stable overall employment levels for these groups. This will be the final year in which the NLW will apply to workers aged 25 and over, with the age threshold coming down to 23 in 2021 and to 21 by 2024. In response to the announcement, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Julie Ogley, said, ‘We welcome the Government’s announcement of an increase in the wages of the lowest paid workers… 'The Government will clearly need to fund this significant commitment and adjust the funding available to local government and social care accordingly. If Government does not provide additional funding, then this will further destabilise already fragile care markets with
a clear impact on those of us who need care and support.’ The Independent Care Group (ICG) says the Government’s plan to increase the National Living Wage for over-25s is very welcome. The Group’s Chair, Mike Padgham said, ‘These increases are very good news for lower-paid workers and we would like to see rates of pay even higher. ‘However, we have to add the caveat that these increases will add further pressure, especially to those who are providing publicly-funded care. It will also increase prices for those paying for their own care… In an ideal world everyone across social care would like to pay their staff more but they all need greater support to be able to meet the demands of increased wages and all the other pressures providers face.’
Council funding of older people’s care New figures from Care England show the state of council funding of older people's care. Care England has a list of 30 councils that pay under £500 per week for an older person in an independent care home, equivalent to just £2.97 per hour, it reports. In addition, the representative body identified that council funding of older people's care was radically lower than the levels put forward in independent research by LaingBuisson, which set out the average costs of an economicallyrun residential home, suggesting between £623 to £726 depending
on standard of accommodation and whether or not the home is supporting people living with dementia. Care England's Freedom of Information analysis has also shown that some councils which were paying less than £500 to independent care homes were at the same time giving their own local authority-run homes much higher rates. For example, one council was found to be giving over £650 per week to their own homes, compared to less than £500 to the independent sector homes. Professor Martin Green OBE
says, ‘It cannot be right that older people in independent homes are treated so differently when they are aiming, as all independent homes are, to provide good quality care with well-paid staff. The recently announced significantly increased 2020/21 rates for the National Minimum Wage will put even more stress on underfunded homes and means [that] paying homes under £500 for residential care can simply no longer be justified.’ Care England has written to these 30 councils to ask how they plan to ensure care is better funded in future.
Oonagh Smyth has been announced as the new Chief Executive of Skills for Care. Oonagh will take up her new post early this year. She is currently Executive Director of Strategy and Influence at Mencap, where she has led a significant strategic change programme across the organisation.
ADVINIA HEALTH CARE Simon Morris has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Advinia Health Care. Simon is the former long-serving Chief Executive of Jewish Care and is also a NonExecutive Director at Hillingdon Hospital Foundation Trust.
HEATHCOTES GROUP Heathcotes Group has appointed Brendan Kelly as Group Managing Director providing strategic leadership nationwide. Brendan was Regional Director with a national charity prior to joining Heathcotes Group in 2009. In his new role, Brendan will oversee all regions with key responsibilities for the operational aspects of the organisation.
CARETECH Christopher Dickinson has been appointed to CareTech’s Board as Chief Financial Officer. He will take over from Gareth Dufton who was appointed as Interim Chief Financial Officer on 10th December 2018. Chris has spent the past year as Chief Financial Officer of Cambian and prior to joining CareTech was a Managing Director at Jefferies where he acted for the Group on its acquisition of Cambian.
CMM February 2020
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NEWS
APPOINTMENTS ORCHARD CARE HOMES Hayden Knight, the new Chief Executive of Orchard Care Homes, has commenced a strategic restructure of the company’s operations leadership by appointing four new operations directors. David Williams, Raschel Smith, Jackie Murray and Sarah Armitage will lead a renewed focus on quality and occupancy, whilst building strategic partnerships with local authority partners. All four have been internally promoted from other operational roles and will now increase their involvement in shaping a culture of efficiency and effectiveness at Orchard homes in every region. Rebecca Dobson has also been appointed as Director of People and Talent.
EDEN FUTURES Eden Futures has appointed Zofeen Tiwari as Group Financial Controller. Zofeen brings with her a wealth of experience in the finance industry and has held various positions in organisations ranging from Sainsbury’s PLC to small, private-equity owned businesses. In her role at Eden Futures, Zofeen leads all aspects of finance, reporting to Chief Financial Officer Andy Dean.
READER SURVEY Please take a few minutes to send us some feedback and influence future editions of CMM. Visit www. caremanagementmatters. co.uk/survey for the chance to win a new free enhanced listing on www.carechoices.co.uk. 10
CMM February 2020
Return to Social Work programme relaunched Following its success in 2017, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Government Equalities Office have come together to bring back the Return to Social Work programme. The national scheme is aimed at helping former social workers get back into the care sector; it has already trained and recruited dozens of staff, says the LGA, and the applications process is now
open to those wishing to take part. Candidates will be able to apply for the scheme until 31st March, with the programme beginning in May 2020. Placements vary according to the length of time the social worker has been out of the profession. Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, said, ‘No-one should be held back in their career because they have taken time out
of their job to care for a loved one. ‘We are investing in returners to work – giving them the opportunity to refresh and grow their skills. By acting on this issue we can fill empty jobs across the country and achieve true equality in our workplaces.’ Those wishing to apply for the Return to Social Work programme can do so at www.local.gov.uk/ return-to-social-work
Digital, data and technology project A voluntary sector collaboration has launched a new project to support adult social care providers with data and cyber security. The project seeks to better understand the digital, data and technology issues faced by social care providers that support working-age adults. It also seeks to better comprehend how best to help them implement safe data and cyber security practices. The project is led by the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) in partnership with the Association of Mental Health
Providers (AMHP). Through surveys, focus groups, and events, the project aims to analyse the preparedness, issues and obstacles facing disability and mental health organisations providing services to adults of working age. It will explore this in relation to data and cyber security and looks to promote best practice and information sharing. It will specifically engage with providers of services to people with a learning disability, those who are autistic and have physical or sensory impairments and with
mental health conditions. It will explore: • The use of data security protection resources and the barriers to use. • The obstacles to increasing the pace of digital social care and the support needed to progress. • Organisations’ data security and protection processes. • Existing good practice. The project is part of a wider programme supporting the delivery of the National Cyber Security Strategy across adult social care services.
Call for action on social care Social care providers have called for action on social care from Government, asking for a clear plan for the sector. The Independent Care Group (ICG) is asking leaders to make 2020 the year it puts the support in place that the sector needs to thrive. The Group's Chair, Mike Padgham said, ‘We need a 2020 vision. We are at the start of an
exciting new decade, with a new Government in place which, with a clear majority, should be in a position to get on and tackle the issues it has promised to tackle before - including social care. It is a real opportunity to make a difference to a lot of people's lives. ‘I have said it so many times before: we have 1.5 million people living without the care they need. And it is something that all of
us face. None of us know when we might be the one needing care. Someone recently said to me that only the lucky die old. But do they? Are they lucky? I'd like to think that we are lucky to live a long life, but we all know that life may have unexpected and unwanted things in store: dementia, loneliness, lack of bladder control, to name but a few.’
Milton House Nursing and Care A North Yorkshire care home has been sold in a deal brokered by Christie & Co. Milton House care home, a detached, two-storey property registered for 22 people, is located
in Gargrave, Skipton. Facilities include a library, dining room and conservatory, and 18 en-suite bedrooms. The property has been acquired by Lakhvendar Sohal, who plans
to run the facility as part of newlyestablished company Milton House Nursing and Care. Its former owners, Winston and Carol Shutt, sold the home as they plan to retire.
1,200+ 60,000,000+ 100,000+
NEWS
Nursing and midwifery numbers growing Latest figures published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) reveal the number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates on its register is at an all-time high of 706,252. The six-month period between 1st April and 30th September has seen an overall increase to the register of 8,015 people (1.15%) – more than double for the same period in 2018, when the register
grew by 3,340 individuals (0.48%). Broken down, the figures show the number of nurses on the register has grown by 6,669 (1.02%). At the end of September 2019, there were 1,488 nursing associates registered to work in England – up from 489 in March, following the opening of the register in January 2019. There has also been a significant increase in the number of nursing
and midwifery professionals from outside the EU/EEA on the register, rising from 73,308 to 77,373 – an increase of 5.5%. While the overall number of people registered to work has continued to grow, the data does highlight a fall in the number of professionals coming from the EU/ EEA, which declined a further 3.21%, from 33,035 to 31,973 between 1st April and 30th September.
In addition, while the number of specialist nurses – including mental health, learning disability and children’s nurses – has not changed significantly over the last six months, demand in these areas continues to grow and the number of learning disability nurses is still 1,000 fewer than four years ago. Visit the NMC website, www. nmc.org.uk to view the full report and for more information.
for Older People. • Karl Ashley Jones, Founder and Executive Chair of Trustees, Senior Citizen Liaison Team, for services to charity and to Older People in South West England and South Wales. • Health and social care staff and senior leaders were also amongst those honoured, including Professor Dame Sally Davies, the government’s Chief
Medical Officer between 2011 and 2019, the NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, and Chief Social Worker, Lyn Romeo, who recently announced she will be taking a year out of her role to care for a relative.
Queen’s New Year’s Honours list The New Year’s Honours List 2020 once again includes inspirational people who have been recognised for their services to older people. These include: • Hilda Broadbent, Care Assistant, Royley House Care Home, for services to Older People and Dementia Care. • Paul Lewis Cann and Janet Rachel Morrison for services to Combatting Loneliness in Older
People. • Air Vice-Marshal Simon Dougherty, a long-standing Governor at Royal Star & Garter for his service to the Armed Forces community and military charities. • Dr Eileen Burns (Eileen Greenwood), President, British Geriatrics Society and Consultant in Elderly Medicine, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, for services to Integrated Healthcare
Other health and social care staff recognised in this year’s honours list include several nurses, midwives and paramedics.
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CMM February 2020
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NEWS
Leaders respond to 2019 General Election result
Older carers save Government £23bn
Following the Conservative Party majority win in the 2019 General Election, social care leaders responded with pleas for the Prime Minister to prioritise the sector. The National Care Forum stated it is imperative that the government acts quickly to address social care reform. Vic Rayner, Executive Director said, ‘Too much time was lost in the last parliament on failing to address this critical domestic priority, and we call on the Conservatives to make a step change in their approach to social care. They went into this election calling themselves the party of the NHS, now is the time to show themselves as the government of social care.’ Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) said, ‘The formation of a new government presents the country’s leaders with an
Age UK research has shown that older carers aged 80 or over provide a combined 23 million hours of unpaid care a week, helping the Government save £23bn annually. Almost one in three (30%) older people aged 80 and over are carers and, since 2010, the number of carers in this age group has grown by nearly a quarter (23%) to 970,000. Caring comes at a cost to carers’ own health and wellbeing, Age UK reports, with most of these carers unable to get sufficient breaks from
opportunity to commit to funding the reform of the social care system... ‘For far too long successive governments have overlooked the investment and reform of the social care system, including the ongoing delay to the long-awaited adult social care green paper…Now is the time to find solutions that enable older and disabled people to have full choice and control over their lives.’ Deborah Alsina MBE, Chief Executive of Independent Age, urged the newly-elected government to prioritise the wellbeing of older people and to urgently implement personal care free at the point of use. She also called on Government to prioritise action on Pension Credit, stating that two in five households eligible for this support do not receive it, and £3.5bn goes unclaimed every year.
their caring duties. The analysis shows seven out of 10 carers (71%) have long-standing health conditions of their own, with almost half (46%) having difficulty with moving about at home, walking, lifting, carrying or moving objects. Furthermore, 24% of carers in this age group are caring for more than 35 hours a week, while a further 13% are caring for more than 20 hours a week. Find out more on the Age UK website.
Decade of Healthy Ageing The Word Health Organisation (WHO) Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030) is an opportunity to bring together governments, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, the media, and the private sector for ten
years of concerted, catalytic and collaborative action to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live. Find out more at www.who.int/ ageing/decade-of-healthy-ageing
CMM February 2020
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NEWS / IN FOCUS
Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards winners The Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards winners were announced at a ceremony hosted by Dame Esther Rantzen and Rebecca Wilcox in December. Organised and hosted by CMM, the awards reward the hard work, dedication and innovation of all those who work in the voluntary care sector. Nominations were made by organisations across the not-for-profit care sector, including people working with children and adults. The judges were once again taken aback by the calibre of the finalists this year, and, for the first time, the 12 winners were joined in their celebrations by winners of five Judges’ Special Recognition Awards. The 3rd Sector Care Awards winners for 2019 were: • Leading Change, Adding Value Compassion Award: Kris Harrold, Centre Manager, Facet • Community Engagement Award: Autism Together • Leadership Award: Carren Bell, CEO & Founder, Lagan's Foundation • Technology Award: Disability Challengers and Westbrook • Creative Arts Award: Credo, Heritage Care • Collaboration (Integration) Award: Suzy Lamplugh Trust and
MASIP Partners • Dementia Care Award: Nicolas Kee Mew, Avante Care & Support • Innovative Quality Outcomes Award: Gympanzees • Contribution to Sector Development Award: Suzy Lamplugh Trust • End of Life Care Award: Anne Robson Trust • Campaigning for Change Award: Suzy Lamplugh Trust • Making a Difference Award: Gabby Machell, Chief Executive, The Westminster Society for People with Learning Disabilities • Judges' Special Recognition Awards: Cecilia Adetunji, Team Manager, The Westminster Society for People with Learning Disabilities; First Steps Eating Disorders and Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Coastline Housing and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Drug and Alcohol Action Team; Roundel House, Royal Star & Garter Homes, Solihull; John Hughes, Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League. Thanks goes to all of our sponsors for making these Awards possible, and a special thank you to our headline sponsor, Markel for all of their support.
Government urged to level-up shire counties Analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN) has revealed that failure to invest in county areas, and to solve social care funding issues, will leave county councils facing a funding shortfall of £13.2bn over the next five years. CCN has described concern over a ‘misconception’ that shire counties are all affluent and ‘city centric’ regional devolution policies could prevent them being able to invest in their towns and deprived communities as part of the levelling-up agenda. These
councils span areas in the North and Midlands alongside rural and coastal communities in traditional Conservative areas of the South, West and East. The representative body has welcomed a renewed commitment by the government to proceed with the Fair Funding Review and has pledged to support the government in achieving the successful implementation of reforms. Download the report at www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk
IN FOCUS Together in the 2020s: new report WHAT’S THE STORY?
A new report from United for All Ages has highlighted 20 radical ways to create ‘a country for all ages’ by 2030, countering ageism, loneliness and poor health, care, learning and housing in Britain. Urgent action is needed to tackle the divisions facing older and younger generations and unite Britain, according to the think tank behind the report. Together in the 2020s states that Britain is one of the most age-segregated countries in the world, having become even more so in the last decade.
WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS?
Bringing younger and older people together can help tackle some of the biggest social problems facing all generations in Britain – from poor health and care, anxiety and loneliness to learning, housing and lifelong opportunities, says United for All Ages. Studies have also shown that intergenerational projects can change attitudes to ageing, reduce ageism and increase trust in a country where people are often divided by age. The report’s recommendations include suggestions contributed by 25 organisations. The contributors are concerned about improving relations between the generations and include the Children’s Commissioner for England, Local Government Association, the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Centre for Ageing Better, Care England and Anchor Hanover. They have shared ideas and projects for making Britain ‘a country
for all ages’ by 2030. Their recommendations include: • Developing 1,000 centres for all ages; enabling more care homes to become community hubs; scaling up home-sharing schemes; and training students together on intergenerational projects. • Setting up a new government department to support intergenerational action; assessing all policies’ intergenerational impact; redesigning the economy to make the most of the ageing society; legislating for the long term and planning for future generations; and creating a ‘bond for all ages’ with tax breaks to help working families. • Extending the Welsh campaign to end #EverydayAgeism across the UK; online mentoring for young people; using sport to bring generations together; designating a Bank Holiday as a national day of unity.
WHAT WOULD THE IMPACT BE?
Stephen Burke, Director of United for All Ages, says, ‘Bringing Britain together is one of the biggest challenges for the new decade...Ending ‘age apartheid’ and ageism and promoting more intergenerational mixing could help create a Britain for all ages by 2030 – united not divided. ‘More mixing between the generations is the way to build trust and understanding across our communities and our country. To make it happen requires not just vision and ambition, but also political will and leadership locally and nationally.’ CMM February 2020
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NEWS
Impact of Where the Arts Belong Long-stay inpatient facilities project The results of the first stage of the Where the Arts Belong (WTAB) project suggest it has had a positive impact on the quality of life of participating residents. Where the Arts Belong is a three-year research project, developed to explore how the arts can be effectively embedded into new care environments. Conducted by Belong and Liverpool’s centre for the contemporary arts, Bluecoat, the research ultimately aims to identify ways of using the arts to improve the lives of those with dementia. The first phase has seen six critically-acclaimed artists take up pilot residencies at Belong Crewe to engage customers, staff and members of the wider community in a variety of arts activities,
including storytelling, sculpture and dance. Findings include: • Over 50% of residents reported a positive change in their overall quality of life. • 84% said they were happy or very happy as a result of their participation (12% higher than reactions to other activities). • Over a third of participants reported their quality of life had improved (those who were initially the most worried/ least happy saw the biggest improvement). The assessment also noted the project may have helped stop the decline, and stabilise the quality of life of participants. More information can be found at www.belong.org.uk/bluecoat
Fairhome Group A vacant office building on the outskirts of Warrington town centre has been given a new lease of life as apartments for vulnerable adults with support needs. Specialist supported living developer, Fairhome Group bought Haden House in early 2018 and
began developing the derelict premises last year to create a new service for local people. The 12-month conversion project is now completed and will provide 18 homes with roundthe-clock care and support from experienced staff.
Audley Group announces expansion Audley Group has signed a new joint venture agreement with Danish pension company, PFA, that will introduce the group’s retirement living concept to the Danish market. The new agreement will fund the development of 10 retirement communities with up to 250 later living apartments in each. In keeping with Audley’s network of villages throughout the UK, each of the newly created retirement communities in Denmark will offer owners access to not only central facilities, including restaurants, wellbeing centres, library facilities 16
CMM February 2020
and hobby rooms, but also an onsite domiciliary care service. The partnership represents Audley Group’s first strategic development outside of the UK and reflects the growing demand for luxury retirement living options within Greater Copenhagen and Aarhus. Comprising a high-density of over-60 year olds with suitable disposable income, the locality represents an area of significant potential growth for Audley. The Danish villages will have their own brand identity which is currently in development.
Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) is calling on the country’s next Government to take the necessary action on long-stay inpatient facilities. In a bid to address the ‘national scandal’ that sees 2,250 people with a learning disability and/ or autism currently detained in long-stay NHS-funded care, VODG has asked the Government to deliver the legislation and funding required to protect people. It is also asking for leaders to provide comprehensive, effective and safe provision of care in the community. A time for action – ending the reliance on long-stay inpatient units explores the progress to date of the transforming care programme. It contains research, commissioned by VODG, that shows: • 463 people have been detained in NHS accommodation for more than five years. • 355 people have been detained for more than 10 years with no serious prospect of being discharged. • The number of people aged under 18 in NHS accommodation and NHS-funded accommodation is increasing in absolute terms as well as becoming a larger proportion of the population overall.
• Data reports that women are less likely to be discharged from NHS care. The report also reveals highly variable performance across transforming care partnerships in terms of successfully discharging people from NHS-funded care into the community, with just over half having actually achieved discharge from hospital. In the report, VODG outlines three proposals for action: • That the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care direct the Care Quality Commission to rate all assessment and treatment units as ‘Requiring Improvement’ if any person has been living there for more than 12 months. The rating should be downgraded to ‘Inadequate’ if anyone has been living there for more than 24 months and all new admissions halted until the rating has improved. • That HM Treasury establish a community development fund of £400m over four years for the development of community facilities. • That the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care require the National Audit Office to publish an annual report to be presented to parliament on the progress of Transforming Care.
Shared Learning Awards 2020 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Shared Learning Awards are returning in 2020 to celebrate the work of organisations and individuals putting NICE guidance and quality standards into practice. Submissions are welcome from all sectors, and this year
the judging panel is particularly interested to see examples of how NICE guidance and standards have been used to integrate care. The deadline for entries is 5pm on Wednesday 4th March and entry is free. Find out more on the NICE website, www.nice.org.uk
Zenith Care A Nottingham-based care home provider has expanded into Yorkshire. Zenith Care has acquired Mill Lodge – a 42-bed, purpose-built care home in Bradford – following a funding injection from Barclays.
Mill Lodge specialises in residential and dementia care and offers support for people who require end of life care. This comes as part of Zenith Care’s work to expand its portfolio of homes.
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NEWS
Leading for integrated care
Four Seasons Health Care
The King’s Fund has published Leading for integrated care, written by Nicholas Timmins, Senior Fellow for Policy at the think tank. The report builds on the 2015 report on The practice of system leadership, and includes interviews with 16 people who lead or chair an integrated care system (ICS) or sustainability and transformation partnership (STP). Leading for integrated care explores the progress, challenges and opportunities this new way of working presents to those tasked with taking it forward. It also highlights system leaders’ views on legislative change and how this might support progress. The report has found that the NHS Long-Term Plan has reinforced the role of ICSs in establishing more collaborative working and joined-up care for patients and their local populations. ICSs will cover the whole of
As part of its continuing restructuring process, Four Seasons Health Care has agreed to transfer ownership of 44 leasehold homes to four new operators. Roseberry Care Centres, Belsize Healthcare, Harbour Healthcare and Barchester Healthcare will take over the 44 operating care homes and 13 closed homes will be handed back to landlords. In October last year, Four
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CMM February 2020
England by 2021 and, as these systems evolve, strong leadership is needed to bring NHS, local authority, private and third sector organisations together, says The King’s Fund. The interviews carried out with the chairs and leads of both ICSs and the remaining STPs found that, while progress is being made in this area, there are also a number of challenges. During the interviews, leaders were clear about the skills needed to create an ICS, but issues around governance, accountability, whether legislation is needed and the pipeline of future system leaders remain. System leaders also had concerns about future relations with ‘the centre’ and the regulators, the pace of change and on how far a collaborative and voluntary approach can be the key to success. The full report is available on the King’s Fund website.
Seasons Health Care withdrew rent from 135 of its leasehold properties as part of discussions with landlords. A deal to sell 185 freehold properties to major creditor H/2 Capital fell through in October. In a statement, Four Seasons said the group is continuing to restructure and remains in discussions with landlords about its leasehold estate.
CQC fines provider The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution has been ordered to pay £50,000 plus legal costs following an incident at a care home in which a person sustained serious injuries. The provider was fined at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court, having pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment, resulting in avoidable harm to a resident of the home.
The prosecution was brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). CQC’s investigation found the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution – as provider of the service – failed in its duty to implement systems and processes to protect people from hot surfaces, meaning the incident resulting in the resident’s injuries could have been avoided.
NEWS
Cornerstone Healthcare Group Adding to its portfolio of specialist care homes, Cornerstone Healthcare Group has announced the development of a 42-bed care centre in Camberley, Surrey. Marula Lodge will provide care for adults with complex neurological, physical and mental health needs. The multi-million-pound project will increase the group’s
total number of beds to 200 and sees the launch of the next phase in the company’s five-year growth plan, aiming to have 500 beds by the end of 2024. The project will add to Cornerstone’s existing services in Hampshire, South Africa Lodge in Waterlooville and Kitnocks House in Curdridge, and is due for completion in Autumn 2020.
NHS Confederation announces new Chair The NHS Confederation has announced Lord Adebowale CBE as its new Chair. He will take up his post in April next year and replaces Sir Andrew Cash, who has served in this role since Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell stood down in November and will continue as Chair until Lord
Adebowale takes over. Victor Adebowale will join the NHS Confederation from Turning Point, the social enterprise organisation that provides health and care services in more than 300 locations across England, where he has been Chief Executive since 2001.
Research to improve lives of older people Researchers from Northumbria University are asking adults aged 65 or over to assist with their latest research into reducing loneliness in older people and improving function in everyday tasks. In response to the prominence of the health and wellbeing of the UK’s ageing population on the policy and political agenda, two new studies at Northumbria University will aim to help older people age
more healthily. The research will cover wellbeing, stress, mobility, everyday functioning, nutritional supplementation and personal social networks among others. Two Psychology PhD students are therefore looking for people to become volunteer participants in their studies. The first of the two studies will develop an intervention that aims to reduce loneliness and its negative health implications in
those aged over 65 by analysing their personal social networks. According to previous research, over 1 million older people say they always or often feel lonely, while a study by Age UK showed that nearly half of older people say that television or pets are their main form of company. Other research has revealed that loneliness can be as harmful for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The second Healthy Ageing
research project will evaluate the effectiveness of multi-nutrient supplement on a range of everyday functions, in caregivers and noncaregivers aged 70 or over. Anyone interested in taking part should contact: • Reducing loneliness in older people: a.beecham@ northumbria.ac.uk • Improving every day functioning through supplements: s.docherty@northumbria.ac.uk
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CMM February 2020
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REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO COUNSELLING IN CARE
As part of CMM’s ongoing commitment to improving the mental health of care staff, we asked the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) to share the work they’ve been doing with care homes. Looking at ways to support staff and residents, Jeremy Bacon, BACP’s Older People Lead, reveals what they’ve found and what they’re planning next.
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With many staff leaving care work each year as a result of the emotional pressures the work entails, there’s a definite need to explore a range of new approaches to promoting wellbeing at work. In its 2019 report, the National Association of Care and Support Workers (NACAS) shared feedback from care workers that many described their work as ‘emotionally draining’, feeling the responsibility of their roles well beyond the paid hours worked. The report urges that the mental health of care staff be supported and that employers take steps to ensure staff have access to wellbeing support. Meanwhile, the Royal Society for Public Health has reported that modern British society displays ageist attitudes to wellbeing, commonly associating low mood and depression with ageing. As a result, many older people are not being offered mental health support in later life. BACP is committed to challenging
these pervasive ageist attitudes that ascribe low mood and depression as natural parts of ageing and is working to develop the evidence base for a choice of talking therapies for those who need them, irrespective of age. BACP is the leading professional body for counselling and psychotherapy in the UK, holding the registrations of over 50,000 members working across the professional disciplines in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy in a range of settings, including the NHS, schools and colleges and the third sector. We are working to improve knowledge about the efficacy and impact of counselling and to increase access to and choice of therapies, and we are conducting research to find the best ways of offering these services to those in care.
PREVIOUS RESEARCH In her book, Living Well and
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REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO COUNSELLING IN CARE
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Dying Well – tales of counselling older people, Helen Kewell shares her experiences of working with eight clients in their 70s, 80s and 90s, including a man aged 95 who was making sense of his new life in a care home following the death of his wife. Her learning from her work with ‘Tom’ was that, ‘Even in these final years of life, through the gathering fog of dementia and the anguish of isolation, determination can indeed be alive and kicking’ and with all her older clients she identifies a potential for growth, change and acceptance regardless of age or ill health. Of her work in care homes, Helen reflects that her introduction was via a request from a care worker to the bereavement charity that she was working for and that there is much to be learnt about how counselling can become more regularly available for people living in care homes. As part of our research in this area, it has been vitally important to canvass opinions from care home managers, staff, residents and counselling practitioners with experience in the field. My Home Life invited us to speak to a group of care home managers on their Leadership Support Programme, who informed us that talking therapies aren’t commonly available to care home residents and that there are difficulties with residents accessing therapy in a traditional way. These included practical and staffing implications to escorting residents to appointments outside the home. We discovered that the managers had no objection to residents accessing counselling services, but it just wasn’t part of the regular care home routine. Our conversation with the managers also clearly pointed to a need to take a whole-system approach – one that included the wellbeing needs of care home staff as well as residents. BACP researchers also interviewed counselling practitioners who had experience of working in care homes. A common theme that emerged from this research was the value of the therapists establishing good relationships with care teams and managers as a critical lead-in to their visits to care homes. Rather than having to introduce themselves
and explain the purpose of each visit, being known to the care team allowed the counsellors to work with their clients as part of the routine of the care home. Other counsellors working in care homes have spoken of the need to be flexible in the way that they work, understanding that what works in dedicated therapy rooms may have to adapt to meet the physical surroundings of the care home or the routines that can interrupt therapy sessions. These findings led us to expand our research.
THE NEXT STEPS The next phase of our care homes research project will therefore explore how professionally-qualified counsellors can support the wellbeing of both residents and staff in care homes. This project is part of a wider focus by BACP on the mental health needs of older adults and the role of talking therapies in supporting wellbeing in later life. Much of the work to date has focused on issues of healthy ageing and the value of access to therapy through life transitions such as retirement, bereavement and adjusting to physical health conditions that are common in later life. The care homes project extends this interest to focus on the oldest members of society, including those at the end of their lives. Three care homes in the Midlands have been recruited to take part in the next phase of research via the Enabling Research in Care Homes (ENRICH) network, each varying in size and with different CQC ratings. Three counsellors are also being recruited and trained to work in these care homes. The counsellors will provide oneto-one counselling to residents and wellbeing support to care teams. The aim of the project is to provide evidence and an understanding of the potential benefits of counsellors working in care homes. The findings could in turn support an application for further research funding aimed at addressing the feasibility, impact and cost-effectiveness of providing this counselling to residents and support to care teams.
The study will incorporate the full introduction of therapists to care teams prior to them working with residents in the care homes. The research will also investigate adaptions to counsellors’ practice that may be needed to fit with the care setting. Therapists will then introduce safe and confidential talking therapy for residents and use their core skills to provide a reflective space for care workers to provide support, training and signposting to wellbeing services. Already, we have seen enthusiasm for the project; in preliminary discussions with staff at one of the care homes, care workers welcomed the opportunity to access support that is independent from the work management structure, citing the value of keeping personal concerns separate from their work. The project is being led by researchers from BACP and has developed from our in-depth consultation with care home managers, staff, residents and counsellors who have worked with clients in care homes. The project will be completed later this year, and findings reported in 2021.
ALTERING ATTITUDES We know from other research that older people themselves often don’t recognise and act upon signs and symptoms of common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Often, they’ve internalised the aforementioned ageist attitudes that associate low mood and depression as a natural and inevitable part of ageing. With high rates of depression amongst the estimated 400,000 care home residents in the UK and huge emotional strain on many staff working in care homes, the research team hopes to gain timely insights into the suitability and value of counselling for people who live and work in care homes. We anticipate finding myriad benefits to both residents and staff. The team is eager to discover the best ways that the therapy and support can be supplied and we look forward to reporting on our results in 2021. CMM
Jeremy Bacon is Older People Lead at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. Email: jeremy.bacon@bacp.co.uk Twitter: @pogueface Do you engage with counsellors in your service? What measures do you take to ensure the good mental wellbeing of your staff and the people you support? Pass on your knowledge via the CMM website, www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk, where you can also leave feedback on this article. 22
CMM February 2020
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CMM February 2020
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EMBRACING
DIVERS TY:
BAME representation in leadership roles
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In a 1.55-million-strong adult social care workforce, just 5.4% of board roles at the biggest care providers are filled by leaders from a black or minority ethnic (BAME) background. Here, Ravi Bains, Founder of Grosvenor Health and Social Care, discusses how hiring BAME employees in leadership positions can benefit providers.
It’s a shocking but sadly true fact that the care sector has a diversity problem. It’s not that people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are underrepresented in the adult social care workforce – they make up 21% of all jobs, which is more diverse than the overall population of England. However, this representation grinds to a halt when it comes to senior roles. Analysis, conducted by Grosvenor, of the 36 biggest care home and home care providers who provide information on their board members shows that only 5.4% come from a BAME background. Or, to put it another way, 14 board members out of a total of 258 positions were from a BAME background. Meanwhile, at the next level down, in 2018 Skills for Care found that only 17% of senior management roles in social care are filled by someone from a BAME background. You don’t really need official reports to realise this though, just eyes. If you look at the board make-up of some of the UK’s largest care providers, it is obvious that they are, more often than not, white, middle-aged males. It is true that some of the biggest personalities in the sector are of BAME origin. However, I would argue they are the exceptions that prove the rule.
THE BIGGER PICTURE The business owners and investors behind these bigger care providers are ultimately failing their own companies by not ensuring greater diversity among their leadership teams. The UK is an increasingly multicultural country, particularly in areas like London and Birmingham. According to the Office for National Statistics, for example, one in every 3.1 people in the Birmingham area is either black, Asian or from another ethnic minority. Both racially-diverse boards and management teams can therefore improve the service an organisation offers, by having senior representation of the people in their localities. This is particularly important in the social care sector, as responsible providers must be equipped to cater to all people, regardless of their gender, ethnicity or sexuality. Having Boards and management teams that reflect your user demographic, particularly when you serve a large number of people, means you are likely to be more successful at tailoring a service to their needs. This is confirmed by a 2015 study by Strategy and Business magazine, which focused on racially-diverse chief executives and directors across all sectors. The study found that organisations with a higher level of racial diversity in the boardroom often saw a strong governance structure. In fact, it showed that Fortune 500 firms with a diverse board
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We can supply an interim manager who will support, guide and train staff to meet the 5 Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOE’s) to obtain compliance until your new manager is on board. Telephone: 07889 843352 • Email: info@solicitudecaremanagement.co.uk • www.solicitudecaremanagement.co.uk 26
CMM February 2020
EMBRACING DIVERSITY: BAME REPRESENTATION IN LEADERSHIP ROLES
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were more successful at innovating and effectively running their companies, which emphasises the impact diversity can have across a business. However, promoting diversity at the top of your company must go beyond placing a single individual from a BAME background in a senior leadership role. The same study mentioned above found little evidence that a single BAME person in a position of power could have a massive impact on a company. Indeed, how could they? They are just one person after all, typically surrounded by more traditionallyminded individuals. Introducing diversity at the top of an organisation therefore needs to be more than a box-ticking exercise; it needs to be embraced fully.
BE THE CHANGE So how do we crack the glass ceiling for BAME communities in health and social care? Well, banks and investors need to open their minds to supporting businesses owned by people from the BAME community. Asian leaders, in particular, are more common among smaller care businesses – banks and investors should recognise their potential and back their growth. Our rapidly-growing population and ageing demographics mean that there is huge demand for care businesses, whether that is residential care, specialist care or domiciliary care. Investors and banks looking to invest in or lend to companies with great growth potential would be making a shrewd business move to back these many smaller care organisations run by enterprising members of the BAME community. Meanwhile, care providers themselves should recognise that supporting diversity makes good business sense. As mentioned, in such a sensitive and people-facing industry like care, having employees who are representative of the people you are hoping will use your care services is just common sense. If you are someone from a BAME background looking for a care home, you might be more likely to choose one where you feel like the service supports people of all backgrounds, and one of the most obvious ways to judge that is by looking at who that company employs. Care business leaders should therefore look at the population of the areas in which they operate and compare that to the nationalities of the people they employ and whose careers they promote, and adjust attitudes accordingly when making future hires and promotions. This will probably involve creating an outreach
programme where HR teams have to actively go out and hire. This could take the form of speaking to local community leaders and business forums to find out how to get more people from diverse backgrounds applying for your jobs. Getting the most benefit out of a more diverse workforce also means there is an onus on care organisations to instigate mentorship schemes for existing BAME employees. You not only have to actively encourage people from BAME backgrounds to apply for your jobs, but you also have to nurture them, not just leave them to sink or swim.
investigate the issue. It also needs to be made clear in all communications with colleagues that there is always an ‘open door’ policy at the top with any issues, and that there are no punitive repercussions for anyone who dares to suggest there might be a problem.
SEEING THE DIFFERENCE All these actions will create the ‘trickle down’ effect, which will also help diversity in business. Seeing people of diverse backgrounds on boards will encourage BAME workers in the lower rungs of a business to push themselves
“Promoting diversity at the top of your company must go beyond placing a single individual from a BAME background in a senior leadership role.” For the past 15 years, I have mentored people with a BAME background, in health and social care and beyond. By fostering a culture of ambition in our employees, we can be part of the change we want to see. Many just need a push and some guidance to help them achieve great things. Whether it’s going out for a coffee with them or answering their questions, making yourself available and open to mentoring the next generation is crucial if we are to see a more diverse make-up of senior leaders. You never quite know when you’re mentoring the next team leader or CEO and it can be as equally as exciting for you as it is for them. Hand in hand with providing this positive support is having an effective policy for cracking down on unacceptable racist behaviour within an organisation that could stifle or drive out BAME voices. I would advise companies to make sure they have a strong and effective whistleblowing procedure to help people speak out against bullies. To be effective, this needs to be a means of communication that bypasses the usual chain of command within a company, as obviously it could be someone’s line manager who is the problem. Maybe companies could have a designated board member whose contact details are available to employees so they can get in touch. It will help to know the person they are contacting has the authority to
forward for higher-level roles. It’s so important to not forget the personal impact of seeing someone who looks like you and/or has a similar background to you in a high-level position. This importance can be lost on people of non-BAME backgrounds, because of course seeing people who look like them at the top of companies is entirely the norm. If all this sounds overwhelming to try and implement, companies could maybe consider hiring a diversity consultant. These people can come into your company and provide an objective voice as well as their expertise on encouraging diversity. But, it is important to note, the burden of promoting diversity in a business must not only fall on existing BAME health and social care leaders – non-BAME directors and chief executives should be playing their part in shaping the future. Perhaps it is even time for legislation to enforce diversity in boards and senior management teams? I’m not sure it’s necessarily the answer but I think there needs to be more serious discussion about it by government and policy makers. Ultimately, achieving diversity at the top of health and social care businesses is not impossible, but providers and their financial backers need to be open to the opportunities and possibilities available to them if they just think outside the (tick) box. CMM
Ravi Bains is Founder of Grosvenor Health and Social Care. Email: enquiries@grosvenorhsc.co.uk Twitter: @RaviBainsUK How are you ensuring diversity in your senior leadership teams? What more can be done? What have you had success with? Let us know by commenting on this article on the CMM website, www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk CMM February 2020
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THIS IS HOME:
CREATING A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WELLBEING OF EVERY RESIDENT IN CARE A host of leaders and respected figures from the care industry gathered together recently for a special event highlighting and debating issues most important to the sector. The inaugural This is Home Event: Resident
tea and desserts crafted by the UFS
Wellbeing in Action , was organised by the
culinary experts specifically focussing
elderly care specialist team at Unilever
on Dementia Snacking.
Food Solutions; the dedicated foodservice business behind well-loved brands such as PG tips, Carte D’Or, Knorr and Hellmann’s.
Unilever Food Solutions Team is passionate about working with care homes and groups across the UK for the greater good and
Josh Eggleton kicked the event off in style
proud of how this event helped to shine a
with a talk focussing on nostalgia and the
light on some of the issues most important
benefits of linking food to happy memories
to this exciting and dynamic industry.
for elderly people living in residential care. He also gave delegates a wonderful insight into what he learned about dementia whilst filming ‘The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes’. The event also included fantastic singing and a themed lunch facilitated by Our Yesterday and NAPA, as well as afternoon
Find out more at www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk
If you’re interested in finding out more about the work they do in the sector visit www.unileverfoodsolutions.co.uk or please get in touch with Erika Burany: Erika.Burany@unilever.com.
INTO PERSPECTIVE
FREE PERSONAL CARE – A POSSIBILITY? Kicking off a new series putting concepts, ideas and proposals into perspective, we are looking into the notion of free personal care for over 65 year olds. What’s the idea behind it? Who can it help? And what do our experts think of the proposals?
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Free personal care for over 65 year olds has been much discussed since the start of campaigning for the General Election in December 2019. But it was also a topic of conversation amongst adult social care peers well before this, with hopes that it might appear in the social care green paper as a suggested type of funding reform.
WHAT DOES THIS ENTAIL? Implementation of the concept would bring adult social care in England in line with regulations in Scotland, where any adult aged over 65 – and, more recently, working-age adults – whose care needs meet the criteria are offered help with washing, dressing and eating for free. Specifically, personal care in Scotland falls under personal hygiene, continence, diet, mobility, counselling, simple treatments and personal assistance. The system doesn’t take a person’s financial circumstances into account, so people who have a high level of capital are treated in the same way as those who might be in a worse-off situation financially. This ensures that everyone who qualifies for support services from a care needs point of view is able to access personal care to help them to continue with their dayto-day lives. However, the proposals would not mean that everyone over the age of 65 is entitled to free care generally. Beyond basic needs, care would still need to be paid for, including accommodation costs for those in care homes. It would not cover things such as help with housework, the
use of telecare to ensure a safe home environment, or outings and activities in a care home for example.
IMPACT ON THE SECTOR As a subject that’s received a lot of attention, The King’s Fund, Health Foundation and The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) have produced reports detailing how free personal care could be implemented, how much it would potentially cost and both the benefits and the downsides of the proposals. If we take the estimations from A fork in the road, produced by The King’s Fund and Health Foundation, ‘Free personal care could require around an extra £6bn in 2020/21 and £8bn by 2030/31, compared with continuing levels of access and quality under the current [2018] system. This would increase the estimated funding gap to £7bn in 2020/21 and £14bn in 2030/31.’ However, projected benefits include easier integration between health and social care, fewer delayed transfers of care (therefore hypothetically saving money for the NHS) and potential earlier access to support, enabling people to stay in their own homes for longer, in line with the Care Act’s ambitions to help people remain independent. Further into the future, people might have a better understanding of what social care is and how the sector can help, and this could lead to an improvement in the way it is perceived. But do the benefits outweigh the cost implications and, with other potential options on the table, is this proposal for reform a viable answer? CMM
Supports earlier access to care
Only part of the solution
Morgan Vine, Campaigns Manager, Independent Age
James Bullion, Vice President, ADASS, and Executive Director of Adult Social Services, Norfolk County Council
Our mission at Independent Age is to make the world a better place in which to grow older. As we age, we all hope to live full and active lives, but this isn’t the case for everyone. Many experience long-term conditions, a reduced income, or caring responsibilities that can impact their later life. One of the biggest issues people face is not receiving the right care and support, and spending vast sums of money when they do get it. Our charity recently uncovered that, since 1999, 330,000 people have sold their home to pay for their care costs. We believe that introducing free personal care for everyone over the age of 65 will improve the situation. In addition, we recommend the Government explores options for a safeguard to protect those who need residential care from racking up catastrophic costs. Free personal care isn’t a silver bullet, but it would significantly reduce the cost of care received at home and in a care home for older people. Alternatives such as a cap on care costs of £72,000 would only help one in 10 people after six years in care, despite the average stay in a care home being 2.5 years. A simpler system, where
Successive Governments of all political shades have promised to reform adult social care but have ultimately failed to deliver on these promises. The General Election saw free personal care for over 65s being floated as a solution to the many issues faced by an underfunded social care. Free personal care is an instantly appealing policy idea – the word ‘free’ is itself enticing. However, while the idea of free personal care is good and proposals are welcome, it can only ever represent one part of a reformed social care system, not a comprehensive solution. It provides support for practical tasks like washing, dressing, or preparing meals; yet it doesn’t cover the costs of buying food; doesn’t provide suitable accommodation, or secure living; and it doesn’t provide for people’s social and emotional needs. Despite the label, personal care would still come with a substantial price tag, and won’t help those whose needs are not met now but don’t have a house to sell. It is also only relevant to those who are over 65 years of age; it does nothing for working-age disabled people, where often the needs fall more into the need for ‘support’ with participation and decision-making. And in failing to address the needs of working-age disabled people, we exacerbate
people understand what they are entitled to, would result in more people accessing help earlier, and could enable many more older people to stay in their own homes for longer. It’s also not as expensive as you might think. With a 1% rise in income tax, someone earning the UK average salary would only pay about £3 per week for the first couple of years. Getting this right could also save the NHS money, as people would be less likely to end up in A&E, or stay in hospital longer than necessary. People across the generations are supportive of this policy. Our September 2019 poll showed 78% of those aged over 18 support free personal care for older people, and 74% said they would contribute financially to make this a reality. Independent Age and its supporters will keep campaigning until the Government reforms the social care system and introduces free personal care for all older people. The more people who join our campaign network, the more effective we will be.
the growing misconception that social care is only for older people, and compound unjust outcomes for disabled people. Even if it were extended to all adults, we’d be at risk of creating a hierarchy within disability, whereby physical care needs are prioritised above social, psychological and employment needs. At present, local authority care and support services are rationed on two grounds: needs and means, to ensure that those who need it most can receive the right support whilst taking their means into account. Free personal care removes the means test without altering the eligibility criteria; meaning that only those with the highest level of needs will continue to receive ‘free’ services. Funding is only part of the adult social care conundrum. The new Government with its significant parliamentary majority has an opportunity to be bold. It is essential that whatever it proposes works for all of us, regardless of age, location, or disability. Free personal care would be welcome, but it would only ever represent a part of the solution, and does not negate the need for a long term plan for social care.
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webroster 32
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NCF RISING STARS 2019 Rebecca Ogujor is Registered Home Manager at The Salvation Army.
CAREER After leaving college, I completed a management programme with a newsagent and managed a shop for two years before I saw an advert for a trainee clinical support worker. I moved into this role and worked on a dialysis unit where I completed an NVQ Level 3. After a couple of years in this role, I applied to university to complete an Adult Nursing Diploma and worked as a domiciliary care worker alongside my university studies and placements. Unfortunately, due to personal issues, I was not able to complete my nursing qualification, but I began working in a residential home for young adults with mental health issues as a senior support worker. This was where I had my first insight into care management. After three years, I was faced with a tough decision, as I really enjoyed my position, but I wanted more of a challenge. My ambition to progress my career was strong and I applied
for a role as a deputy manager in a residential care home, for a Christian organisation. I stayed there for five years and really enjoyed my role, but my ambition began to get the better of me and I started craving more responsibility. I moved to work for a housing association as a service manager; there, I was responsible for the Sheltered Housing service, which consisted of 730 homes over 15 schemes. It was whilst working here that I achieved my Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership. My next role was as a regional manager for a live-in care company. This covered the areas of Lancashire and Greater Manchester, supporting adults to stay at home with the support of a live-in carer. However, it has always been a goal of mine to be a registered manager and when I saw the post advertising for the role I currently hold, I just knew I had to apply for it.
ORGANISATION The home I work in now, Holt House, is a residential care home in Prestwich, Manchester. We have 31 beds over two floors and provide care for residents over the age of 65. It is owned and run by The Salvation Army, a Christian Church and charity and we accept both private and local authority residents. The way I see it, the residents don’t live in my workplace, I work in their home. I encourage all my staff and residents to think like this too – we especially make this clear to new starters and anyone who visits the home so that everyone comes in
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with the same attitude. It’s also hugely important to me that we all know and understand our residents. I am a big believer in relationship-centred care and we give all of our care workers dedicated time each week to spend with the residents they look after, doing things that improve the relationship between them, whether that’s having a shopping trip, making someone’s room nice, or a personalised activity – the resident and care worker decide between them how they’ll spend the time.
CURRENT ROLE I have been in my current role for just over a year. It has been a great year – everything I expected – but it is hard to believe a year has passed so quickly. As a home, we have achieved so many things, from refurbishments to maintaining great outcomes in our internal and external inspections. Personally, I love my job, knowing that every day I come to work will be different, with new challenges and pressures, but knowing that each day you get to make someone happy. A really tricky part of the role has been recruiting and retaining staff. However we have a brilliant staff team and they all consistently go above and beyond expectations, I feel very fortunate to have them. A motivated team is such an essential part of running my home. I like to ensure they have the tools they need to do their jobs. I also make sure they know that I understand everyone is human and mistakes will be made. I encourage people to be open and honest about anything that doesn’t go to plan and my staff know they can come to me without getting into trouble.
I also like to instil confidence and see people progress if they want to. As an ambitious person myself, I’m supportive of people’s goals. I like having a happy home and happy staff are key to this.
RISING STARS I had been out of the charity sector for a little while before my current role, but I am always looking for ways to improve my development. When I saw the NCF Rising Stars programme in a weekly NCF newsletter, I felt it would be a great opportunity for me as a newly registered manager. I approached my line manager about the programme and was given the go ahead to apply; our Deputy Director of Older People’s Services, Glenda Roberts nominated me. I was really uplifted seeing what was written about me. It gave me affirmation that I’m doing well and achieving goals. The opportunities that I have encountered so far as a Rising Star have completely blown me away; the networking, having a supportive team of other managers on the programme and the visits have been really worthwhile. The main thing that has made a difference to me is the networking. We can all share best practice, and we look at each other’s CQC reports and support each other through the good and bad. Another unexpected outcome of the programme has come from attending a technology day in September with Person Centred Software. I was made aware of funded training being offered from the NCF and Skills for Care – Digital Leadership Training. I was successful in securing a place, which is perfect timing, as we are about to pilot digitalised care planning.
FUTURE CAREER For my next steps, I would like to complete a degree in business management and expand my strategic knowledge at a senior level. I am also interested in innovation and assistive technologies which can aid service delivery.
ADVICE If I were offering advice to new or aspiring registered managers, I would say to believe in yourself and your abilities. As long as you are driven and passionate, you will succeed in what you wish to achieve. CMM NCF Rising Stars are provided with key leadership experiences delivered by the expertise of NCF partners. In February, the current cohort will visit Altura Learning, the online and blended training and learning provider, for a media skills training day. In a consumer-led society, it is important for managers to not only be person-centred in their care provision but also focused on the importance of building relationships. As ambassadors for their service and organisation, managers need to have an understanding of how they present themselves and their customer service skills. Caroline Coogan, Registered Manager, New Outlook (2018 Rising Star) said, 'The skills that I have learnt will be used daily, particularly the techniques to answer difficult questions and being aware of facial expressions.' To find out more about the Media Training Day with Altura Learning and the NCF Rising Stars Programme, visit the Rising Stars page on the NCF website.
Now in its third year, the NCF Rising Stars Programme addresses the need to invest in and develop the skills of the next generation of leaders in social care, with registered managers from the NCF membership selected to take part each year. For more information, contact Helen Glasspool at National Care Forum. Email: helen.glasspool@nationalcareforum.org.uk Twitter: @NCFCareForum
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A NEW APPROACH
DRIVING PERSON-CENTRED CARE
Person-centred care has been talked about for years and is being implemented across the country. Various technology systems exist to support providers to deliver care in this way, but how can we make care even more tailored to each individual? Graeme Partridge of Preparing4Care shares details of an innovative model of data-collection that could help.
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Person-centred care is about considering and then doing things that ensure the person requiring care is treated as an equal individual in the planning, developing and execution of the care they are to receive. The individual, their families and loved ones should be at the centre of care decisions, working in conjunction with professionals to deliver the best care possible. Historically, people were encouraged to adopt routines and processes that healthcare professionals felt were most appropriate or convenient to them. Person-centred care is about considering things from an individual’s perspective and, wherever possible, integrating their wishes and preferences within the care that is delivered. For person-centred care to work, providers need to work with individuals, their families and loved ones to determine the most appropriate way to provide care that best suits the needs and wishes of the individual themselves. This collaboration is key if care is to be delivered in a compassionate and appropriate manner. As a widely-regarded best practice method, person-centred care brings with it many benefits. Not only can the general quality of care be improved compared to more traditional schedulebased practices, but individuals may retain independence for longer, the necessity of moving into residential care may be delayed and, most importantly, a person’s quality of life may improve.
THE TROUBLE WITH PERSON-CENTRED CARE This all sounds great, however, there is one key issue – how can care providers understand someone’s wishes and preferences if the individual concerned doesn’t have capacity to communicate for themselves? This is the challenge faced by an increasing number of providers caring for people with conditions such as dementia (or in fact any condition that results in reduced capacity) that may require care either now or at some point in the future. We are creatures of habit; we feel most comfortable in our home environment, we thrive on familiarity and many of us are wary of change, and this can be magnified for an individual who is living with a cognitive impairment. Our personal CMM February 2020
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A NEW APPROACH DRIVING PERSON-CENTRED CARE
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preferences regarding the type of food we eat, the television we watch or how we interact with other people, and how these habits change over time, make us unique. This uniqueness is something we should all be able to carry with us throughout our lifetime, including any time spent being cared for. We need to acknowledge that, whether through personal choice, a change in circumstances or a medical condition, a preference today may not be the same as five years ago and it may differ again in five years’ time. This may not be an issue if someone is able to communicate a change in preference themselves, but what if they have lost the ability to communicate? It is a reality that as we live longer, we are all likely to require care at some point in our lives. If someone loses the ability to communicate for themselves, then it falls to family members, loved ones and healthcare professionals to build a narrative of that person’s life through discussions. In many cases, it is the information gathered from these consultations from which a care plan will be developed. How well do this group of individuals know every important aspect of that person’s life? Some may not have lived with the person for many years, or have only known them for a relatively short period of time, therefore much of the information that goes into the care plan could be guesswork at best. Throw into the mix that this is already likely to be an emotionally challenging time for everyone involved and your chances of building a meaningful, person-centred care plan are limited.
A NEW DIRECTION The Care Quality Commission (CQC) and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have rightly thrown a spotlight on the need for care providers to design and deliver personcentred care. Luckily the majority of providers acknowledge these important directives and are looking at ways to effect change. Preparing4Care is not alone in recognising that the person best placed to provide information about their likes,
wishes and preferences is the individual themselves. In fact, a number of care providers Preparing4Care has spoken to have commented how they wished they could have had conversations with the person entering their care five years previously. Preparing4Care has therefore launched a free online service to ensure a person’s voice is always heard. Over 4,500 people have subscribed to the service since its October 2019 launch. The idea behind this service is that anyone can create a bank of information about themselves while they are still able to do so, which can later be accessed by family and professionals. A Personal Reference Guide is completed by the individual, who answers a series of questions about key areas of their life, including their family, environment, food and drink preferences and leisure activities. The Personal Reference Guide is made up of 23 different sections, with around 10 questions per section. It intentionally goes into a lot of detail, as it is this detail that will ensure appropriate, tailored care can be designed and delivered. The guide is accessed via the Preparing4Care website; individuals register for a secure online account and answer the questions (on their own or with assistance from others) over whatever timescale is appropriate for them. Once completed, the Personal Reference Guide forms an encyclopaedia of that individual, ensuring their voice is always heard. Answers may be added to at any time (but not amended) if someone’s wishes and preferences change. Access to the Personal Reference Guide is then granted to a family member or loved one who can, when required, grant further access to a care provider. Those who have been granted access are also able to add (but not change) responses within the guide to ensure the information contained is reflective of any important changes.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE The information contained within the Personal Reference Guide can be used
to develop person-centred care plans and ensures that individuals requiring care are themselves involved in every step of the process. However, it is not just the individual and their families who can benefit from the service. Those delivering care will also see positive outcomes. Staff will be able to forge closer connections with individuals, there should be less confrontation and the working environment should be a more enjoyable and relaxed place to work. Staff morale should improve which could have a positive impact on retention rates and employee referrals. An individual’s environment can be adjusted to ensure their preferences are met, for example, if someone prefers not to have a television in their room, this request can be accommodated even before they arrive. It may also be important to understand what jobs or hobbies someone has undertaken in the past, as an individual may display behaviours relating to these past experiences which would be important to understand; providers can then determine if appropriate adjustments to care need to be made. Food and drink provision can also be provided based on an individual’s preferences and tastes which could lead to a reduction in waste and agitation. Equally, if an individual’s eating or drinking habits were to change (which could have an impact on someone’s health) the Personal Reference Guide can be accessed to determine if adjustments need to be made to ensure an individual’s preferences are being met or to determine if certain food and drink types have resulted in changes in the past. Patient assessments can be undertaken in the knowledge that the wishes of the individual are understood and acted upon, easing the burden on families, loved ones and healthcare professionals and making the process less stressful for everyone concerned. Preparing4Care is designed and funded through a partnership between Training2Care (UK) Ltd, which operates the Virtual Dementia Tour and the Autism Reality Experience, and Community Integrated Care. CMM
Graeme Partridge is Head of Operations at Preparing4Care. Email: Graeme.partridge@preparing4care.co.uk Twitter: @Preparing4Care What are you doing to ensure people lacking capacity get a say in their care? How do you ensure people are supported in the ways they want to be? Share your tips and feed-back on this article on the CMM website, www.caremanagementmatters.co.uk 38
CMM February 2020
NCF is the strongest voice for the not-for-profit care sector Join us!
NCF supports its members to improve social care provision and enhance the quality of life, choice, control and wellbeing of people who use care services. We work directly with not for profit providers of care and support services across the UK offering: • Expert response to government consultations and engagement with senior politicians and staff • Innovation focus - influencing the future of the health and social care sector • Direct support for individual members and their senior teams • Regular specialist and general forums – bringing together practitioners from across the UK • Weekly policy and information briefings • National events spread throughout the year – offering expertise, collaboration and knowledge exchange • Regular benchmarking surveys on key sector issues • Opportunities for national and international networking
www.nationalcareforum.org.uk @NCFCareForum info@nationalcareforum.org.uk 02475 185 524
• Strong relationships with trusted industry partners • NCF Quality First - a key sector mark of quality • and so much more…
Social
matters www.thecarebadge.org #badge4CARE CMM February 2020
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HEADER
ATLAS eMAR
RESOURCE FINDER
TECHNOLOGY There are so many options for technology in the sector, with developments happening all the time in terms of new software and solutions. But which should you be using? This Resource Finder gives you information on some of the sector’s leading providers to help you decide.
Tel: 0117 200 1474 Email: info@invatechhealth.com Website: www.invatechhealth.com/products/atlas
SECTORS • Care homes. • Care homes with nursing.
SERVICES • Medication management. • Barcode technology for ultimate safety. • Operational efficiency. • Full integration with pharmacy. • Full integration with electronic care planning. • Manage stock, optimise therapy and simplify prescription tasks. • Monitor performance in real time.
COMPANY PROFILE ATLAS is the only electronic medicines management system in the UK proven to increase resident safety and improve care home efficiency. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes, reduce NHS costs and enhance the way healthcare professionals deliver care. We aim to do this by developing well-designed, intuitive software solutions that put pharmacy at the heart of healthcare so it can play a
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more central role in medicine management. Medicines management processes within institutional settings such as care homes are often complex and involve a multi-disciplinary approach. Our Atlas eMAR solution helps improve patient safety and reduce the risk of medication errors. Atlas has been the most successful electronic medicines management solution proven through independent research.
CarePlanner
Coolcare
Tel: 0117 214 0585 Email: salesteam@care-planner.co.uk Website: care-planner.co.uk
Tel: 0113 385 3853 Email: info@coolcare4.co.uk Website: CoolCare4.co.uk
SECTORS
SECTORS
• Domiciliary care. • Recruitment agencies.
SERVICES • Rostering. • Invoicing and timesheets. • Call administration. • Record keeping. • Reports.
COMPANY PROFILE CarePlanner is a flexible, secure, cloud-based software solution tailor-made for the homecare sector. We provide software expertise to our customers and collaborate with them to deliver a product that satisfies the needs of a vast and varying industry. CarePlanner is designed to be straightforward, intuitive and versatile.
We focus on providing software that makes the rostering and financial management of a domiciliary care business a simple and speedy matter, while providing responsive and comprehensive customer support with a personal touch, to make sure our customers get exactly what they need from our software. Mark Anslow is a former software engineer and now Operations Director at CarePlanner. He has worked in media and ed-tech, and within the social care tech sector for six years. He has combined his experience with building and overseeing APIs, data translation systems and integrations with a deep knowledge and understanding of the needs in the modern home care sector to help drive innovation in the industry.
• Administration. • Care home management. • Residential care. • Supported living. • Nursing homes.
SERVICES • Rostering. • Time and attendance. • Staff and HR records. • Training compliance. • Resident records. • Occupancy management. • Enquiry CRM system. • Resident invoicing. • Petty cash. • Home ledgers. • Virtual notice board. • Business analysis and reporting.
COMPANY PROFILE CoolCare saves care homes time and money by automating administrative tasks. It helps to prevent unnecessary overspend on items such as care home staffing, as well as boosting revenues through effective occupancy management and accurate invoice processing. Whether a single home or a multi-site group, CoolCare enables easy care home management and improves the profitability of your business. Our years of experience in running care homes means we know the complexities of key operational processes, such as invoicing, and understand the pressures of running a 24/7
business. We truly get the needs of care home businesses and our software has been designed based on those decades of operational expertise. As a result, care home and head office staff alike find CoolCare very easy to use. Its exceptional user-friendliness comes from that deep understanding of what a day in the life of a care home is really like. We understand the way care homes work and how staff will want to use the software to your business’ advantage. The software’s careful design therefore ensures our customers’ care home management is as simple and efficient as possible. That also encourages more usage of the system and improved accuracy, which in turn makes business analysis and planning easier. Any information that requires action by your staff will be brought to their attention through their personal dashboard. Your staff’s time can therefore be better focused, giving them time to spend with residents and preventing potential errors. CoolCare can be accessed through any device, from anywhere in the world, as long as you have internet connection. It is quick and easy to get started on CoolCare, and your business will be reaping the financial and operational benefits of more efficient care home management within weeks of getting set-up.
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RESOURCE FINDER: TECHNOLOGY
CVMinder
Fastroi Ltd
Tel: 01634 202101 Email: enquiries@cvminder.co.uk Website: www.cvminder.co.uk/care
Tel: 07756 668444 Email: sales@fastroi.fi Website: www.fastroi.fi/en
SECTORS • Care homes. • Care homes with nursing. • Homecare.
SERVICES • Full recruitment management. • Easy job advertising. • Flexible, branded application forms. • Controlled, rapid shortlisting. • Quick communications. • Superior on-boarding. • Simplified CQC compliance.
COMPANY PROFILE Recruit for yourself, reduce costs and improve results with CVMinder ATS, a low-cost Applicant Tracking System that’s made for care providers. Manage everything like a pro, from advertising to shortlisting, interviews, offers and onboarding. In just one click, you can post vacancies on your website and job boards, including free options like
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Indeed, Google for Jobs and GOV Find a Job. A host of easy-to-use features reduce recruiting admin by up to 90% so you can employ great people faster. Our candidate scoring, name blind recruiting and other functions allow you to improve compliance, while staying in control using the flexible permissions, management reports and easy team communications. You can also share responsibilities amongst teams and sites with flexible permissions, so they can take on tasks like shortlisting and interview management. If you already have an ATS, challenge us to do better. Our customers demand ease of use, watertight control and effortless compliance. CVMinder ATS brings it all together. You’ll get a fully-featured Applicant Tracking System for Care, comprehensive user training, a dedicated account manager and outstanding support for you and your candidates.
SECTORS • Care homes. • Home care. • Housing with care.
SERVICES • Real-Time Care™ care management software.
COMPANY PROFILE At Fastroi™ we believe that every residential and domiciliary care service deserves to be rated Outstanding. This belief has driven us for the last 16 years, since Fastroi™ began their journey in Finland. As market leaders in care management software, we have over 1,000 installations and over 35,000 end users including large private care companies and urban municipalities. We developed RealTime Care™ to give care organisations the tools to manage their processes and take the pressure off their staff. This releases more time during the day to spend on caring. Real-Time Care™ offers care companies a costeffective way to take control of their operations. Our service puts every aspect of care in one secure digital location, meaning that care plans can be created and updated online with the input of all the necessary professionals. Staff
rosters and hours can be easily planned and optimised to best suit the business. The problem with using pen and paper is that maintaining high standards is not easy over long periods. It is also difficult to demonstrate that processes are being adhered to. By switching to Fastroi’s RealTime Care™, care providers are making a commitment to both their staff and service users to improve the quality of the care they provide. This has the added benefit of simplifying the inspection process and improving GDPR adherence. Simply put, we make the process of care more efficient so you can concentrate on providing the best care possible.
RESOURCE FINDER: TECHNOLOGY
Intelligent Care Software
Leecare Solutions UK Ltd
Tel: 01424 400060 Email: info@careis.net Website: www.careis.net
Tel: 07470 353659 Email: temby.n@leecare.co.uk Website: www.leecare.co.uk
SECTORS • Care homes. • Care homes with nursing. • Domiciliary care. • Supported living.
SERVICES • Care and support. • Quality assurance. • Policy, training, supervision and appraisal. • eMAR. • Rota and roster.
COMPANY PROFILE Intelligent Care Software Limited designs and promotes intelligent, intuitive, and cost-effective solutions for care home and domiciliary care management. We aim to produce applications that are simple and easy to use, work seamlessly together, and provide the information and detail that is required to ensure regulatory compliance and a high quality of service. From enquiry through assessment and care planning to care delivery, CAREis helps to develop the care plan and to provide relevant and up-todate data for quality assurance purposes. Care planning and provision is person-centred and updated in real time. Care workers know exactly
what is required and when to deliver support, with simple and detailed recording of any intervention. By extracting data from throughout CAREis in real time, quality assurance reviews and monitoring are far more efficient. This app provides audit templates for all areas of regulatory requirement, and ensures important inspections, audits, and actions are addressed in the specified timeframe. Analysis and action planning are streamlined and effective in reducing paperwork time and improving quality and compliance. We provide policies and procedures based on the latest regulatory and governmental guidelines to ensure that your practice is up-to-date, relevant, and compliant in an easy to read format, improving knowledge of policies and procedure significantly throughout the organisation. Supervision and appraisals are completed within CAREis with updated matrices and prompts. CAREis also offers integrated eMAR to ensure accurate medication dispensing with built in audits and reports, as well as its integrated Rota and Roster that produces timesheets and reports for payroll and bookkeeping.
SECTORS • Residential care homes. • Nursing homes. • Supported living. • Domiciliary care. • Learning disability.
PRODUCTS • Medication management. • Fully customisable documentation and care planning. • Incident management. • Wound management. • Quality and continuous improvement. • Clinical, care, lifestyle management. • Facility management. • Credentials and education. • Document control. • Tailored reporting.
COMPANY PROFILE Leecare Solutions is the leading electronic health record platform in the care sector designed to help providers stay organised, save time and exceed inspection standards. Unlike other aged care software vendors, Leecare is solely focused on resident, health and care provider success, using one easy-to-use system for care delivery management and financial performance. Leecare boasts a rich history of supporting care providers to demonstrate and provide the highest standards in elderly, residential, retirement living and domiciliary care through consulting and technology. Today, our 650+ clients include small, independent businesses to larger corporate multi-facility organisations across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK
and China. What makes us the experts? Over 25 years of experience have given Leecare the knowledge and insight to become a global leader in the field, with a richness of content only achieved after so many years. Equally as important has been the development of our single platform, Platinum 5 Suite – an unparalleled clinical, care, lifestyle, operations and financial management software solution specifically created for the health and social care sector. Simple, secure and customisable, the Platinum 5 Suite leverages technology to bring you a fully-integrated Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform whilst also providing everything you need to manage the business of care. One central location, one database – anywhere, at any time and on any commonly used device. It’s that easy. Proud as we are of our award-winning software, we believe that the ability to deliver exceptional care calls for the human touch as much as technology. Like you, we want life for residents and service users to be the very best of experiences. Together, we can achieve this goal.
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RESOURCE FINDER: TECHNOLOGY
OnePlan Care Software
Person Centred Software
Tel: 0800 612 7166 Email: info@oneplansoftware.co.uk Website: www.oneplansoftware.co.uk
Tel: 01483 357657 Email: hello@personcentredsoftware.com Website: www.personcentredsoftware.com
SECTORS
SECTORS
• Home care.
SERVICES • Scheduling and rostering. • Business management. • Care delivery. • Care planning. • Electronic call monitoring. • NFC technology supported software. • Business phone and tablet solutions.
COMPANY PROFILE OnePlan is an industry-leading electronic call monitoring software offering an unparalleled variety of features and customisable options in one system. Grow your business and provide better care with our ever-evolving NFC based care management software. OnePlan Software supports rostering, scheduling, business management, care planning and care delivery in one affordable, comprehensive software that keeps all your data and planning securely and efficiently in one place, removing hours of administration so you
can spend time with your clients instead of your paperwork. All your data in one place. OnePlan removes the need for multiple systems and associated expenses, allowing you to focus your time and money on expanding your business and guaranteeing the quality of care your clients deserve. OnePlan is UK-based, with UK-based support and UK-based servers keeping your data secure. Client care is our foremost priority and we want to exceed your expectations. We will guide you every step of the way from start to finish and then support you into the future. Our many years of experience in the domiciliary care sector, coupled with project management, information technology and telecoms has given us a great insight into providing an outstanding service for our clients. Streamline and automate your business, save time and money, guarantee quality care and compliance. To discover our incomparable range of features and find out what we have in development, contact OnePlan on 0800 612 7166 to book your free demonstration.
• Care homes. • Care homes with nursing. • Dementia care homes. • Supported living/care villages. • Mental health. • Learning disability. • Local authority.
SERVICES • Electronic evidence of care. • Fully mobile and icon driven. • Works online and offline. • Built-in voice to text. • Electronic care planning. • Electronic monitoring and reporting. • QR code and NFC tag scanning. • API integration and reporting. • Electronic medicines management integration. • Body map/wound care. • Electronic activities evidence. • Relatives gateway. • Group reporting. • GDPR compliant record-keeping.
COMPANY PROFILE Mobile Care Monitoring (MCM) is the care sector’s most widely-used electronic care planning system. Our icon-driven mobile solution allows care home staff to digitally record the care of residents as it is given - saving every care worker over an hour a day of paperwork and improving staff retention. We help care providers to be recognised for innovative, transparent and person-centred care. CQC, CSSIW and Care Inspectorate regularly cite MCM in inspection reports as supporting providers to improve care quality. Our system is used by over 1,500 care homes across the UK, 94% of which are rated as Good or Outstanding by CQC. MCM enables care providers to reduce
the time spent on paperwork, exceed compliance measures and improve the quality of care. Andrew Long, Chief Executive of Oakdale Care Group says, ‘Person Centred Software’s Mobile Care Monitoring system played a significant part in our achieving an Outstanding rating at Kingfisher Court’s first CQC inspection.’ Efficient creation and upkeep of person-centred care plans are informed by the real-time evidence of care, and accessible to carers at any time on shift. Body maps, wound care, review cycles, and assessments are all integrated to provide comprehensive, detailed, up-to-date care plans. MCM gives managers the information they need quickly, accurately and in detail whenever it’s needed. All the usual reports and graphs are automatically created, and information can be shared securely with outside professionals to join up people’s health and social care journey. The Relatives Gateway gives you the opportunity to engage more with relatives, share magical moments and give comfort that loved ones are being cared for, to promote an inclusive and transparent environment. MCM is a secure solution to keep your personal data safe with infrastructure that exceeds GDPR’s requirements. Book a demo today to find out how MCM can benefit your care home.
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Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN COMPASSION Kris Harrold, General Manager at FACET, won the Leading Change, Adding Value Award for Compassion at the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards 2019.
FACET is so many things to so many different people. Essentially, we are an education centre for adults with a very wide range of learning disabilities, but we mean much more than that to the local community, the students and the friends and families of each and every person who attends. FACET was set up back in 2002 as a charity. We acquired a former day centre/typical village hall venue and began to offer a few limited activities, such as reading sessions or artwork projects, for a handful of local adults with learning disabilities. Over time, a hugely ambitious Chair Person has taken this run-down, unloved building and, through hard work and limitless dedication, has rejuvenated the place to accommodate almost 140 students offering over 20 different classes. These classes are devised around assisting those who most need help, motivation, specialist support and a personalised teaching method, all of which is achieved by the amazing staff team here who help our students reach the highest potential they possibly can.
FACET CLASSES Our unique classes take a traditionally ‘collegebased’ subject and blend in a combination of lessons in life skills and real-life scenarios to help the students strive towards their goals and outcomes and live the happiest, most 46
CMM February 2020
confident and independent lives they may be able to reach. On a local level, FACET has significantly helped reduce what seems to be an everincreasing divide between the world of ‘real’ work opportunities and challenges the world offers to someone with a learning disability. We offer not just one but four charity shops, a state-of-the-art woodwork studio which produces the most amazing products to sell to the public both online and face-to-face, as well as having a very well-run community garden centre. Most of these things take place on the same site as the classroombased sessions, therefore offering routine and a secure, safe environment in which each student can face real-world challenges at their own individual pace and at a support level which suits them personally. This combination of highly-thoughtthrough, modern approaches to working with our students has seen FACET produce some truly amazing results; these range from paid employment being achieved and registered ‘gateway’ qualifications being gained regularly throughout the year, to partnerships being developed between FACET and some large national organisations which typically wouldn’t be associated with a small standalone charity organisation.
REACHING OUT Wining the Markel 3rd Sector Care Award has
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MARKEL
given FACET a platform to allow others – on a far wider scale than we could ever hope to reach alone – the opportunity to see what can be achieved when that all-too-rare combination of a driven, modern, focused staff group teams up with an equally amazing student base. FACET’s motto is, and always will be, ‘We focus on ability, not disability’ and never will anyone stay truer to its core value than we do. Even being presented with a fabulous opportunity like this to talk about FACET and what we do could never really let me paint a picture of how the atmosphere and feeling of the place touches all those who visit. The following quote is from a parent of a FACET student. Words such as these being passed on to my staff team really do make all of the dedication and hard work we put into this unbelievable job feel worth it:
‘FACET is very well-named because it caters for every facet of its students’ needs: physical, emotional, social, intellectual. To walk through the place when it is in session is to experience the caring, focused, absorbed nature of the unique atmosphere created by staff and students alike – you could be walking down the corridor of any, more mainstream college! ‘The sincerity of the welcomes and farewells each morning and afternoon are a tribute to the happy spirit of the place and the sense of belonging shared by all. The students are treated as the complex, serious people they and we all are. My wife and I are so grateful that FACET exists. ‘When FACET states that it focuses on ability, it is stating the truth.’
A GROWING ENTERPRISE FACET is a charity that never plans to settle or rest on what we have already been able to achieve. In 2019, we listened to our students and those closest to them about how we could assist in even more goals being reached. This resulted in us tirelessly working to raise funds for a new IT suite mobile classroom which has just been added to our site. In 2020, we are exploring opportunities of more innovative ideas which will see us expand into other areas of the Fens (Cambridgeshire) allowing more thoroughly-deserving adults with learning disabilities the chance to have fun, learn, achieve, make friends, establish working opportunities and even get fit with the FACET twist to these things. On a personal level, winning this award has been the most humbling thing which has happened to me. I moved into this line of work after suffering with a brain tumour at the age
3RD SECTOR CARE AWARDS
of just 21, which thankfully, after surgery and radiotherapy, I was able to recover from. At the time, I was a financial adviser, determined to make it to the top in the banking industry. It was amazing how, in one day of finding out this terrible news, achieving that dream no longer meant anything to me – all that mattered was facing the long battle to get back to full health. During my lengthy recovery period, I began to help out at a local care home to pass the time and, in all honesty, it gave me a reason to get dressed and out of the house each day at a time when I was unable to drive. However, in just a short space of time I realised that other careers seem quite irrelevant once you’ve been given the chance to actually help someone, rather than simply make sure their money is invested in the best way. The rest, as they say, is history. Taking on copious amounts of time studying for qualifications, courses, training and meeting some amazing people along my journey in this fantastic sector led me to where I am today, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you to everyone who gave me the chance. CMM Kris Harrold is General Manager at FACET. Email: krisharrold@outlook.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/Facetcharitymarch
The Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards is run specifically for the voluntary care and support sector. Visit www.caremanagementmatters. co.uk/3rd-sector-care-awards to see 2019’s winners and find out more about this year’s event. Sponsorship opportunities are available. With thanks to our supporters: National Care Forum, Learning Disability England, The Care Provider Alliance, Association of Mental Health Providers and VODG. The Compassion Award was sponsored by
#teamCNO CMM February 2020
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EVENT PREVIEW
CMM INSIGHT DORSET CARE CONFERENCE 2020 6th February, The Lighthouse, Poole
CMM Insight is returning to Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, with its popular conference for care providers. The Dorset Care Conference is once again being held at The Lighthouse, Poole and will feature speakers from across the sector, who recognise the pressures of the local area, as well as what’s happening at a national level.
LOOKING AHEAD Held on 6th February, the conference is aimed at providers of homecare and residential care of all types and will focus on the scope of adult social care, what it looks like now and how it might change in the future, as well as offering practical tips and advice on how to improve services, both for staff and clients. A Keynote on what the future holds for social care is set to be delivered by Dr Jane Townson, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Homecare Association. Using her deep understanding of the homecare market and her wealth of knowledge and experience in the care home industry as former Chief Executive of Somerset Care, Jane’s presentation aims to explore the complex area of how we can work to improve social care for future generations, as well as the immediate issues facing local providers. She will explore what can be done, whilst making sure that the focus is always on the people receiving support and how they can be kept at the centre of any plans. Delegates will also hear from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which will be represented by Amanda Stride, who is Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care at the regulator. Amanda will update providers on what the CQC is focusing on over the coming year, what changes have been and are likely
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CMM February 2020
Sponsors
to be implemented and how CQC can support providers to continue to offer the best support to their clients.
PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS As well as main-stage presentations on key issues from respected speakers, the CMM Insight Dorset Care Conference looks to offer practical and informative sessions on business improvement. Delivered as interactive, seminar-style talks, three workshops will be arranged, both before and after lunch, to ensure providers have a selection of opportunities to attend. These workshops will cover diverse topics, including an in-depth talk from Insequa, a compliance specialist, on the best ways to make sure providers are doing everything they can to achieve an Outstanding rating from CQC. Solicitors, RadcliffesLeBrasseur will also be delivering a session on handling mental health issues in the workplace, looking particularly at registered managers’ mental health, the things that might cause someone’s mental health to deteriorate, and how people can be supported to maintain good mental health and wellbeing in the workplace and at home. Alternatively, delegates can attend a workshop on the effects of changes to GP contracts, how it will impact on care providers and what can be done to maintain service levels with a potentially diminishing nursing workforce.
exhibition of relevant and well-informed services designed to support the adult social care sector. Delegates will also have opportunities to speak with other providers in the area to share insights and tips on running a business in the current climate. To book tickets to the Dorset Care Conference, visit the CMM website, www. caremanagementmatters.co.uk/events or call the team on 01223 207770. Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are also available. CMM
A CHANCE TO TALK For those providers looking to engage with new services, the CMM Insight Dorset Care Conference is an excellent networking opportunity, with breaks to explore a packed
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WHAT’S ON? Event: Date/Location: Contact:
Health and care explained: how the system works and how it is changing 30th January, London The King’s Fund, Tel: 0207 307 2409
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
Improving End of Life for People with Dementia 14th February, London Healthcare Conferences UK, Tel: 01932 429933
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
Future of Care 3rd March, London Broadway Events, Tel: 01425 838393
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
Naidex 17th-18th March, Birmingham Naidex, Web: www.naidex.co.uk
Media Partner
Event:
Dementia, Care and Nursing Home Expo 17th-18th March, Birmingham Web: www.carehomeexpo.co.uk
Media Partner
Date/Location: Contact: Event: Date/Location: Contact:
Surrey Care Showcase 2020 25th March, Brighton Surrey Care Association, Web: www.careshowcase.org.uk
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Event: Date/Location: Contact:
CMM Insight Dorset Care Conference 6th February, Poole Care Choices, Tel: 01223 207770
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
CMM Insight Northamptonshire Care Conference Conference 25th March, Northampton Care Choices, Tel: 01223 207770
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
The Transition Event 30th April, Solihull Care Choices, Tel: 01223 207770
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
BAPS – SEND Blogging Awards 21st May, Leicester Care Choices, Tel: 01223 207770
Event: Date/Location: Contact:
CMM Insight Leeds Care Conference 11th June, Leeds Care Choices, Tel: 01223 207770
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49
SIMON
BOTTERY
•
SENIOR
With a Conservative win in the recent General Election, what does this mean for social care? Simon Bottery of The King’s Fund shares his insights.
The physicist Niels Bohr is famously supposed to have said, ‘Predictions are difficult, especially about the future’. Exploring the future for social care just weeks after a seismic election is therefore fraught with danger, especially as, in truth, there is little by way of policy in the Conservative party manifesto to guide us. Its three point plan promised merely a small amount of extra cash for the current system, along with a
FELLOW
•
THE
commitment to cross-party talks on reform, which in turn would be focused on avoiding people having to sell their homes to pay for care. These three points merge – as is often the case – two somewhat different issues: ensuring enough money to run the current system and the need for more fundamental reform of that system. If we focus first on the issues of wider reform for a moment, two immediate, diverging scenarios present themselves from this morsel of evidence. The first, worst case scenario (though social care folk will be able to invent even ‘worser’ ones, having had long experience) is that social care policy reverts to type and real reform is shelved again. This was its fate during the Blair, Brown, Cameron and May governments. The persuasive, if depressing, argument for this scenario – made recently at a King’s Fund event by former Conservative special adviser, Bill Morgan – is that its cost to the Treasury will always prevent serious reform unless it is driven hard by number 10 and preferably has a clear manifesto pledge to keep it firmly in the political headlights. We know there is no manifesto commitment and only time will tell whether this Prime Minister feels as strongly about it as he apparently did when he first won office, when he promised to ‘fix’ social care. If he does, the second, optimistic scenario comes more credible. In this, the Prime Minister remains committed to his vision of radical, ‘Beveridge’-scale reform and – because the options for reforming social care are really not that complicated – finds his way to the policy to implement it. Given the focus on avoiding home sales, some form of cap on lifetime care costs seems a likely option, but he might also be guided by Conservatives such as Lord Forsyth, whose Economic Affairs Committee recently backed a much more radical tax-funded expansion of social care. This (plausible?) argument for the possibility of wider reform was made by another Conservative former special adviser, Richard Sloggett and
KING’S
is by no means entirely pie-in-the-sky. Certainly, as a result of his spectacular election victory, Johnson would have the Commons majority to deliver reform. That in turn begs the question about the need for, or indeed feasibility of, the ‘cross-party talks’ that appear in the manifesto. These were included as a 100-day priority for the government, so by the time you read this, they should in theory be edging towards fruition. Yet even if they were, it seems improbable that meaningful discussions can happen when the two other, devastated, main parties are in the midst of leadership elections. A cynic might argue that cross-party talks are therefore as likely to provide a convenient excuse – through their likely failure – for delay or abandonment of reform as they are – through their success – to provide a route to its implementation. An optimist might however counter that there are other routes to cross-party discussion than Parliament – local government, for example. Certainly, while all this top level policy reform is being considered, the equally fundamental question of how to get enough money into the current system will not go away. Here, the more recent historical trend suggests that there may be more movement. Since 2014/15 funding has been increasing in real terms as governments acknowledged the dire state of the sector and worried about its consequences. It has been short-term, poorly targeted and there has not been enough to keep pace with demand, but it has staved off fullblown crisis. The extra cash promised in the manifesto would not maintain this upward trend and a Johnson government will need to quickly decide what to do about that. A step towards positive recognition of the value of social care, not just its cost, would be a bonus. What will happen? A lesser known quote from Niels Bohr says that, ‘Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution.’ But then he’d not encountered social care funding reform. CMM
Simon Bottery is Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund. Email: s.bottery@kingsfund.org.uk Twitter: @blimeysimon 50
CMM February 2020
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