Home Care Focus Spring 2010 Issue

THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO HOME CARE PROFESSIONALS

homecarefocus Ceretas, 21 Regent Street, Nottingham NG1 5BS. Tel: 0115 959 6130 Fax: 0115 959 6148 E-mail: info@ceretas.org.uk www.ceretas.org.uk

ng ri ue SpIss SPRING 2010

The Changing Face of Home Care?

CQC New Regulations ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

• The ISA Dispelling the Myths

• National Minimum Wage - Implications for "Sleeping-In" Fees

• Contracting for Personalised Outcomes

inside THIS ISSUE

PAGE 28

PAGE 7

NEWS

NEWS

4

Contracting for Personalised Outcomes

15 Under pressure

5

A Word for the Chair

6

CQC Regulations.

The new registration system is on it’s way

17 Counsel and Care News

7

Political parties squabble over the interests of Social Care

SECTOR UPDATE

16 Comfort Care Services extends portfolio

PAGE 32 PAGE 34

18 Sector news in brief 8

9

The future of Home Care - A political football Skills for Care seeks views form employers

10 The ISA - Dispelling the Myths

22 Action on Elder Abuse lobbying has proved successful 23 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is coming...

24 Get Connected - SCIE

12 NHS to provide more care at home 12 Personal Care at Home Summary comments from Ceretas 13 Improving dementia services in England - an interim report 14 Regulator makes proposals for assessing health and social care in 2010/11

contact Ceretas Administration Office 21 Regent Street Nottingham NG1 5BS

tel: 0115 959 6130 fax: 0115 959 6148 web: www.ceretas.org.uk e-mail: info@ceretas.org.uk

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

25 Inspecting for Quality in Health and Social Care

PAGE 35

26 Leadership in the Front Line - the National Skills Academy launches new initiative 27 Turning point - A move in the right direction 28 One size definitely doesn’t fit all 29 New Recruitment and Retention Toolkit Launched 30 CareJobFinder.org 31 National Minimum Wage Implications for “Sleeping-In” Fees

PAGE 27

inside THIS ISSUE

NEWS

PEOPLE PROFILE

CONFERENCES

32 Up Close and Personal with Phil Hope

40 National Home Care Awards set to make waves

& EVENTS

PAGE 15 33 Care to Talk

42 2010 Regional Awards

33 Become a Ceretas Member

44 Ceretas Annual Conference

34 A week in the life of Ann Taylor

45 Skills for Accolades 45 It’s a date

35 And the winner is.. Susannah Spencer

TECHNOLOGY

36 The right person, the right job, the perfect match

PARTNERS

46 Technology news

MEMBERSHIP

PAGE 31

BUSINESS BRIEF

38 Good Practice Guidelines 38 Email address request

47 Business News

39 Ceretas membership

PAGE 48

COVER STORY PAGE 6

PAGE 41 PAGE 10

Ceretas Home Care Focus

03

NEWS

Contracting for

Personalised Outcomes

I

recently attended a regional development event as part of the market shaping and market facilitation organised by the Department of Health and the Joint Improvement Partnership for the east of England.

It was an excellent day and a great opportunity to learn about leading edge practice and to have dialogue with commissioners on issues that affect home care providers. There are challenges for both parties if we are to enable service personalisation. My only disappointment is that it was module 3 we were discussing, Contracting for Personalised Outcomes, and if the two previous modules had similar engagement then I would have liked to have been there!

We were reminded of the context which is the commitment that all people with ongoing care and support needs should receive a personal budget and have access to a range of personalised services. Personalisation is spreading into other parts of the system including personal health budget pilots. The following is an extract from the presentation given on the day by Sam Bennett from the Department of Health and is reproduced here with his permission.

The Challenge: • • • •

Making it happen for everyone, including the majority who continue to use council provided or commissioned services Ensuring a range of high quality, flexible services are available for people to buy Ensuring stability in the market at a time of unprecedented change and often uncertainty Making this about real transformation and better outcomes for people rather than a box ticking exercise

A Key Message: ‘’A common feature underpinning the changes in each council has been a shift from traditional and often adversarial relationships towards collaborative and constructive partnerships between commissioners and providers’’

• • •

Service Personalisation: •

•

•

The current mix of block and spot contracts that specify times and tasks and let by cost and volume These are not fit for purpose for personalisation because:

4risk of double funding when PB holders shop elsewhere 4constricts user choice of provider and type of support 4 limits provider ability to respond flexibly to user needs 4can exclude local provision when let on significant scale Framework Contracts: • •

some providers have transformed their services independently - most require active engagement and support to understand the implications of personalisation and begin to change their businesses Active development support has included:

4 joint training 4early engagement in business planning 4use of risk management processes 4support with unit costing

Contracting Challenge: •

do not guarantee demand but can provide some security in other ways introduces the requirement to offer personalised services, often through individual service funds available to self funders as well as state funded users

Personal Budgets: •

•

•

Making personal budgets accessible to all has involved developing options for using personal budgets for in-house and commissioned services This includes ‘virtual budgets’ where the council commissions, arranges and manages support for a personal budget holder on their behalf As well as arrangements which empower the person to determine the who, how and what of any support they receive from their chosen provider e.g. individual service funds

outcome focused and some also person centred does not specify times and tasks, the user decides after discussion with the provider

Sam also discussed Individual Service Funds, what they were and what they were not. It is clear that all components need to be present as outcomes based commissioning, personalised service development and personal budgets by themselves will not achieve personalisation. I am sure that most care providers will hope that the key message above does become a reality.

For more information and to read about successful case studies check out Contracting for Personalised Outcomes which is a publication on the Department of Health website or try www.personalisation.org.uk

Mary Bryce 04

Ceretas Home Care Focus

NEWS

A word from the

Chair As I write this there is much political debate and media news about how government will fund social care. That it is high on everyone’s agenda is welcome but some of the headlines still give a negative image, ‘ageing time bomb’, ‘ death tax’ to quote two of them.

The reality is no-one can avoid growing older and as we live longer albeit healthier then the likelihood is we will need some support at sometime in our lives.

As we work and contribute longer through our current tax system then surely we should expect that care and support will be available when needed and not subject to local access criteria often described as the postcode lottery. A national social care service will be welcomed by most people, how it is funded will remain a hot potato for some time to come.

By now you will have seen the ‘Essential Standards of Quality and Safety’, the guidance on compliance and what we need to do to comply with section 20 regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. These are a major change to the current standards and all health and social care providers will have to be compliant to deliver services from this year. There is more information on how they affect home care providers in this edition of your newsletter.

I mentioned in the last edition about the difficulty in getting a CQC CRB check due to the closure of the local offices. We now know that 27 crown offices across the country will verify identification on behalf of CQC. That’s good news, however, the bad news is there is a charge of £19.95 to use this facility, this charge is on top of the cost of the CRB itself. More information is available in this edition. This is another increase in the overall cost of regulation for our sector !!

There is a great deal of news and information about Personalisation and market shaping the home care sector in your newsletter I hope you enjoy reading it and keeping up to date with the external world. We will be continuing this theme at the Annual Conference on 9th June in London.

I look forward to seeing you there.

MARY BRYCE, CHAIR,CERETAS

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

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05

NEWS

CQC Regulations The new registration system is on its way

By Linda Hutchinson, Director of Registration, Care Quality Commission Members of Ceretas will know that the regulation of adult social care services is changing.

All care providers must be registered with the Care Quality Commission from 1 October this year under a new registration system which we are introducing gradually across the care sector. To be registered with us, providers must be meeting new essential standards of quality and safety.

Earlier this year we produced our guidance on compliance with the new standards. These documents – Essential standards of quality and safety, and our Judgement Framework - are available on our website. The guidance is focussed on outcomes that apply across all care services but also contains specific outcomes for particular service types, including domiciliary care services. As we approach the registration application period, providers should be using this guidance now to check that their services are meeting essential standards as we approach the registration application period.

We will be asking groups of providers to make their registration applications within a four week ‘window’ - this means providers will be given a four week period in which to submit their application.

We will writing to you shortly telling you about your application date and explaining what action you need to take and when.

So why are adult social care providers (and independent healthcare providers) being required to register anew? The Health and Social Care Act 2008 currently going through parliament supersedes the Care Standards Act 2000 and introduces one registration system, one set of essential standards and new, strengthened enforcement powers which apply to both health and adult social care.

The key differences between the new registration system and the current one are as follows: •

After initial registration, we will continuously monitor whether providers are meeting essential standards, as part of a new, more dynamic system of regulation that places the views and experiences of people who use services at its centre.

•

a single set of standards introduces much needed parity across the sector, making it easier for one provider to be compared to another and for providers to work together across health and social care;

•

our guidance about compliance with the new standards focuses primarily on outcomes – the experiences we expect people to have as a result of the care they receive – rather than primarily on system and processes

•

we will make better use of the information we have about providers, including constantly-updated information from providers themselves and from people who use services, representative organisations and other regulators;

06

Ceretas Home Care Focus

•

we will have short, focused unannounced site visits, with direct observation of care, rather than set-piece inspections that require a great deal of preparation. We are in the process of developing our ideas on how best to achieve this in domiciliary care settings.

The aim of registration is that people can expect providers to meet essential standards of quality that protect their safety and respect their dignity and rights wherever care is provided – in someone’s home, in a community setting, or in a hospital. If we have concerns that a provider is not meeting essential standards, we will act quickly, working closely with commissioners and others, and using our new enforcement powers if necessary.

Fees Existing providers that are already registered under the Care Standards Act 2000 will not be required to pay a ‘joining’ fee for being brought into the new system. All providers will continue to pay an annual registration fee – however, we have stated that the current fee levels will remain unchanged for the period up to 31 March 2011 (although we will still carry out a technical consultation on this).

We plan to introduce a long-term approach to fees for all care providers from April 2011, and this will be the subject of further consultation later this year.

In conclusion…

The aim of registration is that people can expect providers to meet essential standards of quality that protect their safety and respect their dignity and rights wherever care is provided – in someone’s home, in a community setting, or in a hospital. We want to make this whole process as smooth as possible. So please look out for more communications from CQC, containing the latest information. Updates will also be available in our monthly email bulletin, which you can sign up to from our website: www.cqc.org.uk/newsandevents/newsletter.cfm Lots more information on the various aspects of the new system, including how to apply for registration, and the guidance about compliance, can be found on the website at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/guidanceforprofessionals/registration/ newregistrationsystem.cfm If you have any queries, please contact our national contact centre on 03000 616161 or enquiries@cqc.org.uk.

NEWS

Political parties squabble over the interests of social care The negative campaigning between Labour and the Conservatives in particular has prompted Andy Burnham to call for non-partisan conference to address the issue of care for the elderly.

Charities have strongly criticized the rows which seem to be aimed at point scoring between parties rather than seeking to tackle with the crisis. A conference for all parties to which charities and local authorities will also be invited, will focus on the looming social care time bomb and funding issues.

Mr Burnham said recently he was now

"more determined than ever to work with others to see if we can find a consensus".

"I will extend an invitation to the main political parties to put aside partisan campaigns and put the national interest first," he said.

"I hope they will accept it and engage seriously in this debate that the country needs to have.

"If we fail to act, we will fail many vulnerable and elderly people who will continue to have to dig deep into their bank accounts to pay for care.

"In return, I ask that any negative campaigning is suspended. It is not right to use scare stories on an issue that affects so many vulnerable people."

Eighteen charities joined forces in February to call for a "serious debate" about improving care for the elderly, admonishing the parties for their squabbling.

The health spokesmen of the three main parties had privately discussed the issue and even agreed some shared principles on it.

Last year, Labour set out a range of options in a Green Paper on how the means-tested system could be overhauled.

One of the suggestions was a compulsory fee, possibly up to £20,000, which could be taken from an individual's estate after death. The Torries have dubbed as a ‘death tax’ claiming it would penalise families who want to look after elderly relatives themselves.

They favour a voluntary scheme which has proved a major stumbling block in the attempts to reach some common ground.

However a week after Burnham’s announcement the Tories announced they would not be attending the talks, saying it is a political ploy.

Labour and the Lib Dems are due to join care providers and charities in the talks aimed at agreeing options for a national care service for England. Many are likely to tell ministers a compulsory fee would be the best funding option.

Mr Burnham will be told at the conference that he needs to be clearer about how a national care service would be funded.

Stephen Burke, of Counsel and Care, a charity for the elderly, said: "It is time for a serious debate.We believe a system that involves everyone is the only way to properly fund care."

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said a compulsory charge was the best way to get the most funding.

Its President, Jenny Owen, said: "The problem with a voluntary scheme is that too many people opt out.

"We now need to get consensus. We don't need a political bun fight because then it will be put into the 'too difficult box'."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb is expected to attend the meeting and his office said he was open to backing a compulsory charge.

The government had hoped to achieve cross-party support for a specific plan, which will be published in a white paper in March.

Ceretas Home Care Focus

07

NEWS

The future of Home Care...

a political football?

The social care sector is now in the full blaze of the public’s glare.

Almost every day the Government or opposition parties announce plans to improve the care people receive in the future – if elected of course. They are all agreed that reform of the way we currently provide support is vital but getting any consensus on how that might be funded or implemented looks impossible.

Instead ways of funding social care have now become a controversial political football, the subject of bitter accusation and counter-accusation, particularly between the Government and the Conservatives.

Local authorities and primary care trusts look on in horror over how they would fund new systems, especially as they cannot see a way to meet the costs of care next year, let alone the next decade or more, as they wrestle with stinging cuts in public spending. The Audit Commission, in its thought-provoking document Under Pressure, throws down the gauntlet to local authorities to prepare better and invest in preventative care to help people stay independent and in their own homes, and not reliant on costly care.

This leaves the provider as usual right in the middle, trying to respond to calls for more and better care but facing a reduction in the amount of money coming from commissioners to pay for it.

Amidst all this, the Care Quality Commission published its first annual report to parliament on the state of health care and adult social care in England. It applauded overall improvements in recent years but also warned that a further 1.7m adults would need social care by 2030, indicating the level of extra demand we can expect to see.

So what will the outcome be of this thrusting of social care into the heat of political argument and public spotlight?

I hope it will be a positive one. For many years providers have been arguing that the sector is chronically under-funded and striving to square a demand for high quality care with a lack of money. The current political debate is at last a recognition that something has to be done.

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

I am extremely proud of the quality of care that providers offer in this country and frustrated when that overall quality is questioned by headline-grabbing examples of less-than-good standards. I have been involved at the heart of the Great British Care Awards and as well as celebrating and recognising people working in the social care sector, those awards have amply demonstrated the excellent quality of the care being delivered. That quality gives me a great source of optimism.

An optimism that the sector will rise to whatever challenges are thrown at it in the coming years.

Before anybody forgets, in the face of political point-scoring, claim and counter-claim, we are talking about providing high quality care, with dignity and respect, to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

As the election gets nearer all parties will need to clarify promises for social care (not least how they will fund them). There is little doubt that if, as a society, we are to meet the increased demand that the CQC and the rest of us predict then local authorities will need to be properly funded to achieve it.

The standstill budgets for social care we are hearing about from local authorities this year just won’t cut the mustard when demand for this most basic of human care is rising as inexorably as it now is.

It will be up to everyone involved in social care – at whatever level – to take advantage of this current high profile and to campaign and fight for proper funding for the sector. This is a fantastic opportunity but an opportunity that does not come every day. Now is the time for the social care sector’s voice to be heard at its loudest. After the general election, when whoever wins takes up the reins of power and sets about running the country, it might be too late.

A personal view from Mike Padgham, chair of UKHCA and The Independent Care Group (York and North Yorkshire).

The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of those organisations.

MIKE PADGHAM

NEWS

Skills for Care seeks views from employers on best practice guidelines for workforce development.

Skills for Care have been asked by the Care Quality Commission to develop best practice guidelines to underpin the workforce elements of their guidance about compliance, published last month.

Skills for Care has launched an online survey to give all adult social care services regulated by the CQC a say and to ensure that the guidelines reflect best practice within the sector.

The new survey launched today will help make sure the employer voice is heard in developing robust supportive guidelines for the CQC and the sector in relation to the workforce components of the guidance.

Employers will be asked for their views to help identify best practice in relation to workforce development and the results of the survey will form the basis of the best practice guidelines underpinning new regulations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no doubt that the voice of employers and their examples of best practice are essential to making sure that these guidelines are fit for purpose to have a real impact on frontline delivery so we would urge all employers to have their say,â&#x20AC;? Says Skills for Care CEO Andrea Rowe.

The survey has been open for a month closing on 10 February 2010 and is available in the consultation of the Skills for Care website at: http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/participation/consultations/consultations.aspx

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

09

THE ISA Dispelling the Myths

NEWS

For more information on the ISA visit www.isa-gov.org.uk

Q:There is a lot of disinformation about what exactly the role of the ISA is, can you clarify?

A: From my perspective, being on the board of the ISA, I think there is more work to do around explaining the role of the ISA within the wider Vetting and Barring scheme. The ISA has two key responsibilities; firstly we make decisions about the risk of harm a person presents to vulnerable groups, and bar them if we consider they pose an unacceptable risk of harm and it is appropriate to do so. Secondly, we maintain two lists; the Children’s Barred List and the Vulnerable Adults List. The administration of the ISA registration process will be the responsibility of the CRB.

First came List 99, then there was PoVA, and now we have the ISA. So who are the ISA and what is their role? Ceretas spoke to John Belcher, Non Executive Board member of the ISA to find out.

DR JOHN BELCHER CBE

The Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) been created to help identify those individuals who pose a risk of harm to children and vulnerable adults and, where it is appropriate to do so, the ISA will prevent such people working with these vulnerable groups by placing them on a barred list. The VBS focuses on a much wider network of workers and groups than previous schemes in order to better safeguard the vulnerable.The ISA is a vital element of the Vetting and Barring Scheme

Q:When was the ISA established?

A: The organisation was established in January 2008 and since then we have been developing and refining our decision making processes and building the organisation. Our aim is to ensure that all our decisions are consistent, fair and proportionate. From January 2009 we began making independent barring decisions as to whether or not person who has been referred to us, should be placed on one or other of the ISA barred lists.

Q: How has the Vetting and Barring Scheme and specifically the ISA, improved the care of vulnerable adults?

A: I firmly believe the Scheme will deliver improvements with regard the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. A key benefit of the VBS is that anyone who wishes to work frequently with vulnerable adults or children, either in a paid or voluntary capacity will be required to be ISA registered. Once registered, the individual will be subject to continuous monitoring. This means that if any relevant information comes to light – a conviction or police caution for example - then that information will be made available to the ISA who will then assess, on the basis of this new information, whether or not that person poses a risk to vulnerable groups. It is this information sharing allied to the referral process for employers that will deliver improvements in safeguarding across all sectors.

Q:Is the onus the responsibility of the individual to register or the employer?

A: The onus is very much on the individual to register and the onus is on the employer to check that the individual has registered. Once registered, a person will then be subject to continuous monitoring. From July of this year the five year phasing strategy begins when those individuals new to the workforce or moving jobs will be able to apply to become ISA registered.

From November 2010 this becomes a legal requirement. As staff become ISA registered, employers will be able to ‘register an interest’ and will be able to access a secure on-line link at any time and check the registration status of that member of staff. In time, everyone working in regulated activity frequently will be required to become ISA registered.

It is important to point out that an ISA registration phasing strategy comes into play at this time. This means that employers and employees will have until 2015 to plan for the registration of all their existing staff who is working in regulated activity. This will allow sufficient time for a well ordered transition to compliance with the requirements of the VBS. Full government guidance will be made available on this.

If any new, relevant information about a person comes to light, the onus is on the employer to inform the ISA of this. The ISA will then review whether the registration should remain in place or not.

Q:The individual is ISA registered. Is there anything else I need to do?

A: There is a misconception that if an individual is ISA registered the employer need do no more. This is absolutely not the case. ISA

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

registration means that there are no known concerns that a person poses a risk of harm to vulnerable groups. That is the purpose of the Scheme. Employers must still robustly carry out all required preemployment checks, taking up references and so forth. If during the course of these checks an employer comes across information that raises concerns that this person may pose a safeguarding risk, then they will need to make the ISA aware of their concerns Q:What is the cost of registering?

A: The cost is £64 for a person in England and Wales and £58 for Northern Ireland. Scotland will operate an aligned system. The registration fee is a one off payment for life and the registration status is portable between jobs and sectors. This should ensure quicker and more efficient movement for staff moving between jobs and should make the recruitment process for employers more straightforward. Volunteers working with vulnerable groups are free.

Q:What are the key abuses suffered by vulnerable adults in home care?

A: Theft is the largest type of abuse we encounter in this setting. This harm can of course take a number of forms physical, emotional and psychological abuse as well as neglect. That said, whenever the ISA receive a referral the focus is to identify whether or not harm has occurred and secondly, does this person pose an ongoing risk of harm.

If the ISA conclude that they do in fact pose a risk of harm and it is appropriate to do so, then the ISA will take steps to place that person on the relevant Barred List.

Q:Do you think there is there a great deal of under reporting?

A: I think there is a general understanding that many forms of abuse are under- reported. This is being addressed through an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement. We are able to use these opportunities to establish clear understanding of the Scheme and the referral process. This work is helping all sectors to fulfil their reporting and referral obligations. Further evidence this approach is working is borne out by the number of referrals the ISA receive; this is currently averaging 400 a month.

Q:What level of referrals do you currently receive from the Vulnerable Adult sector?

A: Since January 2009 the split of referrals the ISA has received between children and vulnerable adults is approximately two thirds vulnerable adults to one third children.

Q:How widespread is the support for this scheme amongst the general public?

A: The message about VBS does seem to have got out. A recent Home Office survey showed that 84% of people think that the legal requirement on employers to check the status of potential employees is a good thing. From the outset the VBS partners have undertaken an extensive information sharing and stakeholder engagement programme with key sectors and stakeholders. My interview with you today is part of that process and this programme of stakeholder engagement will continue as the VBS programme rolls out.

Q:Take me through the stages of ISA decisionmaking The ISA operate a five stage Barring Decision Process. As soon as a referral is received the ISA will write to the person informing them they have been referred. The first stage in the ISA decision making process is to establish that what is alleged to have occurred does actually constitute relevant conduct, that is, harmful behaviour ort there is evidence of a ‘risk of harm’ to the vulnerable. If the referral meets this definition then the case moves to stage two – the information gathering phase.

Because the ISA has no powers of investigation it relies upon the information provided to it by, in the first instance the employer using the ISA referral form. It is at this stage that malicious gossip, rumour and unsubstantiated allegations will be identified and discarded. It may well be that the ISA will request further information from the employer and or from previous employers and regulatory bodies. Once all the relevant information has been gathered it will be assessed. What the ISA is looking to establish within the balance of probabilities is; did what is alleged to have occurred actually happen.

If the ISA decide that on the balance of probabilities, what is alleged did not occur then the case will be closed and the person will not be placed on one or other of the ISA’s barred lists. If however the ISA are satisfied that what is alleged did in fact happen and that there are real concerns that the person has harmed or poses a risk of harm then the case will move to the third stage. At this point, all the relevant information is assessed. What the ISA are looking to establish is whether or not this person poses an on-going risk to children or vulnerable adults. It is usually at this point that I and my colleagues on the ISA board may be called upon for advice and guidance. Part of our role is to provide specific specialists expertise with regard the more complex cases.

If the evidence indicates a real concern that the person presents a risk of harm to vulnerable groups then the ISA will write to that person indicating they are ‘minded to bar’ that person. The ISA will provide them with copies of all the information they have used in reaching their ‘minded to bar’ position. The person will be given 8 weeks to make representations (to give their side of the story) and provide information in mitigation of the events that have triggered the referral. If no representations are made the ISA will move to bar that person.

Where the person decides to submit representations the ISA will reconsider the case in the light of the new information.

If having assessed all the available information the ISA considers it is appropriate to bar the person, they will be placed on one or both of the barred lists. They will no longer be ISA registered and will be unable to work in any regulated activity.

At this point the individual has the right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal who can reconsider a case if they believe there has been an error in law or a finding of fact.

Q:What processes do you have to ensure the ISA Caseworkers are fully trained?

A: Caseworkers go through a systematic training programme as follows; Following a corporate induction, caseworkers commence the Caseworker Development Programme which includes training in a wide range of subjects, including; Data Protection/Freedom of Information, Understanding Sexual Harm, Legal Aspects of Information Gathering, Case File Review, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Legal Context of the ISA Decision Making Process, understanding the various types of harm they will encounter during the course of their work. At this point the caseworker will then undertake a written examination on this programme.

Next, the caseworker will be trained to use the Structured Judgement Process (SJP). The SJP assists the caseworker in identifying the level of risk of harm a person may pose. The caseworker will then be supervised as they work through cases while being constantly assessed.

Once qualified to this level, caseworkers are required to work towards an Advanced Professional Decision Making Qualification.

This is accredited to the University of Teesside and is equivalent to a foundation degree. Once qualified, all caseworkers are subject to continuous peer review in regard their decision making skills.

All caseworkers benefit from an on-going training programme which will cover a range of specialist areas, some of which are delivered by members of the ISA board who have specific

expertise in the fields of risk management, safeguarding and forensic psychology.

Q:Will the ISA automatically bar someone who has a criminal conviction, caution or some soft intelligence on their CRB Disclosure?

A: The most serious offences which would the mean that the ISA must (by law) automatically bar the person and they would have no right to make representations. For all other referrals the ISA will consider all information it receives and in so doing will decide which information is actually relevant to the referral. Criminal conviction and caution data forms part of this process and will sit alongside any other information deemed relevant that has come from other sources, regulatory bodies for example. In all cases the ISA will look at the wider picture. We are not acting as a disciplinary panel and not assessing professional competence – but assessing whether a person has harmed or poses a future risk of harm to vulnerable groups.

Q:The care sector often employs foreign workers – how will they bechecked?

Anyone undertaking regulated activity in England, Wales or Northern Ireland with the permission of a regulated activity provider will have to be ISA- registered, irrespective of their country of origin. Even if applicants have just moved to the UK, they will still have to go through the process before they start work. Employers must of course run all the usual preemployment checks, including taking up references.

In the case of those where we cannot obtain records from their country oforigin, they will still have to register with the Scheme and their records will be continuously updated in the UK, and they will be barred should their conduct at any point give reason for this step to be taken.

Q: How is an individual able to give their input into the decisions you make?

A: If the ISA are ‘minded to bar’ they must inform the person of this and in so doing setting out their rationale. The ISA will ensure the referred person receives copies of all the documentary evidence they have used in coming to the point of being minded to bar. A person then has eight weeks in which to make representations to the ISA in writing. This is the opportunity to provide their side of the story or provide evidence in mitigation. Once in receipt of these representations the ISA will consider the case again and will factor in this new information. If following this phase in the process the ISA consider the person presents a future risk of harm to the vulnerable; and it is appropriate to do so, they will confirm the barring decision and will advise the person in writing.

Q:How will the ISA improve the time it takes to clear someone?

A: We are continually working with partners, stakeholders and regulatory bodies to improve understanding of the Scheme and in so doing ensure that our systems are as efficient and effective as possible.

Q:Does the cost of the ISA include the cost of the CRB? A: Yes it does. The £64 application fee (£58 in Northern Ireland) to become ISA registered gives you a full enhanced disclosure as part of the registration process when legally entitled.

An applicant isn’t able to “opt out” of the disclosure element and just pay a lower fee for Scheme registration.

Q:Can you clarify the issues regarding portability?

A: ISA registration confirms that, in all circumstances, that there is no available information to indicate that an individual poses a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults. Thus, once an individual has become ISA registered, this status can be used by any number of employers or voluntary activity providers.

All that a new employer needs to do is go on line, from any web-enabled computer, and they will be able to carry out a free, real time check that will tell them whether or not the person they are checking is ISA registered.

Q:Will employers receive emails updating them of offences?

A: No. An employer will only be informed if an individual’s ISA registration changes, that is to say, they are no longer ISA registered. This tells the employer that their member of staff is no longer able to work with vulnerable groups. Under the new legislation, any employer who knowingly employs a barred person in regulated activity will be committing an offence.

The same applies if a barred person applies for a job in regulated activity.

Q:What robust processes will be in place regarding those carers who are funded & hence 'employed' under the personalisation agenda but who are relatives or 'friends'?

A: If you are barred you are not allowed to undertake regulated activity of any kind – and you will know this. Local authorities have a statutory duty to make all of those in receipt of direct payments aware of the Scheme and the benefits it offers, and the penalties that barred individuals face. Furthermore, if a local authority believes a barred individual is providing regulated activity – such as frequent care – to a child or vulnerable adult they are legally obliged to refer this information to the ISA. Q: In view of the very disparate & different systems for recording Personnel issues how will the ISA ensure the information they have is comprehensive & accurate?

(Refining what is in place, but that maintaining them does not create an added burden & expense on hard pressed providers, especially smaller ones who will be the bedrock of the transformed provision) A: The ISA relies upon the information provided to it by third parties, employers, regulatory bodies, local authorities and the police. A criminal conviction or the results of a regulatory disciplinary investigation will be treated by the ISA as a finding of fact. The Scheme does not require employers to maintain new orseparate lists, rather, the ISA will be seeking access to those records and documents that would typically be in use, for example, shift reports, personnel records, minutes of disciplinary investigations and any related witness statements.

All such information the ISA receives will be robustly checked to establish that which is factual, that which is relevant that which constitutes unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo. The latter will play no part in the ISA’s decision making process.

Q:Are there going to be separate systems governing the use of CRB enhanced disclosures and a check on the ISA list?

Is it likely that social care staff may still have to have periodic CRB checks even when they have been cleared by the ISA at the commencement of their employment?

A: ISA registration indicates that there is no known risk as to a person working with children or vulnerable adults. However it may be, as part of their ongoing safe employment practices, organizations wish to continue with periodic CRB checks to ensure that their employees have not committed any offences that would not lead to them being barred by the ISA but which may have an implication on their suitability for ongoing employment in a specific job or role.

Ceretas Home Care Focus

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NEWS

NHS to provide more care at home Measures to shape NHS services around individual patients were set out on 18th February by Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

Focussing on providing care at home will have a significant impact for social care. A report out the same day from the Audit Commission shows that older people who have the opportunity to be looked after in their own home if they want to are happier and there are less costs to the taxpayer.

There are already examples of how being innovative can have significant outcomes and save money – for example, for the cost of just one month’s care package, a home can be equipped with sensors and pagers to help a family look after a relative with dementia.

Other measures include providing more services at home for children and young people who have acute or long-term conditions or disability or palliative care needs, and giving more people the option to die at home if they wish to.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: 'The time has come for the NHS to make a decisive shift in providing more care out of hospitals and in the patient's community and home.

'For too long, services have been organised to fit the convenience of the system. A great NHS will put the convenience of the patient first, and move services towards them where it is safe to do so. But care in the home can also achieve better results and save money.

'So this is the right move at the right time.

Evidence shows that we can now do far more out of hospital and the NHS needs to move confidently in this direction. Fears about changing services should not stand in the way of improving care for patients. Transforming the NHS from good to great will mean becoming more people-centred and productive at the same time.

'NHS patients have already seen significant improvements in the care they receive in hospital, with shorter waits and more choice over how and where they access treatment.

But the NHS needs to do more to plan services around patients – even taking services into their home.

community services, the NHS could save up to £2.7 billion a year – meaning a better service for patients, and a more productive service for taxpayers.'

The Health Secretary also confirmed plans to review progress on End of Life Care by 2013, with the intention of setting out proposals for a right to choose to die at home in the future. Marie Curie is already piloting a range of models through their Delivering Choice programme.

Transforming how the NHS treats patients with long-term conditions by providing more support in people’s homes and local community settings means that people are able to better manage their health and avoid unnecessary hospital visits. Improvements in the management of long-term conditions have already led to efficiencies and savings of £2.1 billion.

'We are already seeing Lord Darzi’s vision to put quality at the heart of care becoming a reality across the country, but we can go further. By making NHS services truly peoplecentred and ensuring that patients have access to high quality, integrated and efficient

ANDY BURNHAM, HEALTH SECRETARY

Personal Care at Home: Summary comments from Ceretas Ceretas generally welcome the personal care at home plans as a step towards the wider care reform that we expect to see in the White Paper on shaping the future of care.

We are concerned however at the lack of investment in social care and in particular the issue of low staff pay. Our members find that older people are denied care services because of the tight eligibility criteria in many localities.

Greater investment in care and support services is crucial to meeting existing and growing needs of our older population. The provision of a range of high quality services that support people with long term conditions to live the lives they want in dignity and with choice and control is one of the most challenging issues for Government.

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

We consider that the assessment of costs should be done on an individual basis so that the process is truly person centred. There remain concerns about the funds available for personal care at home. As a membership association representing those who work in home care we want to restate members concerns about the underfunding of care generally which they feel makes is doubly hard to ensure that they invest in the workforce to provide good quality care through training, skills development and through decent pay.

Whilst this consultation is specifically about who will be offered free personal care at home we cannot ignore the fact that social care is still underfunded and undervalued.

While good quality providers work tirelessly to ensure that people who need care are treated with dignity and respect we believe that, as a society, we need to both properly invest in and plan for our ageing population.

We hope that the White Paper, due for publication soon, addresses these issues of quality and cost so that we have a care system that can truly offer a safe, secure, affordable and flexible service that enables people to live a good life.

Mary Bryce Chair, Ceretas February 2010

To see the full response visit www.ceretas.org.uk

NEWS

Improving dementia services in England - an interim report "The Department of Health stated in October 2007 that dementia was a national priority and brought forward a widely supported strategy in February 2009 to transform the lives of people with dementia. The action however, has not so far matched the rhetoric in terms of urgency.

At the moment this strategy lacks the mechanisms needed to bring about large scale improvements and without these mechanisms it is unlikely that the intended and much needed transformation of services will be delivered within the strategy’s five year timeframe" The Department of Health has developed an ambitious and comprehensive strategy for dementia.

However, there has not yet been a robust approach to implementation, according to a National Audit Office report published today. Despite the Department stating, since 2007, that dementia is now a national priority, it has not been given the levers or urgency normally expected for such a priority and there is a risk that

value for money will remain poor unless these weaknesses are addressed urgently.

The strategy, Living Well with Dementia, was published in February 2009. Because of the timing, dementia was not included in the Department’s tier 1 Vital Signs indicators for the NHS, through which it monitors performance.

Other levers built into the NHS’ devolved management arrangements, such as joined-up commissioning and comprehensive performance information, are not yet fully developed. Achieving transformation in the proposed five years will be very challenging. Changes at a local level are taking place slowly because local leadership on the issue has still to be developed and there is no formal performance monitoring of progress built into the system.

The Department does not have evidence on current and future costs and benefits; the strategy is likely to cost much more than the estimated £1.9 billion over ten years. The Department also expects implementation of the strategy to be mostly funded through efficiency savings arising from the acute hospital and long-term care sectors.

However, this will be difficult to achieve without joined-up, well-informed commissioning and the actual releasing or re-directing of resources from secondary to primary care, or from NHS to social

AMYAS MORSE HEAD OF THE NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE, care is likely to be difficult to achieve in the short to medium term, particularly in a time of financial constraint.

There is as yet no basic training for healthcare professionals on how to understand and work with people with dementia. Strong leadership is also key to improving services, but this is not yet in place in local NHS and social care delivery organisations. There is not yet enough joined-up working between health and social care services for people with dementia: for example, demand for care homes is going to rise, but the independent care home sector feels excluded from the strategy.

The interim report published on 14th January, points out that there are some examples of excellent practice which could already be making a difference if they were adopted across the country. But it is not clear that services are making best use of money; it will not be clear until a baseline audit is completed, how the first £60 million of additional baseline funding for primary care trusts to implement the dementia strategy has been spent, or whether it has actually been spent on dementia.

For more information visit http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/09 10/improving_dementia_services.aspx

Recruitment Specialists www.cityworx.co.uk Cityworx Limited was set up to cater for the specific needs of the domiciliary care sector and has over 15 years experience in the recruitment industry as well as direct experience of the domiciliary care market.

This combined expertise is what makes us the leading recruiter in our field.

With strong relations cemented over time we are the only agency to present candidates the best opportunities available and then guide them through the recruitment process.

We work with a number of service providers many on a retained basis as an extension to their HR function and conduct first round interviews making recommendations on potential candidates from care coordinators through to senior management - Directors & MD’s.

We work via referrals, head hunting, networking and pay generous referral fees.

All conversations are in the strictest confidence.

Telephone: 07956 19 60 63 • Email sanjay@cityworx.co.uk • Log on at www.cityworx.co.uk

Ceretas Home Care Focus

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NEWS

REGULATOR MAKES PROPOSALS FOR ASSESSING HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE IN 2010/11 Patients and public given the opportunity to have their say on plans to promote high quality services The Care Quality Commission (CQC) launched a public consultation in early February on proposals to promote high quality health and social care through a new approach to assessments in 2010/11.

The assessments will apply to all 152 local councils, 392 NHS trusts and 24,000 adult social care providers.

The assessments will focus on quality and the key aims are: • Provide useful and up-to-date information and judgements about the quality of care, which is based on what matters to people who use services and their carers, and uses their views and experiences.

• Look at individual services, such as maternity services, and how well health and social care services are working together.

• Focus on the outcomes that people experience.

• Make sure that those who buy or provide services are held to account for the quality and value for money of those services.

• Make sure that the work of CQC joins up with other improvement agencies and systems.

• Celebrate and share good practice.

• Make sure that the benefits of CQC’s approach outweigh the costs.

CQC want to know as part of the consultation process whether you agree to these key aims for assessment of quality.

Quality and Risk Profile The plan is to have a quality and risk profile for each care provider and commissioner. This will aim to bring together all the information that the CQC hold about the quality of care these organisations provide or buy for people.

CQC want to be as open as possible in letting the public, providers and commissioners know what information they hold and in developing these profiles in consultation with all stakeholders.

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

Better Regulation One of the strategic priorities is to regulate effectively in partnership.This means making sure that CQC are always focused on delivering the better regulation principles – to be proportionate, targeted, consistent, evidence-based, transparent and accountable.

They have advised that they need to work with other organisations to share information and avoid regulatory activities being duplicated.

They have acknowledged that they need to ensure that they are minimising the costs that they impose on providers and commissioners of care – for example by making better use of their own performance and management information and, where appropriate, carrying out joint inspections.

As part of the consultation you can have your say about how CQC can be more efficient and streamlined in their approach to assessments, in order to reduce the costs whilst maintaining the benefits.

Included in the consultation document is a detailed framework proposal for an assessment approach for each sector, covering councils, primary care trusts and NHS trusts as commissioners and providers of services.

Assessing Adult social care providers All adult social care providers will be fully registered with CQC under the new system by 1 October 2010. Therefore the main focus for us and them is to make sure that all services meet the essential standards of safety and quality set by registration.

CQC already award quality ratings to adult social care providers, and they intend to continue to award these under the new system.

From April to September 2010, CQC will reassess ratings where an inspection is due (the current law requires them to inspect every care service at least once every three years).

Services will keep their existing ratings on 1 October 2010. But if they have to register a service with compliance conditions (conditions

that require improvement or an action plan), they will make this information available to the public. This will mean that the public and people choosing services know that the service needs to improve to fully meet the new essential standards of safety and quality.

Between October 2010 and the end of March 2011, they will focus their assessments and inspections on services that are not compliant with registration. They will also reassess the ratings of services that are rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, and would have been due an inspection under the current threeyear rule. They will limit these assessments to only consider quality over and above essential standards set by registration in key areas.

The future of quality ratings – CQC have advised that they will need to make changes to their approach to quality ratings to reflect the new system of regulation The changes they need to make include: • How a rating is awarded • Frequency and methods • What will be assessed • Rating scale The proposals for 2010/11 include regular scored assessments of care organisations as well as in-depth special reviews and national studies looking at selected areas of care requiring special attention.

In a recent press release, CQC commented that the new assessment approach, together with its registration system, will provide an immediate, credible picture of health and social care that will promote improvement and allow swift action to be taken where poor care exists.

As with its registration system, assessments of quality will prioritise the experiences of people who use services and will carefully consider their outcomes.

Important aspects of the new plans include: • A move away from an overall score for councils as commissioners of social care and PCTs as commissioners of healthcare.

Instead, parts of the assessments will be scored separately to provide detailed

NEWS

information about the quality of specific areas of care.

• Similarly, it is also proposed to separate scored assessments of the quality of care provided by NHS Trusts and PCT providers.

An overall rating for large organisations can be misleading as it could hide variations in the quality of different services provided, e.g. stroke or maternity services.

• Continuing to use quality ratings for social care providers. They act as a useful guide to assist people who use services when making decisions about choosing their care.

The consultation closes on 27 April and CQC will carefully consider all feedback before publishing its finalised plans later this year.

Please visit their website on www.cqc.org.uk for a detailed copy of the consultation document and to give your feedback online.

Responses can also be emailed to assessmentconsult@cqc.org.uk or posted to Assessment Consultation, Care Quality Commission, 103-105 Bunhill Row, FREEPOST Lon 15399, London, EC1B 1QW Or you can email your thoughts on the consultation document to Ceretas and we will represent your views in our response to the consultation.

Under pressure Councils face the challenge of an ageing population as public spending reduces. A recent report from the Audit Commission says that most councils do not know enough about the costs of their ageing population. A summary of the report is outline here.

Report Summary Councils face the challenge of an ageing population as public spending reduces.

The ageing population will affect: • all councils, not just those with social care responsibilities; • councils’ partners in housing, health and policing.

Public spending will reduce over the next few years – councils and their partners will be expected to find billions of pounds of extra savings.

An ageing population has a range of impacts.

If care service costs simply increase with the population they could nearly double by 2026.

Older people are more likely to volunteer to support local communities. Carers over 60 provide care worth twice public spending on care services for older people.

Most councils don’t know enough about the costs of their ageing population, or the savings from preventive and collaborative action, to take important decisions.

The financial challenges of an ageing population are driven by different factors in different places.

Councils must understand the age structure of their populations, the distribution of health and wealth, and likely trends.

The biggest single financial impact will be on social care spending, which increased by 46 per cent between 2000/01 and 2007/08.

There are big differences in care costs – some councils spend three times more than the average per person on some services.

Small investments in services such as housing and leisure can reduce or delay care costs and improve wellbeing.

Improved health and wellbeing reduces demand for services.

Councils and partners should cooperate to tackle the main causes of social care need: • poor housing and environment; • health and mobility problems; • breakdown of informal support; and • social isolation.

Most medium-term financial planning fails to use demographics, information about the impact of preventive work, or data about older people’s preferences.

Older people are an untapped source of information about what works and the value of support to independent living.

Early intervention can improve wellbeing and save money. One county saves £1 million a year on residential care costs by providing telecare services.

Cheaper alternatives are often the services most valued by older people, their families and communities.

To read the report in full visit www.audit-commission.gov.uk

Ceretas Home Care Focus

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NEWS

Comfort Care Services Ltd Expands Portfolio with Support from NatWest Supported Living Services Provider, Comfort Care Services Ltd, has acquired four further care homes across the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire region, thanks to the additional financial backing of a £2m funding package provided by NatWest.

Comfort Care Services was established in 1985 as a small family run business with the purchase of one home, where two residents with special needs received care. Building on a successful beginning, Abdul and his management team have subsequently opened 24 more homes throughout Berkshire, Surrey and Outer London including his latest acquisitions in Reading, Woking, Stoke Poges and Aylesbury. Abdul will embark on an extensive refurbishment programme with his latest purchase of care homes to bring them in line with the quality and service offering he maintains throughout his impressive portfolio. Collectively the homes provide a range of care and support for 150 people suffering from illnesses relating to mental health, alcohol and drug dependency through to learning disabilities. In addition, Abdul works closely with the Local Health Authorities (“LHA”) to establish local health care requirements and tailors care accordingly.

Abdul approached his trusted banking relationship manager Andrew Marsh, Senior Healthcare Manager at NatWest for assistance. Abdul enjoys a long-standing relationship with NatWest, with the bank having recently funded The Lanterns care home in Guildford, which is currently under refurbishment.

By continuing to work closely with the management team, Andrew was able to understand Abdul’s long-term strategy and aspirations and led the bank’s healthcare team to provide a further £2m funding package enabling the purchase of four new care homes and extensive refurbishment at each of these locations to take place. Abdul forecasts these care homes to be ready from mid Autumn through to the last project in Reading which was complete in January 2010.

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

Ceretas Annual Conference 2010

How the new regulations affect homecare Wednesday 9th June 2010 Supported by

www.ceretas.org.uk

counsel + care news COUNSEL AND CARE CALLS FOR THE DEMENTIA STRATEGY TO BE TREATED AS A NATIONAL PRIORITY

NEWS

Counsel and Care is not surprised to hear of the National Audit Office’s findings (published on 14 January 2010) showing delays in the first year of the National Dementia Strategy. However, the charity says no further time must be wasted in implementing such a vital strategy with the potential to totally transform the experiences of older people, their families and carers.

Together with the shocking results of a significant Department of Health review into excessive and unnecessary use of anti-psychotic medication to 150,000 older people, this report highlights the level of urgent action required by Government in terms of increased funding for dementia care training and easier access to good quality information and advice for older people with dementia and their carers.

Stephen Burke, Chief Executive of Counsel and Care, said: “The National Dementia Strategy is ambitious in its aims to initiate wholesale change for the better. Sustained public promotion of the importance of early diagnosis and easy access to support from a dementia care adviser could, relatively quickly, ensure real change is felt by the general public and those older people using services.

“Any plans for change must be supported by realistic funding and resources.Throughout the five-year plan it is important that the dementia strategy becomes a national priority, for example by including it in the NHS Operating Framework for primary care trusts. In this way, it is much more likely that the issue of good quality care for older people with dementia will be elevated to the position it deserves.”

MORE FAMILIES AND CARERS WORRY ABOUT CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE WHO ARE LOSING CAPACITY TO MAKE DECISIONS AND HOW TO PAY FOR IT

Worries about older people who are losing or lacking the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves has become the emerging issue for Counsel and Care’s advice service in 2009, according to the Care Concerns 2009 report published on 22nd January 2010.

The average standard rate paid by councils towards the residential care home costs of an older person with savings of under £23,000 is £402.86 per week (less the individual’s contribution). However, older people who pay all their care themselves have to pay on average £479 per week for residential care.

Last year, ten per cent of all calls to Counsel and Care’s advice service were from families and carers concerned about whether older relatives or friends starting to lose mental capacity are receiving the most appropriate and high quality care in the setting of their choice. Enquirers were very worried about the support available to older people who are finding it difficult to manage their finances or struggling to make decisions about their care and support themselves.

• lack of available information and advice for older people and their families and carers, particularly for those who pay all their care costs themselves

Overall, worries about how to pay for a care home remain the biggest concern for older people contacting Counsel and Care’s advice service, making up over 25% of all calls. In addition, over 60% of calls to Counsel and Care’s advice service from people paying for care without financial support from their local authority were concerned with how to pay for a care home. This figure is supported by the fact that 155,000 people or 41% of all care home residents now have to pay for all their care themselves

STEPHEN BURKE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF COUNSEL AND CARE

At least 90,000 older people with the highest needs pay for all or some of their care in their own home. With some councils charging over £18 an hour, the maximum weekly charge faced by some older people currently is £455 per week. The Personal Care at Home Bill currently in Parliament aims to address the personal care costs of older people with the highest needs.

Enquirers’ other main concerns in 2009 included:

• difficulty in accessing the care and support system • difficulty in navigating the complaints process if you experience poor quality care • the ever-increasing costs of care and support.

Stephen Burke, Chief Executive of Counsel and Care, said: “This report shows that doing nothing is not an option for government in 2010.

“While the Personal Care at Home Bill is a step on the way towards a better care and support system, the issues highlighted from Counsel and Care’s Advice Service in 2009 show that radical reform is urgently needed.

“The forthcoming White Paper on the future of care must answer the concerns of the public. It must be clear about what care people will get and how much they and their family would be required to contribute.

And when reform takes place, universal information, advice and advocacy must become an integral part of the new care and support system.”

Ceretas Home Care Focus

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SECTOR UPDATE

4 Sector News in Brief

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES

and inconsistent care system cannot meet their families’ needs.

On 13th February 2010 key sector bodies, including Carers UK, the National Care Forum and Counsel and Care, signed a letter to The Times about reforms to social care.

We need a system that is fair, transparent, flexible and sustainable. But to achieve this, social care reform needs to be an issue of consensus. We need a care settlement that delivers long-term solutions that will not be reversed by changes in government or in the economic climate. The vexed question of who pays is unquestionably difficult, and the solutions may be controversial – but the costs of failing to act are simply too great to allow the debate needed to be drowned out by party-political squabbling.

Sir We have watched with interest and some dismay as the political debate about the much needed reform of social care rages in the media. What is clear is that all the major parties agree that there is a need to fundamentally reform our current inadequate system of support.

Imelda Redmond, Carers UK

Social care is one of the greatest challenges facing our society, and one that affects us all.

There is no doubt that we owe it to our older generations to end the current cruel postcode lottery of care. Unless our care system is radically reformed now, we will all suffer – not just because many of us will need care ourselves, or because three in five of us end up caring for ill or disabled relatives, but because of the dangerous economic costs of failing to act.

Ruth Sutherland, Alzheimer’s Society

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Ceretas Home Care Focus

This situation is unsustainable, and we must have a serious debate that delivers a long term solution. It is premature to rule out future proposals to score a political point. The public finances will not withstand the cost of millions of carers falling out of work because our underfunded

B.I.G is a £50K fund aimed at helping unlock the potential of those hundreds of small ideas and giving people the helping hand they need to prove their idea works and share it widely.

For more information visit http://www.big.dh.gov.uk/

Yours faithfully

We welcome the political attention that social care is receiving. However we are in danger of seeing this most important of debates become reduced to election soundbites and poster slogans.

We should be proud that people in the UK are living longer and living longer with disability – but the demographic challenge of an ageing population has massive economic as well as social implications.

future Dignity Challenge. Every day, people working in, using or visiting care services, have bright ideas, often about very simple things that could be changed or done differently, but they rarely get the chance to test them out.

Stephen Burke, Counsel and Care Joseph Rowntree Foundation Des Kelly, National Care Forum Martin Green, English Community Care Association

Michelle Mitchell, Age Concern and Help the Aged Cara Brown, Resolution Foundation Lynne Berry, WRVS Simon Gillespie, MS Society Srabeni Sen, Contact A Family Sam Smethers, Grandparents Plus

B.I.G is about finding bright ideas about care and helping people put their ideas into practice to prove they work.

The Department of Health are asking people to think differently and find new and better ways of doing things if health and social care services are to meet the

SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON Sir Michael Parkinson has written a personal account of his year as the nation’s Dignity Ambassador. In his report he talks about how and why he got involved in the Dignity in Care Campaign, the places he has visited, people he has met along the way and experiences of the services available.

Sir Michael praises the people who inspired him and highlights small steps that cost nothing, but make a real difference to people’s lives. He also calls for out of date stereotypes of older people to be banished and for dignity to be at the heart of care.

To read Michael’s account visit http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicati onsandstatistics/Publications/Publi cationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_1 10973

SECTOR UPDATE

4

‘All staff should consider how the people using their services could benefit from the New Horizons’ approach of dealing with the whole person, whether they need social, physical or mental health care.’

It’s a vision, not a blueprint

NEW HORIZONS Promoting mental health at all ages If you told someone you had degenerative disease or long-term condition, most people would react with shock. But the reaction to a mental health problem is often one of misunderstanding.

The New Horizons vision is about changing this attitude, as well as promoting mental health at all ages and improving services for patients with mental health conditions.

The vision replaces the 10year National Service Framework for Mental Health, which only covered people of working age.

Fifty percent of mental health conditions appear by the time a person turns 14, so New Horizons’ focus on earlier interventions will help prevent them becoming entrenched and improve patient outcomes.

Tailoring services to the individual is another main goal.

Almost half of the 20 planned personal health budget pilots – which give patients a greater say in their care – will involve a mental health component.

‘Social care staff who work in or with mental health services should already be familiar with how the two big themes of prevention and personalisation relate to their work,’ says Phil Cohen from the National Mental Health Development Unit.

‘However, it is also relevant for social care staff working in other areas, whether their focus

response services. Over a quarter of a million people used one or more of these services during the pilot phase.

is housing, education or drugs and alcohol.

New Horizons is the result of collaboration between 10 government departments. It builds on High Quality Care for All by emphasising quality and local implementation and, rather than being a set of rules laid down centrally, it is looking for local buy-in and support.

It has been drawn up following close work with professional and third sector organisations, including the Future Vision Coalition, a group of 11 mental health stakeholders.

A national consultation also attracted over 1,100 responses, which will inform how mental health services should be improved.

Each department has also signed up to firm commitments to further the vision. For the Department of Health, this includes updating the National Suicide Prevention Strategy, supporting the creation of a Quality Network for Eating Disorders and working with the Cabinet Office to meet the primary health needs of socially excluded groups, such as homeless people. A crossdepartment ministerial board will be established to keep up momentum and oversee implementation.

For more information visit http://newhorizons.dh.gov.uk

DAVID BEHAN VOICEPIECE David Behan, Director General, Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships, says the Partnership for Older People Projects (POPPs) programme report makes for a good start to 2010 In 2009, care and support moved to the top of the public and political agenda. This was thanks to high-proile milestones like the Care and Support Green Paper, the Big Care Debate consultation and the Government’s plan for free personal care at home. But this is just the beginning.

As 2010 begins, we still face many challenges as we look to deliver a National Care Service for adults in England that is fair, easy to understand, and makes it easier to access services.

The year got off to a good start with the publication of the final evaluation of the POPPs programme. The purpose of the POPPs was to deliver and evaluate innovative, locally-led approaches to keeping older people healthy, well and independent, and preventing or delaying high-intensity or institutional care.

The DH designated 29 pilots to run across England from May 2006 to March 2009, each led by a local authority, working with their health and voluntary sector partners.

Altogether, 522 organisations were involved in the POPPs programme. Health bodies, such as PCTs, secondary care trusts and ambulance trusts obviously played a large role, as did ire services, police and housing associations and private sector organisations.Volunteers, including many older people, also made an important contribution.

The final evaluation, carried out by the University of Kent, found that the POPPs have, in the vast majority of cases, enhanced the quality of life of older people, improved local working relationships and provided efficiency savings.

Interventions across the programme produced an average saving of around £1.20 in emergency bed days for every extra £1 spent on prevention.

Hospital overnight stays reduced by 47 percent, A&E attendances by 29 percent, clinic or outpatient appointments by 11 percent, and physiotherapy/occupational therapy appointments by eight percent. The programme also found that preventative work can be sustained – 85 percent of the core POPP projects continue today.

This evidence demonstrates that, if health and social care work together, we can get real results – not just efficiency gains, but better outcomes for older people.

We cannot now ignore the benefits of prevention, early intervention and integration of services – all of which are fundamental underpinning principles in our vision of a National Care Service.

The pilot sites set up 146 core projects. These ranged from lunch clubs to more formal preventative initiatives, such as hospital discharge and rapidCeretas Home Care Focus

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SECTOR UPDATE

4 Sector News in Brief

DAVID NICHOLSON NHS OPERATING FRAMEWORK AND 2010-2015 VISION Priorities for the year ahead

BOOSTING COMMUNITY INPUT

It sets out the priorities for the NHS for the year ahead and, for the third year running, these remain the same:

A programme of work has been launched to explore the role of social capital in transforming social care.

• improving cleanliness and reducing healthcare associated infections

This 12-month initiative will gather and share effective approaches to building community capacity from around the country, in ways that link with the Putting People First agenda.

• keeping adults and children well, improving their health and reducing health inequalities • improving patient experience, staff satisfaction and engagement • preparing to respond in a state of emergency by learning from our experience of swine flu.

In introducing the Operating Framework, NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson highlights the need for more integration between health and social care services.

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For more information visit http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicati onsandstatistics/Publications/Publ icationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_ 110107

The NHS Operating Framework for 2010-11 was published on 16 December 2009.

• improving access to services

v

There will be a renewed focus on prevention, with the ambition of delivering cost-effective high quality care across the service. In terms of social care, this includes the expansion of the community role of high-performing hospitals, a move towards one-to-one care for patients with long-term conditions and greater support for all staff.

The framework will also help the NHS achieve the aims set out in NHS 2010 – 2015: from good to great. Preventative, peoplecentred, productive. This was also launched in December and sets out the vision for an NHS that is organised around patients, whether at home, in a community setting or in hospital.

Building stronger and more resilient communities is a vital part of transformation because the relationships, groups and services that form part of everyday life are fundamental to health, wellbeing and independence.

A Learning Network of 17 local authorities and partners is providing examples of best practice, which will form the basis for a publication in the spring. The DH is looking for more councils to share ideas through the new Building Community Capacity website.

For more information email martin.routledge@dh.gsi.gov.uk

PERSONAL CARE AT HOME BILL As part of the Big Care Debate on the reform of England’s care system, the Care and Support team is inviting everyone to share their Images of Care and Support.

The team is putting together a gallery of images that illustrate and raise awareness of care and support in England, and how it touches people’s lives.

The pictures will be displayed on the Care and Support website, and will be considered for inclusion in the care and support White Paper, due for publication this year.

People are asked to add a title and up to 50 words describing each image they submit.

All photos, titles and descriptions are subject to moderation. Images are posted on the website on the understanding that all individuals pictured (or their guardians) have consented to them being used on the Big Care Debate website and possibly in the care and support White Paper.

• Email your image and text to mailto:careandsupport@dh.gs i.gov.uk • Post photos to: Images of Care and Support, Room 149, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS. Please mark to the attention of Ben Scott. If you want your picture returned, enclose a stamped addressed envelope. DH cannot be held responsible for loss or damages to photos sent by post

SECTOR UPDATE

4 Sector News in Brief

GLEN MASON

SOCIAL CARE RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN & CARE FIRST CAREERS A new generation for social care DH’s national social care recruitment campaign started on 28 January 2010. It is raising awareness of employment opportunities in the social care sector and encouraging people to consider a career in social care.

The campaign includes TV, online and press adverts, which feature real-life social care workers and people using care services to highlight the rewards of working in social care. The campaign will run until 21 March.

‘It’s so important to encourage a new generation into social care,’ says Glen Mason, Director of Social Care Leadership and Performance.

‘I hope that this national campaign will raise awareness of what social care work involves and encourage more people – especially young people – to consider a job in the sector.’

INTEGRATED CARE PILOTS The Integrated Care Pilots programme has been expanded, and the focus of the expansion will be on ambition and innovation. The most ambitious projects will not only be looking at integration within the health service or between health and social care, but might incorporate other sectors such as education, criminal justice and housing.

For more information visit http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthca re/IntegratedCare/index.htm

NEW CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION The DH’s Information Standard provides an easy way for the public to identify quality information they can trust. The scheme is open to any organisation producing health and/or social care information for the public in England. To qualify, organisations must demonstrate they have the necessary methods and systems to produce information that is accurate, impartial, balanced, appropriately researched, accessible and well written.

GET YOUR CRIMINAL RECORDS BUREAU FORM CHECKED AT THE POST OFFICE From 1 March 2010, the Post Office will undertake all checks on CRB application forms, from those that are required to Register with CQC i.e.

Responsible Individuals and Mangers. Twenty seven Crown Offices will offer this service saving Providers and their staff time and costs involved with travelling to CQC locations.

The Post Office will make a charge of £19.95 for this service which must be paid in cash or card when the CRB form is taken to the Post Office. This is in addition to the CRB fee which still needs to be paid by cheque to CRB. The Post Office will send all verified CRB application forms individually to CQC by Royal Mail Special Delivery on the day of the verification.

For more information click on http://www.cqc.org.uk/guidancefo rprofessionals/socialcare/carepro viders/guidance.cfm

To read more about the scheme visit http://www.auditcommission.gov.uk/localgov/audit/ CAA/Pages/oneplace.aspx

Care First Careers This scheme also launched on 25 January to encourage employers in the adult social care sector to take on young jobseekers. Employers will receive a £1,000 cash lump sum, plus free pre-employment training for every 18 to 24 year old social care jobseeker they recruit, who has been receiving Jobseekers Allowance for six months or more.

For more information visit http: //www.socialcarecareers.co.uk/ Ceretas Home Care Focus

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SECTOR UPDATE

Action on Elder Abuse lobbying has proved successful

BARONESS GREENGROSS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LABOUR, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT AND CONSERVATIVE PARTIES, WITH THE AEA CEO, PETITIONING No.10 A WHILE AGO

Government commits to Adult Protection legislation, a cross-Government Ministerial Group, and No Secrets mk2 Since January 2009 safeguarding has been between an individual’s right to selfThe Minister for Social Care, representatives of the Liberal and Conservative with the AEA CEO, and State responsibilities inLabour, limbo, with noDemocrat political direction, nothingparties, determination Phil pHope, rang the CEO of to intervene. There is a difference between ‘ruled in or out’, and civil servants having Action on Elder Abuse, Gary informed choice and coerced choice. to be reminded that the outcome was still FitzGerald, at 9am on Tuesday Sometimes people need to be protected. outstanding. It seemed to have been ‘kicked Currently, the Government is listening almost into the long grass, so the commitment to 19 January to tell him that the exclusively to the voice of younger adults create statutory Safeguarding Boards, an interGovernment had agreed to with physical disabilities who are far more departmental Ministerial group, and on-going the need for legislation to capable of defending themselves than frail, workstreams, is good news. But the devil is in protect adults at risk of abuse. older people. AEA have to influence this the detail and the timing. We have a General And he committed to a cross to ensure that both voices are heard; Election looming, and legislation will only Government Ministerial group happen when Parliamentary time allows, Personalisation. Individual choice meaning discussions with a new on safeguarding adults, and and control should be an incontrovertible Government are now inevitable. continued work to strengthen W right and, for many, Direct Payments/Individual The only firm commitment given by the current guidance.

Budgets provide an excellent way of achieving

T

So, have they won the arguments? h Well, yes and no.

Minister therefore is the work to produce this. But they are not for everyone. Much No Secrets 2, (thethere favoured of civilthat adult Back then wasoption a feeling safeguarding abuse relates to people who groom, coerce servants). Everything else is now very much or manipulate others into vulnerable dependent upon the results of the Election, situations. Often they abuse positions or and there are mutterings around Parliament relationships of trust, and this can often be to suggest this is exactly why the similar to the dynamics of domestic violence. announcement has been made at this time Again, the Government is listening almost – the Government can claim the political exclusively to the voice of younger adults high ground in having given the commitment, with physical disabilities who are usually far without having to think (at least currently) Enabling people more to ! capable of managing budgets than frail, about actually delivering it. older people, and they are pushing this

The effectiveness of adult protection has been under scrutiny since Ivan Lewis announced the review of No Secrets in June 2007. Back then there was a feeling that adult safeguarding had finally arrived, but two and half years later it is difficult to be strategy forward without addressing the risks.

But, as a minimum AEA say they now ignore those who are worn down by abuse, or that optimistic. But AEA say equally cannot Consequently, AEA need to press for the tools have to focus on the work of No Secrets 2,

c review of No Secrets repeatedly The s as personalisation issues overtook stumbled, safeguarding ones, legislation became an unacceptable word, and the focus switched away from its original objectives.

And frequently it to blend personalisation and safeguarding while they pursue commitments from safely together, and this is starting to everyone else to honouring a legislative become urgent. approach. And they have to get the workstreams of No Secrets 2 to include: The Minister’s statement on Tuesday 19 January may at first appear as though Funding. Protection cannot be a we have won the arguments, but in fact it will Of course empowerment has to be financial football bounced between central It mean very little unless we can ensure that the integral to safeguarding. Enabling people to and local Government. Every community s commitments are delivered by whoever ends ‘say no’ to abusers, understand their options must have access to an adequately staffed up in power after May. And AEA say they have and control State involvement must be an and funded service, but at the moment there to ensurelooming, that we keep pursuing issues that effective strategy. ButBut AEAthe say devil equallyiscannot in the detail and the timing.

We have a General Election is no consistency with some areas far better may not be not popular, and these very much ignoreathose who are worn down by abuse, resourced and staffed than others; revolve around ensuring the personalised or conditioned by abusers, or compromised Intervention legislation. ‘cash for care’ strategy is not forced onto by (often family) relationships. And frequently older people in a way that worsens their Guidance on current laws will be helpful, it seemed that those points were being lives and places them at even more risk. ignored within the review. but we must also address the tensions Everything else is now very much dependent upon the 22

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SECTOR UPDATE

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is coming…

Every year, on 15 June the world comes together and speaks with one voice against the outrage that is elder abuse.

Across the nations, from Australia to Canada, from Israel to France, from India to Japan, people organise events to celebrate age and to challenge abuse. It is the one time each year when the generations that gave us our values and our societies are the focus of our call, ‘My world, your world, our world...free of elder abuse.

Here in the UK, Action on Elder Abuse is the coordinating charity for WEAAD and, for the last several years, they have organised events across our local nations, supplying banners, ribbons, balloons and posters, and helping organisations arrange events.

This is a major event for AEA, because it is the one time in the year when communities, practitioners and care providers can come together and promote our objective - a UK free from elder abuse - but also fundraises. Like the poppy appeal for the British Legion, this is the equivalent for AEA. Without the commitment and involvement of so many people AEA would not be able to lobby, advocate, represent and challenge to the extent that they do.

So, whether you are our greatest fan and think that we get it right all the time, or whether you think that sometimes we’re off the mark, or even if you’d like us to just shut up, do something to help on WEAAD this year. Without the work of organisations like AEA, the cause of all adults at risk of abuse would be that much poorer. Help AEA to keep their needs on the agenda, and with the imminent General Election that’s going to be more important than ever.

Don’t just do an awareness event. Fundraise too!

For more information visit www.actiononelderabuse.org.uk

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SECTOR UPDATE

Get Connected!

The internet and IT are transforming the way we communicate, learn and work. If you are not providing Information Communications Technology (ICT) for the people who use your services, and your staff, then your organisation could get left behind.

Help is at hand. The Get Connected investment project will see £12 million in Government investment grants over the next two years. The grants are to support the use of information and communication technology in adult social care. The fund will focus on providers who do not have good access to the internet. The programme will enable adult care providers in England to access information and communication technology more effectively.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is administering this exciting investment project. The Get Connected Investment Fund will provide grants up to a value of £20,000. The first set of organisations benefitting from the funding were voluntary and private providers, registered with the Care Quality Commission, who do not have good internet access. The level of funding that you can apply for is dependent on the size of your organization.

Increased use of ICT offers providers numerous opportunities. Older people are increasingly using the internet as a means of communication and learning. The internet can provide a new form of independence, particularly for people who may have limited accessibility.

This is all important, not least because soon all organisations like yours will have to register online with the Care Quality Commission.

ICT supporting dementia services There are numerous examples within the social care world where ICT has had a positive impact on people who use services and staff. In November 2007 two specialist dementia centres, Dementia Voice-Housing21 and Innovations in Dementia CIC ran a joint pilot project. The project’s aim was to involve ICT as a form of communication in dementia care day centres. Staff and service users were consulted in testing the best ways of 24

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supporting people with dementia to use computers. Organisations such as Dementia Voice-Housing21 and Innovations in Dementia CIC often have little or limited access to ICT. The organisations ensured that training materials were drafted involving both the staff and people who use services. The training ensured staff felt adequately supported in continuing with the project following the pilot.

Staff development and training was identified as the key factor in ensuring that such projects were successful. The findings concluded that staff must feel confident in their own computer skills and ideas before engaging with people with dementia. Training must not only focus on the technical skills of staff but will also on improving their communication skills. Staff must have the ability to connect and engage with the person with dementia. This maximises their role as supporter and enabler, rather than the ‘leader’ of their care. People with dementia can be encouraged to engage with computers at a level that suits them.

TV and online services as easy training tools It is the ongoing responsibility of social care employers to ensure that their staff have the knowledge and competences required by their job. There is good evidence that many social care staff lack the confidence and sometimes the skills to use information and to communicate effectively. SCIE offers a number of specially designed free tools and resources to help with training, development and identification of skills gaps. The tools include the Dementia Gateway and Social Care TV. They are quick, easy to use, and do not require any specialist expertise.

The Dementia Gateway is intended for all those who work with people with dementia, including in nursing, residential or domiciliary settings. The website aims to demystify dementia; it is a new way of getting a foothold into the condition. Each section has been written by a national dementia expert so you can be sure the information and guidance is up-to-date and reflects what we know about best possible practice in dementia care. The Dementia Gateway is there to increase good practice in care homes and within domiciliary care, to support people to ‘live well with

dementia’. The website contains practical tips, tools and activities. Sections include: getting to know a person with dementia; eating well for health and enjoyment; tackling difficult situations; keeping active and occupied and making living places safe and enjoyable.

The site includes free e-learning sections, developed in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Society.

As well as the Dementia Gateway, SCIE has recently launched a new online service, Social Care TV, intended for everyone involved in social care. It features a number of short films on a range of issues, including dementia, personalisation and safeguarding adults. Social Care TV brings social care to life through the voice of people who use services, in turn pointing online users in the direction of good practice. One film focuses on Sandra’s story.

Sandra’s mother has dementia and lives in a care home. Within the film Sandra explains the importance of the personalised care her mother now receives, which allows her to live as she would wish: “My mother likes gardening for instance. It’s important that she gets exercise but also she needs the stimulation of ordinary life.”

Next steps The first ‘cycle’ of applications is now closed, but fresh requests can soon be made for the second stage, launched in the spring.

All investment bids will need to show how people who use services, family carers and/or staff will benefit from improved access to ICT. Please be aware that the following organisations are not eligible to apply for any funding cycles: statutory organisations, nursing agencies or adult placement schemes.

Useful links SCIE website www.scie.org.uk Get Connected http://www.scie.org.uk/workforce/getconnected Dementia Gateway www.scie.org.uk/dementia Alzheimer’s Society http://alzheimers.org.uk/ Dementia Voice-Housing21 http://www.dementia-voice.org.uk/ Innovations in Dementia CIC http://www.innovationsindementia.org.uk/

SECTOR UPDATE

Inspecting for Quality in Health and Social Care New changes in registration and inspection have implications for all homecare providers in England, and potential future reorganisations within CQC impact on the relationships that commissioners and providers have built up with inspectors and regulatory colleagues.

CQC

has announced a consultation on its proposals for assessing health and social care in 2010/11. Essentially it means that ALL homecare providers have to comply with the new framework and re-registered before October 2010 or else they will not be registered and cannot operate.

Each registered organisation will have received a letter setting out the procedure and some provisional timescales. It is essential that providers look at the new compliance framework, available on the CQC website.

Under the new arrangements inspections will be more userfocused and concentrate more on outcomes than processes and procedures. It does beg the question, though, that the intensive use of CQC staff resources to make user consultation effective will severely challenge their staffing capacity. Less will be done in the office inspecting paper system and more will be done in the community, in people’s own homes, talking to them about their home care experiences and what difference the care has made on their lives.

Colleagues in CQC must be feeling de-stabilised again that, barely a year old, their structures and methodologies face imminent reorganisation and refocusing, even though many will support the switch to a more person-centred, outcome-focused measure of provider delivery standards.

Whilst our sympathies are with them as they navigate the turbulence of change all over again, concerns are being expressed by those who are regulated and inspected by CQC, and by commissioning colleagues who have relied on their input, judgement and guidance in helping to raise the quality of care provision, that their organisational change threatens to rock more boats than just theirs!

assessment by the providers, and an increasing user-focus by the inspectors. Many providers will be feeling anxious about the changes – which must be taken very seriously as compliance with the new registration criteria is a must-do – and, for some, they will further be worried that the CQC reorganisation that must inevitably follow the consultation if it has to have any chance of delivering, means that the links they’ve built up with their local inspectors are about to be disrupted again. Sometimes these relationships have been extremely productive and, in drawing on their local inspector’s sound advice and expertise, standards of care have risen. This rapport has taken time to achieve and they will be naturally and understandably concerned that, in the architecture of CQC reorganisation, the furniture will be moved around too, and familiar people, processes and requirements will have to be developed all over again.

For commissioners, local authorities have (to varying extents) come to rely on the standard and consistency of the inspection and regulatory regime contributing to the improvement of local services.

Again, for them, the colleagues in CQC who have been the arbiters of quality may now be leaving the organisation (along with all the many years of experience and expertise). But commissioners are also themselves inspected. The feedback from users that underpins CQC’s inspection framework, will itself inform the performance assessment of local authorities in commissioning quality services.

There’s much conjecture about testing times ahead – and only time will reveal whether the rationale behind the new approach leads to improved services and better outcomes for service users.

Janet Crampton Executive Committee of National Homecare Council

What do I mean?

The National Homecare Council represents nearly all local authorities in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, all of whom have direct in-house provider functions as well as being commissioners of homecare services from the independent market.

Regulating and inspecting for quality is a preoccupying theme of all the administrations governing their activities.

As providers, local authority homecare in England has needed to be registered and has had to comply with regulation and inspection criteria in line with all independent domiciliary care service provision.

Under current processes, and those that are about to be announced in 2010, we know that the inspection regime is going to be ‘lighter’ in terms of frequency, and that there will be a greater focus on self-

JANET CRAMPTON

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SECTOR UPDATE

Leadership in the Front Line – the National Skills Academy for Social Care launches new initiative

T

he National Skills Academy for Social Care launched in October 2009 with a mission to raise the status of social care and to raise the profile and quality of leadership and management. Led by social care employers the Academy is undertaking a range of work to improve the quality of training and learning, to strengthen management and leadership and to promote social care as a rewarding and exciting career.

One of the Academy’s early programmes aims to strengthen leadership behaviour in front line management and care.

In early consultation with employers and with others in the sector the Academy found an emerging consensus that the competency based approach to training and development has gone about as far as it can and the sector now needs something different.

To bring about the change in quality care that service users and their relatives demand, the sector needs fresh approaches to staff development. We know from what users and carers tell us, and from the experiences of people who employ their own support staff using personal budgets, that users value carers that are warm, responsive and responsible.

These personal attributes are often what individuals bring to their work shaped by their own values and personalities. But can employers develop these attributes in their staff and managers? The National Skills Academy believes that they can – particularly by borrowing from leadership development approaches and by creating a more systematic approach to learning and development from the start of their social care careers.

Working with UKHCA, with other home care organisations and with care providers across the sector, the Academy will pilot new approaches to helping front line managers and supervisors develop their care leadership qualities. More importantly, we shall also test ways by which front line managers can develop the leadership attributes of their team. The project will be launched in March and run until the autumn.

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The Academy has tested some ideas for what leadership behaviour might look like across the care sector. The aim is to debate, share and test how the leadership characteristics of excellent social care staff– whether they work in direct care provision or in senior management roles – can be supported and developed. As a starting point the Academy has suggested some leadership behaviours that will be tested through the project.

The Academy has set out some attributes and behaviours that excellent social care practitioners habitually demonstrate. The Academy thinks that excellent social care practitioners and managers routinely;

Work is underway with the selected employers to test how these leadership qualities can improve care, improve worker satisfaction and improve business performance but the Academy is keen to involve others in debate and discussion about this work. The Academy wishes to run this project with the involvement of a wider group of employers and stakeholders, sharing the learning and outcomes as they develop.

The aim is to test how leadership behaviour can make a real difference to domiciliary and residential care and to engage organisations across the care sector actively, sharing information and developing debate.

• demonstrate care, warmth and respect to all service users and to colleagues

If you are interested in being kept informed about the leadership in the front line project; would like to share examples of what works in your care organisation, would like to be more closely involved in the debate or would merely like to make a comment you can register your interest at leadership@nsasocialcare.co.uk or by calling 0207 397 5629.

• is brave and is prepared to be personally responsible for taking action

Brian Cox

• advance people’s rights, dignity and social integration • go beyond the strict limits of the task to ensure that the service user gets excellent care

• does not shy away from conflict or risky situations when it is necessary to protect people • works effectively with other people to meet people’s care needs • identifies degrading practice and attitudes and acts to prevent them • does things quickly and effectively, is reliable and consistent • champions the needs of others • promotes social care

Head of Leadership and Development National Skills Academy for Social Care www.nsasocialcare.co.uk

SECTOR UPDATE

A move in the right direction In 2008 a circular sent to local authorities set out three years of ring fenced funding available for NHS Campus closures.This followed the expectation in the Valuing People Strategy (2000) and the Government White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say (2006) that people in long-stay hospitals or in campus accommodation should move to community based housing.This meant all campuses should be closed by 2010.This constituted a major programme of restructuring, re-housing and most importantly the adoption across the whole sector of person centred accommodation.

Two years on from that original circular, campus closures are well underway. Below Turning Point, the UK’s leading health and social care organisation outline their experience of moving people with a learning disability from institutional living to personalised supported accommodation.

Background There was a time when many people with a profound learning disability lived in large long-stay hospitals. In many cases, these offered little individual choice and control with people often placed out of area away from the people they knew and the local community they’d grown up in.

This feeling of isolation was compounded by poor standards of living and healthcare.

Such institutions were gradually replaced by NHS campuses however these were still lacking a person centred approach. As Our Health, Our Care, Our Say stated, ‘campus settings limit choices and give poorer outcomes and also often neglect people’s health needs.... whereas communitybased settings enable a greater degree of independence and inclusion.’ This strategy was therefore essential to ensure people were living in homes that were community based and delivering improved outcomes.

One example of such a move can be found in Kent where Turning Point worked with commissioners to design a strategy to support up to 26 people with a wide range of learning disabilities, out of old-style NHS campus accommodation into private accommodation. This move also involved a transfer of 92 staff from the previous provider.

To ensure the move was for the better, the starting point had to be the individuals; their needs, wishes and aspirations.

To minimise disruption it was essential that the people this affected the most, the people who were moving home, their families and friends, owned the planning process and everything about the new service from design to delivery. Staff too had to feel engaged and comfortable not only working for another organisation but in changing the way they worked with the individuals they supported.

One of the first things the staff team needed to figure out was how they were going to get the individuals concerned to understand things would be changing, a particular challenge when clients may have very complex communication needs and limited speech. However, by using communication tools such Makaton and working closely with speech and language specialists to build up communication skills, the team were able to provide them

with a good understanding of what would be happening.

As with any change, some people were not supportive to begin with. As Turning Point’s Kent Service Manager Karen explains, “To begin with, the majority of parents and advocates didn’t want any change. When the NHS campus had opened, they were told this was where the individuals would stay for the rest of their lives and understandably, it was quite a shock to hear this was no longer the case. The move was all about giving the individuals we support more independence but parents will often see the individuals as children when in fact they are adults in their own right. Parents can feel they are less in control when their children have more choice and control themselves.”

The staff overcame these issues by encouraging friends and family to talk about their fears and worries as and when they had them; they held meetings to ensure it was going to be in the best interests of each individual concerned and to make sure families were fully involved in the process.

The benefits The benefits of NHS Campus re-provision in Kent have been vast: One gentleman Turning Point supports used to only see his mother once or twice a year but now he sees her every week.

This was difficult before as the individuals were living in shared accommodation and things could get quite chaotic if there were several families visiting at once.

It was also unfair on the individuals who may not have wanted people visiting. Living in personalised supported accommodation, this is no longer an issue.

The main difference is that now the individuals are taking control. They budget, they menu plan, they go shopping and cook.

The residents also take part in a

lot more leisure activities which they choose and plan themselves including the local library, bowling club and wine bar. This kind of interaction was happening before but was very limited due to the remote location of the campus.

The new home is now only two minutes walk from the local shops and there is now one on one support versus the old model where three members of staff took care of five individuals.

Conclusion The campus re-provision was not easy. It meant people leaving the homes they’d had for a long time and both the people who live there and the staff supporting them had to go through many changes. However everyone has now settled into their new surroundings and are fully enjoying their new lives, especially as the new homes are in the heart of the community, meaning a lot less compromise and a lot more freedom.

Turning Point will now putting the knowledge they gained from the transfer in Kent into good practice when they carry out a similar re-provision in Staffordshire and Stoke.

For more information visit www.turning-point.co.uk

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SECTOR UPDATE STEPHEN PAGE

One size definitely doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit all...

Stephen Page writes about his experience of Self-Directed Support About two years ago I was asked to participate in a pilot year, enabling people in West Sussex to be responsible for their own care budget.

I am 49 years of age, and at the age of 40 was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I was the director of an arts trust concerned with regeneration. For about three years I was able to continue working, but as my health deteriorated I had to give up full-time work and for a short period I earned my living as a freelance graphic designer, using my contacts in the world of the arts as my client base.

I suppose this gives a strong hint as to one of my main interests, which is the creative use of technology. I currently have two iMacs both of which are equipped with voice-activated software, an amazing way of typing when you can't physically use a keyboard, and how this article was written.

Although it is easy to be cynical about self-directed support (SDS), and to think of it as a way in which the local authority can make its clients do the work of managing staff and recruiting them, the other side of the equation is that you have freedom to choose carers whose skills match your particular needs. It is also very possible for the relationship to grow, an important consideration when receiving personal care. One size fits all can be quite uncomfortable!

In West Sussex, the county council has a contractual relationship with a local organisation that provides the kind of support services that people need if they are to employ staff. I use their monthly payroll 28

Ceretas Home Care Focus

service, which for a small charge ensures that my salaries and tax are kept up to date. I make all of the payments myself directly from my computer, via online banking, and send in copies of my statements on a monthly basis just so they can see that I am not getting into hot water.

Although there are people who prefer to have care provided in the way they have become accustomed to, this system definitely works for me. I have been able to find people that enjoy working with me in the same way that I enjoy having them take care of me. It has also enabled me to attend theatre and concert events, as well as to put my apartment more into order.

I am very active in talking about my experience of SDS and this also often involves whole days out perhaps at a training event or conference. Not the social life I would once have chosen, but an important change of scene nevertheless.

My own short film (commissioned by West Sussex County Council for the training of their social workers) has been used locally and as far afield as Camden in London. In Camden, they will be calling their version of SDS "Better Care Choices", and I suspect as the personalisation agenda is rolled out across the country (as it certainly will be) more local authorities will be arriving at new names for the way in which care is delivered in a more individual way, and in a way that places the care for the person at the heart of care choices.

I have become involved in a series of short film commissions initiated by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and recently a short documentary about me was shown at the launch of Social Care TV, which is a new initiative intended to allow wider access to models of good practice for anyone with an interest in care. It's well worth a look, as already since its launch in October 2009, a number of films are available, covering a wide range of issues important to care professionals.

SECTOR UPDATE Agency workers are required by law to receive training and regular updates, an important safeguard, but it is difficult and costly at the moment for our personal assistants to access these things under SDS. As a consequence of lower entry requirements for personal assistants, one result is that people with no qualifications can be employed. Although as already stated this gives valued freedom, nevertheless it is important that Social Services aren't allowed to dismiss the need for assistance in obtaining access where appropriate to ongoing training for people employed directly under SDS. The personalisation agenda is coming, and although I'm sure there will be plenty of teething troubles, as far as I am concerned, it can only be a good thing. I would recommend that anyone in receipt of local authority care ask how and when this will be coming to your area, and what the options will be. These can range from your own managed care budget, through to an individual budget managed by the local authority in consultation with you.

To see Stephen’s film for Social Care TV visit Social Care TV (via the Guardian newspaper website) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/ oct/27/social-care-work-tv-scie To see Stephen’s own film visit his own web site: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/worthingsp/ splitter.html

New Recruitment and Retention Toolkit Launched Sue Kelly, from the Ceretas Executive reports on the recruitment and retention from the joint advisory group.

Lead by ECCA (English Community Care Association) and Skills for Care, Ceretas have worked in partnership with other independent care providers and associations to produce a toolkit for the Recruitment and Retention of Social Care staff.

The recruitment and retention of staff is a costly exercise so it is crucial for employers to get this right. The sector needs to attract the right staff with the right qualities to work with vulnerable people, aswell as being able to evidence the careers and job satisfaction that people have achieved. The advisory group was asked to look at the background to the issues faced by the sector, the background of the strategy, examples of employer practice and finally recommendations for the sector.

Recruitment The Army of Angels Just below the surface lies the richest soil, beneath the peel lies greater nourishment.

The group looked at innovative ideas such as signposting, reference to Skills for Care HR guidance and targets, for example the time it takes from placing the recruitment advert to a new employee’s induction and the time it takes to process the CRB check.

Retention In this strange creature we call Society we are quick to criticize and slow to praise, though all begin to see the mortar lost between the stones.

Few watch the Angels at their work shoring up the building as it rises.

We seem at times a broken race adrift amongst the stars that light the universe forgetful of our once-potential selves.

A quiet army marches daily, saving those our system doesn't see, redeeming lost and lonely souls to meet another dawn with dignity.

To see more of Stephen’s prose, poetry and film samples visit: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ worthingsp/splitter.html

The group discussed innovation and ideas, retention strategies, exit interview training, career paths and supervision. Ideas from a variety of organisations from the sector, varying in company size and profile, were gathered and some interesting schemes were highlighted.

Despite many organisations being able to offer pension schemes and other benefits, the small providers were offering some very sincere incentives which were highly valued by staff and would keep their loyalty.

The Recruitment and Retention Toolkit comprises of advice and information on all aspects of recruitment and aims to give providers ways to improve their strategies. The toolkit contains case studies and ways to improve recruitment and then to keep them.

The Recruitment and Retention Toolkit was officially launched at the Skills for Care conference to be staged in Birmingham on Thursday 25 February, 2010.

SUE KELLY CERETAS EXECUTIVE

To email Stephen contact: worthingsp@ntlworld.com Ceretas Home Care Focus

29

SECTOR UPDATE

CareJobFinder.org An easy way to find new careworkers in 2010 Dear Care Provider, This is an invitation to sign-up for a free service to help your organisation make contact with prospective careworkers actively looking for work in the residential and homecare sectors, or in home nursing services.

New website to help you recruit social care workers

The Department of Health will run a national advertising campaign to encourage people to join the social care sector starting on 8th February. A new website – CareJobFinder.org – will feature prominently during the campaign.

Generous support from the Department of Health enables us to provide this service completely free of charge, and it is supported by the representative bodies whose logos appear on this letter.

Visit www.carejobfinder.org/join today to register; provide us with some simple details about your organisation and we’ll take care of the rest. CareJobFinder.org will match prospective recruits to the kind of service you provide and your organisation’s postcode.

If your organisation operates in more than one location, each site should register to e maximise the number of recruits referred to you.

CareJobFinder.org is an innovative, free service to help employers contact people actively Fax:for 020 8288 looking work in5290 social care. The service is www.ukhca.co.uk endorsed by [name of your organisation] and has been launched in time for a national To use the service, your organisation must be registered in England with the Care Quality television 5290 advertising campaign, funded by the Commission as a homecare agency, care home or nurses’ agency (you’ll be asked for theFax: 020 8288 e www.ukhca.co.uk Department of Health. CareJobFinder.org will number printed on your registration certificate during the sign-up process). Businesses in appear prominently in the campaign’s materials Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can also use the service, as long as they are registered and website. with the appropriate regulator. e

Fax: 020 8288 5290 www.ukhca.co.uk

In February we’ll begin sending you e-mails about prospective recruits. Each message will provide the candidate’s contact details, when they are available and their work preferences.

Fax: 020 8288 5290 You can then contact them directly and begin your standard recruitment and selection e www.ukhca.co.uk procedures.

To maximise the benefits of the advertising campaign each candidate will be referred to nine

Fax: 020 8288 5290 other local employers.eWe recommend that you make contact with candidates quickly, www.ukhca.co.uk preferably by telephone in the first instance.

We expect recruits with a variety of backgrounds and experience to respond to the

Fax: 020 8288 5290 advertisinge campaign. However, CareJobFinder.org will also identify those recruits who may www.ukhca.co.uk qualify your organisation under the new scheme Care First Careers, for a £1,000 cash

aged

years who has been subsidy from Jobcentre Plus for employing someone between 18-24 Fax: 020 8288 5290 claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance continuously for six months. In addition to the cash subsidy, www.ukhca.co.uk free pre-employment training support is also on offer ensuring that your new recruit’s skills and motivation fit with your individual business needs.

More information about the subsidy Fax: 020 8288 5290 and pre-employment training is available from www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/carefirstcareers. www.ukhca.co.uk

Yours faithfully,

Colin Angel

More information, frequently asked questions and the simple registration process for employers can be found at www.carejobfinder.org/join

Head of Policy and Communication

In partnership with:

Employers recruiting staff to work in [care homes / homecare

agencies / extra-care housing schemes / housing support services / nurses’ agencies / social care services] can register to use the service by visiting

www.carejobfinder.org/join When prospective recruits submit their details on-line, employers in the local area will receive an e-mail containing full contact details, a summary of previous experience and the recruit’s work preferences. Employers then have the option to contact prospective recruits directly and begin their normal recruitment processes.

CareJobFinder.org will also help employers identify prospective recruits for whom they can claim a £1,000 cash subsidy for providing work to younger unemployed people, under the Care First Careers scheme.

We hope that CareJobFinder.org will help your recruitment in 2010. Please visit www.carejobfinder.org/join today, where you will also find more information about

the service.

0

You can use the following text on your organisation’s website, in e-mails to your membership or forthcoming magazine articles.

Blue italic text enclosed by square brackets needs to be edited to suit your organisation’s membership. You may also edit the following text to suit your house style, but please preserve the main points of the message.

Supported by:

CareJobFinder.org will match p

30

Ceretas Home Care Focus

SECTOR UPDATE

National Minimum Wage Implications for “Sleeping-In” Fees Care providers that pay their employees to sleep on site will be interested to note the latest ruling by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) on the application of the National Minimum Wage to such payments.

Background In Smith v Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust Mr Smith worked at a residential care home for adults with learning disabilities. He worked at the home for 15 hours a week and was occasionally required to sleep there overnight for nine hour periods, for which he received a flat rate “sleeping-in fee“ of £25. He also received an anti-social hours enhancement for periods worked immediately before and after sleeping at the home, and for any time his sleep was disturbed.

Following a period of employment, Mr Smith resigned and brought a claim against the care home for failing to pay him the NMW. Mr Smith argued that his “sleeping-in fee“ should not count towards payment of the NMW. For the 15 hours he worked, his pay rate was £7.94 which was comfortably over the NMW. However, he argued that if the nine hour sleeping period was added on to his 15 hours, his average pay rate dropped beneath NMW levels. He claimed that the £25 fee was an “allowance“, for the purposes of NMW legislation and so could not be included in the NMW calculation.

While both parties agreed that Mr Smith’s contractual hours plus the 9 hours spent

sleeping overnight counted as hours worked for NMW purposes, the care home disputed his claim and asserted that the £25 was not an allowance. They argued that when the fee was added to Mr Smith’s standard wage, it brought his pay level over that of the NMW.

Legislation Employers may not count towards the NMW any “allowance“ paid to a worker unless it is attributable to the performance of the worker in carrying out his normal work.

The Government guidance on NMW gives examples of allowances that do not count towards the NMW if not consolidated into basic pay. These include allowances for: •

working unsocial hours

•

performing special duties over and above the worker’s normal duties

•

being on call

These payments were good examples of allowances, as they were given to Mr Smith when he had in some way had to work over and above his normal duties. The fact that Mr Smith had to sleep at the care home, however, was simply part of his basic job, and so the £25 fee could not be considered an allowance.

Conclusion Many care operators who adopt similar arrangements for workers sleeping on site will welcome the EAT’s clarification on NMW rules in relation to these types of payments.

It is important to note however that the decision in this case was based on its own unique facts and that care operators relying on comparable forms of payment should seek advice if concerned about complying with NMW rules.

www.freethcartwright.co.uk

Employment Appeal Tribunal Decision The majority of the EAT on reviewing the legislation considered that the “sleeping-in fee” was not an allowance but Mr Smith’s basic pay for doing that part of his job. This meant that the fee did count towards payment of the NMW. The EAT viewed the fee as separate from the unsocial hours enhancements which Mr Smith received for the hours he worked immediately before and after the sleep-in or the special payments he received if he had a disturbed night sleep. Both of these were paid on top of his basic pay and constituted an allowance which did not count towards the calculation of his pay for NMW purposes.

PHILIP RAVEN, PARTNER CORPORATE FINANCE FREETH CARTWRIGHT LLP Ceretas Home Care Focus

31

PEOPLE PROFILE

Up Close and Personal with...

Phil Hope MP Minister for Care Services 1) Are you X Factor or Strictly?

Strictly, but I don’t get the chance to watch much television!

2) What are were your New Year’s resolutions?

Have you stuck to them?

Keeping up a healthy lifestyle – so far so good Growing more vegetables – I’ve bought the seeds 3) How do you like to relax?

Spending time with my family Playing tennis Reading a good novel Gardening Juggling 4) What is your favourite film?

Life of Brian 5) Are you a sports fan? Which teams do you support?

I enjoy watching rugby and tennis and am president of the Corby Town Fan Club 6) Where is your favourite holiday destination?

Summer is Provence and Cornwall at Easter 7) What is your perception of Social Care today?

We have made major improvements in key parts of the social care system with more funding for care services, more help for carers and raising the quality and transforming the nature of the nature of social care. However, we now need to reshape the system as a whole to respond to the demographic challenge ahead and remove unfairnesses in the system.

8) What are your three main priorities for Social Care in the next two years?

My overriding priority is to create a National Care Service that is fairer, simpler and more affordable and that is sustainable in an ageing society 9)

32

What do you think social care will look like in 2015?

Our National Care Service will give people piece of mind and will be providing a high quality and personalised care service that will genuinely give people the choice, control and independence to live Ceretas Home Care Focus

the lives they want to lead. Families and carers will feel supported by the care system and the care workforce will be properly supported and valued for the work that they do.

10) What do you think are the biggest responsibilities for social care providers both towards their employers and their service users?

Social care providers must place service users and their families at the heart of our National Care Service. Providers will ensure that their workforce is properly trained, supported and valued for the work they do and social care will be viewed generally as a worthwhile and attractive career 11) How do you think the personalisation agenda is developing regarding older people across the country?

The extra £520m provided for local authorities over three years is helping to transform care services and increase the numbers of people receiving their services through a personal budget. We do however need to continue to bring about change for more consistency across every local authority with more people being supported to live longer in their own homes 12) If you ever need services yourself in the future what would you like to see done differently?

I would want our National Care Service to provide me with choice and control over the care I receive so that I can have my independence and live the life I want to lead and peace of mind that I will be well cared for.

13) What do you consider your greatest achievement?

There is so much to choose from! I am hugely proud to have been care services minister when we launched key initiatives such as the Dementia Strategy,Valuing People Now, the Dignity Campaign, the Autism Bill and the Free Personal Care at Home Bill (to name a few). Fundamentally though, the creation of a new National Care Service that is fairer, simpler, more affordable and sustainable in an ageing society is the most exciting idea I am currently dealing with because this is the biggest ever change in public services since labour created the NHS over 60 years ago.

Care to Talk?

We would be interested in hearing about you - your views are as ever most welcome.

Become a Ceretas Member By becoming a member you can help us, help you and our sector as a whole!

4

Ceretas Aims

Individual Direct Care

• To promote best practice within all Home Care Sectors.

You will be employed in the sector providing direct care.

You will have undertaken the appropriate employment checks and have successfully completed an induction programme that meets with Skills for Care Principles (where required) you should have or be working towards F/NVQ Level 2/3 in Care.

• To raise the status of Home Care.

• To help all staff working in Home Care to be recognised as professionals in their field.

Q

I was informed by our Occupational Health nurse recently that it is now the law that we vaccinate our care staff for Hep B, I cannot find where this is written anywhere. Can you please clarify this?

Domiciliary Care Services Manager

A

Under the health and safety at work act 1974 we have a duty to protect our staff.

We do not however have to fund the costs of immunisation. What we do need to do is ensure they are fit to work and this involves undertaking health screening, advising them that there are risks associated with care work such as hepatitis and HIV. We need to inform that there are vaccines available should they wish to have Hep B vaccines.The cost is approx £108 per course. Hep B is transmitted via body fluids.The Hepatitis B virus infection may either be acute (self-limiting) or chronic (long-standing). Persons with self-limiting infection clear the infection spontaneously within weeks to months. Children are less likely than adults to clear the infection. More than 95% of people who become infected as adults or older children will stage a full recovery and develop protective immunity to the virus.The vaccine will develop immunity.

We cannot force our staff to have vaccines but can advise them of the benefits in induction. We do not pay for them to have it as most contracts do not have provision for it but do stress the importance of good hand washing and COSHH.

• To offer advice and information on all aspects of Home Care.

• To assist in the identification and promotion of workforce development of expertise in the sector.

• To promote discussion and debate with all stakeholders involved in Home Care Services.

• To influence thinking that may result on legislative changes and the development of Government Policies.

4

Ceretas Membership Framework

Individual Management It is recognised that some managers and supervisors will only just have arrived at management status after a number of years of providing direct care or undertaking other roles within the sector.

You should be aiming to qualify within 2 years of appointment and this may be, but is not limited to the following qualifications: NVQ Level 4 or 5 in Management, Registered Managers Awards, Certificate in Management Studies, (CMS) Diploma in Management Studies, (DMS) Degree in Management or MBA.

• Individual Direct Care

Organisational

• Individual Management

Membership Categorisation

This membership covers such organisations as Home Care Providers within local authority, independent and voluntary sectors. It is also appropriate for commercial providers, including IT companies, consultancies or training providers who support the aims and objectives of the organisation.

There are three levels of membership. The information set out in the next column is for you to determine the level most suited to your needs.

For more information, e-mail heather@ceretas.co.uk or call 0115 959 6130

• Organisational

4WHICH CATEGORY IS FOR YOU..?

Corporate Members, Nestor Healthcare

Ceretas Home Care Focus

33

PEOPLE PROFILE

n i k e e W A . . . f o e f i l the

r o l y a T Ann ANN TAYLOR

A

NN IS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE KENT AND MEDWAY CARE ALLIANCE, A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE – community interest company set up to act as a conduit to the social Care Market through the changes within the Kent and Medway Transformation agenda. We are delighted that Ann has recently joined the Ceretas Executive Committee.

Monday After a weekend of being, mother, wife, laundry maid, and head cook and bottle washer its time to get back in the harness and get moving.

First meeting not until lunchtime for my monthly update meeting with the Contract Manager holding a service agreement with the KMCA . Meeting finished and just time to grab a coffee and get over to my next meeting with Local Authority project lead to discuss how effective provider forums can be developed to inform and consult with the independent sector. Home by 6.30pm to read my emails and pick up messages before dinner.

Tuesday Today the KMCA has an event running in Thanet to consult with the Independent providers within Social Care, micro / single service providers, personal assistants and service users in Kent & Medway to identify what changes are required if we are to realise the aspirations and overcome the challenges identified in ‘Shaping the Future of Care Together’. Its going to be a long day but working with Canterbury Christchurch University. I am sure this will be a great opportunity to make sure our Social Enterprise is working for the sector to obtain its objectives. Home by 6pm and just have time to catch up on emails and messages before dinner.

34

Ceretas Home Care Focus

Wednesday Today I am meeting with the project lead for the NAAPS pilot which indentifies and supports the established and emerging micro provider market in Kent. We are off to visit a provider who has already emerged and grown out of the microprovider definition scope. Tracy still feels that contact with KMCA is needed to ‘hook’ this emerging service into the communication network we are developing.

Great to be out and meeting the real delivers of personalised care and most encouraging for me to see new providers embracing the model of personalised care.

Home earlier today, 5 pm, so will endeavour to get the ironing up to date before that glass of wine and dinner.

Thursday In Canterbury today – great! Hopefully trying to organise my day to include a little retail therapy after work. First meeting with Kent and Medway Dementia Collaborative Learning and Education partnership.

Have agreed to facilitate a focus group for the ‘Un-registered Professionals within the social care sector to map current workforce development provision and identify gaps within this.

Meeting over now and heading to meet with the Chair of KMCA to update on current KMCA activity and progression of the Business plan.

Friday Today I have an admin day, a rare opportunity to write up the notes of the meetings attended throughout the week. Responding to my emails and synchronising my phone and computer, to ensure I don’t miss anything whilst on the road next week. Take this chance to catch up with the development of a website for people with mental health conditions, which I aspire to replicate, in part , for the alliance.

Realise at this point just how much I miss, Tracey my PA who worked for me in my last role. Having to prepare and collate next weeks paperwork, knowing that I haven’t quite got the knack of organising myself that well. . but hey its nearly the weekend!

PEOPLE PROFILE

And the Winner is...!

Susannah Spencer SUSANNAH SPENCER (CENTRE) WITH GRACE WOODS, SKILLS FOR CARE AND PRESENTER DES COLEMAN

O

n Saturday 17th October 2009, Susannah Spencer was awarded the Care Trainer Award at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. Together with other regional winners Susannah will shortly be attending the finals, supported

by Ceretas, on May 15th at the Guildhall, London. Here she describes her career in social care and how she feels about being a finalist at the national home care awards.

How it all started Aged 16 years I did an apprenticeship with the NHS and achieved my NVQ Level 2 in Health and Social Care and joined Lincolnshire County Council in 1993 at the age of 19, as a Home Care Assistant.

At the interview I was told,

“It will do you dear, until something better comes along” I quickly realised that there was a career ladder to climb and with shear determination, that was what I set out to do.

I established myself a supervisor role within a couple of years and rose up through the management positions over the next 10 years.

As a manager, one part of the job I enjoyed was the mentoring, coaching and training of staff, so when the service went through a modernisation in 2005, I applied for the position of Home Support Training Officer.

After nearly two years in the post, I had shown that the role was more a management role, I had taken on a lot of responsibility for the development of the service that required negotiation, leadership, development and change management skills. This lead to another Training Officer being appointed which then allowed me to become the Training and Development Manager.

My new role, was a huge learning curve in my career, but as always, what ever position I have held in Home Support, I take pride in what I do, do my best and be passionate and enthusiastic always remembering at the core of what I do is the people of Lincolnshire, who want to live at home, independently and deserve excellent services.

How did I feel about been nominated for the Great East Midlands Care Awards..and winning!

“It is a moment I will treasure always”, was the answer I gave when asked to comment on my achievement, after returning to work on the Monday morning having spent a very exciting Saturday night at the Great East Midlands Care Awards. I lost track of the “congratulation” emails I received.

My colleagues had chosen to nominate me for the Care Trainer Award and I never thought for one moment I would make the finals, let alone win the category.

To be nominated by your colleagues is a wonderful feeling and I was secretly very touched. The accounts that were written about me gave me such a morale boost. It’s easy to be thanked, but for someone to take the time to make a nomination and write an account is marvellous.

Even though the nomination was for me as an individual, I saw my win as a win for the Home Support Service at Lincolnshire County Council. Without the support and the autonomy to be creative and innovative, having people share your goals and help you to achieve them it wouldn’t have been possible to achieve all that I have and develop the service in the way that I have.

The judging day The buzz of excitement hit you as you walked through the doors at the Judging day on the 2nd October. We were greeted with a warm welcome from the care awards team. Being whisked off for photos and filming was very entertaining and allowed for finalists and judges to meet and get to know one another and share some words of encouragement.

The awards night On the 17th October, I felt like I was at Oscars, this definitely is the Care sectors equivalent. The atmosphere was filled with excitement.

The food and service was excellent and the celebrity host for the evening Des Coleman was brilliant fun. When the announcement of each category winner began, the nerves kicked in. When the Chair for my judging panel went up to the stage, my heart went into my mouth.

I truly cannot remember a word that was said. I just heard my name and my table started cheering and I got to my feet and went up and got my award amidst cameras flashing and lots of congratulations.

I had to wait to Monday morning to read why I had won! I have to admit sleeping that night wasn’t going to happen, I just had a silly grin on my face and felt very, very proud.

The finals Being a winner at the Great East Midlands regional awards also means that I am a finalist at the Great British National Home Care Awards in May 2010. The thought of this fills me with immense pride, knowing this is round the corner has given me a huge morale boost at work and has given me even more passion to achieve my work goals.

The whole journey I have been on since being nominated for the Care Trainer Award has been amazing. I have enjoyed every moment and I will never forget being sat at the Great East Midlands Care Awards last October and watching the Executive and Assistant Director of Lincolnshire County Council rise to there feet clapping and cheering for me.

Inspiring others My whole experience has also given me the confidence to become a Social Care Ambassador. My experience of being nominated, interviewed and winning got me to take stock and look at my career and made me realise that I have achieved a great deal over the years.

My personality and determination to succeed is what has given me a successful and enjoyable career. Sharing my story with young people will hopefully demonstrate that they too can have a career in Social Care.

Ceretas Home Care Focus

35

PEOPLE PROFILE ADVERTORIAL

The right person, the right job... the perfect match Cityworx Limited was set up by Sanjay Kava after experiencing frustration when trying to recruit in the domiciliary care sector.

Sanjay explains the thinking behind the concept and the key to successful recruitment.

head hunting, referrals and networking thus ensuring we only target the best in the market Our aim is not to inundate clients and candidates with too much information but to guide them through a carefully selected shortlist which meets their needs specifically.

One of Cityworx more recent assignments was to partner a client in mobilizing a new contract, we were asked to recruit the office team and were given a very specific brief detailing the types of candidates needed We carefully compiled a shortlist of candidates sticking with the information given and then met with the client to discuss them and made our recommendations on which candidates to interview based on a number of factors, experience of the care industry, a proven track record in starting/mobilizing new contracts and above all passion for the industry amongst other factors.

SANJAY KAVA I worked for a leading Care Provider managing a number of branches in various locations. However every time I placed a vacancy with a recruitment agency and explained in detail what I was looking for I found that they never really seemed to get it right or understand the care sector.

That’s when the idea for Cityworx was born, our desire is to provide a tailor made service that is based on an innate understanding of the care sector and a proven track record in recruitment.

We pride ourselves on listening and understanding both clients and candidates needs then using our extensive resources and contacts we begin our search. We work via 36

Ceretas Home Care Focus

After the interviews were completed the client identified the candidate they wished to offer however one of the candidates was involved in a serious road accident on their return journey.

The team at Cityworx had to liaise closely with family members to understand the full extent of their injuries and recovery time keeping the client informed at all times and being mindful of not upsetting the family.

The client’s commitment was such that their words were “we have identified who we want. Individuals of that calibre are rare in our industry and so were prepared to wait for as long as it takes”.

Cityworx are happy to say the candidate made a full and speedy recovery and are now enjoying working with our client.

Another case study is that of an individual who contacted Cityworx Limited asking for our help in finding a new job. He felt he was being put upon buy his current employer and did not see any future progression or recognition of his skills.

We met with the client and took the time to firstly understand his wishes and what he wanted in terms of a new role and future growth within an organisation. We also made a point of understanding his skills and areas of expertise and levels of commitment We then set about speaking to partners we recruit for, and found a job that met all of our client’s current and future expectations.

The employer was delighted with their new recruit and the client with his new role, as can be seen from the testimonial below:

“I have been involved with other agencies but what set Cityworx apart is their unrelenting commitment to get me not just any job but a job that was really suited to me.

Their communication with me was superb and what made it distinct was their ability to be friendly and humane while maintaining a very high professional standard. Furthermore, they did not just leave me to go to the interview, they prepared me for it! Something I had not received from other agencies. I was very impressed with this overall service and I would not have any hesitation to recommend Cityworx to anyone.”

Paul O, Assistant Branch Manager

Cityworx Limited sanjay@cityworx.co.uk www.cityworx.co.uk

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Special

Offer!

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Ceretas publishes Good Practice Guidelines which are issued to new and existing members as well as being purchased by nonmembers. Highly regarded in the industry, they are referred to in the Appendix to the National Minimum Standards for Domiciliary Care.

Tick the relevant boxes opposite to take advantage of this Special 2 for 1 offer.

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The full set is available at a special promotion price of £60.00.

1. Caring for Staff 2. Control of Infection 3. Dementia 4. Elder Abuse 5. Food Hygiene 6. Managing Absence 7. Medication, Assistance with 8. Personal Safety for Home Care Staff 9. Professional/Personal Boundaries 10. Staff Support, Supervision and Appraisal 11. Full set of all Good Practice Guidelines Special Offer price £5.00 for two.

Normal price £5.00 each.

Please make cheques payable to Ceretas.

Name: Organisation Address

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Please send your completed order form and payment to: Ceretas Administration Office, 21 Regent Street, Nottingham NG1 5BS tel: 0115 959 6130 fax: 0115 959 6148 web: www.ceretas.org.uk e-mail: info@ceretas.org.uk

Postcode Tel: Email:

email address request Any questions? Want to receive e-Updates?

If you have any questions or would like to receive all the latest news on awards, conferences and events in your area, please send your email address to

info@ceretas.org.uk 38

Ceretas Home Care Focus

MEMBERSHIP

The Great British National Home Care Awards, in association with Ceretas at The Guildhall, London on the 15th May, 2010 For more information on how to nominate, sponsorship or to book your table visit www.care-awards.co.uk

you take care of your clients... ...weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll take care of you

join us!

Ceretas aims to promote best practice and raise the status of home care in all sectors by helping all staff working in home care to be recognised as professionals in their field. If you would like more information on how to become a Ceretas member please email heather@ceretas.co.uk or call 0115 959 6130 or visit our website www.ceretas.org

www.ceretas.org Ceretas Home Care Focus

39

www.care-awards.co.uk

H l a o n m o i e t a Care Aw N

G

uests at this year’s National Home Care Awards, hosted by Ceretas will be invited to extend the celebrations at an after party on the magnificent Dutch Master, a 3 decked boat, which will cruise along the river Thames. The three decked Dutch Master is the perfect all weather party vessel with its spacious covered and open deck areas making it one of the best boats for hire on the River Thames.

Ceretas are delighted to join forces with the Great British Care Awards, organisers of the regional awards throughout the UK for the social care sector. Winners of the regional finals held in the Autumn of 2009, together with winners from regions that were not yet represented by the awards, will be invited to attend the Great British Home Care Awards finals at the Guildhall in London on 15th May. Guests will be wowed by the prestigious 12th century venue, which 800 years provides a spectacular backdrop for a glittering awards ceremony.

GUILDHALL, LONDON, VENUE FOR THE GALA DINNER

KEITH CHEGWIN, HOST OF THE GREAT BRITISH HOME CARE AWARDS, HOSTED BY CERETAS

will cruise along the river Thames – a perfect finale for what promises to be a wonderful evening. The three decked Dutch Master is the perfect all weather party vessel with its spacious covered and open deck areas making it one of the best boats for hire on the River Thames.

The awards aim to benefit individuals, organisations and sponsors.

By nominating a colleague you will be supporting their dedication and commitment whilst also helping to raise the profile of the home care industry as a whole.

The Great British Home Care Awards, hosted by Ceretas, aim to promote best practice within home care and pay tribute to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work. The awards will be representative of all those working within home care whether it be older people or specialist services.

Organisations who nominate their employees will be demonstrating pride in their hard work and excellence. The awards also present an excellent publicity opportunity. Should a nominee be successful,you and your guests will have the chance to attend a superb gala dinner what better way to raise the profile of your organisation and motivate your staff!

All finalists will be invited to attend a judging day on 14th April in central London. From here they will be invited to attend the superb gala dinner at the Guildhall, here the winner will be announced. The gala dinner will include a champagne reception and dinner with celebrity presenter Keith Chegwin.

So don’t miss out on your chance to pay tribute to those people who really do make a difference to the lives of others. Without people like these, the older people and vulnerable members of our society would be unable to remain independent and stay in their own homes.

Following this, guests are invited to extend the celebrations at an after party on the magnificent Dutch Master, a 3 decked boat, which

Let’s celebrate social care and help it get the recognition it deserves.

To book your place at the awards email carolyn@care-awards.co.uk or call 0115 959 6133 40

Ceretas Home Care Focus

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

m a k o t e t w e s a s ve d r a w

s

‘Thanks to all our sponsors’

Ceretas Home Care Focus

41

www.care-awards.co.uk ( 0115 959 6133

Celebrating Excellence across

the Care Sector SOLIHULL

LONDON

NOTTINGHAM

MANCHESTER

CAMBRIDGE

The 2010 Regional Awards THE GREAT WEST MIDLANDS CARE AWARDS National Motorcycle Museum, Solihull 9 October 2010

THE GREAT NORTH WEST CARE AWARDS Manchester United FC, Manchester 22 October 2010

THE GREAT LONDON CARE AWARDS The Emirates Stadium, London 14 October 2010

THE GREAT EAST OF ENGLAND CARE AWARDS Duxford Imperial War Museum, Cambridge 29 October 2010

THE GREAT EAST MIDLANDS CARE AWARDS East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham 16 October 2010

THE GREAT SOUTH WEST CARE AWARDS The Passenger Shed, Brunel’s Old Station, Bristol 5 November 2010

BRISTOL

YORK

NEWCASTLE

THE GREAT YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE CARE AWARDS The National Railway Museum, York 12 November 2010 THE GREAT NORTH EAST CARE AWARDS The Marriott Hotel, Newcastle 19 November 2010 THE GREAT SOUTH EAST CARE AWARDS The Hilton Hotel, Brighton 27 November 2010

BRIGHTON

For information about nominations, table bookings or sponsorship please call 0115 959 6133 or visit www.care-awards.co.uk

to enter: To download a nomination form for u How your area visit www.care-awards.co.uk or phone 0115 959 6133 or email info@care-awards.co.uk

www.care-awards.co.uk ( 0115 959 6133

Paying tribute to those working in care The Great British Care Awards are a celebration of excellence across the social care sector. The purpose of the awards are to pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work. This year there are 9 regional awards leading to 2 national finals for both the home care and care home sectors, to be held at the prestigious Guildhall in London in 2011.

There are around eighteen awards categories available for nomination, which represent all areas of the social care sector, whether it be older people or specialist services, residential or home care. From frontline staff such as care workers and care managers to people who have made an impact in other ways such as training, IT and innovation.

Working in partnership with care partners and local care associations is at the heart of the initiative; working and linking directly with local managers and networks to further promote the event.

The awards have received support from across the social care sector, including the Department of Health, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Ceretas, the English Community Care Association (ECCA), the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Skills for Care. Local care associations and local authorities and PCTs are also supporting the awards.

So don’t delay and join us in celebrating social care and help it get the recognition it deserves.

Raise your company’s profile regionally and nationally Sponsorship opportunities are available at one, some or all of the regional events. The awards provide a unique opportunity to gain maximum exposure with key influencers from across the sector.

For information on sponsorship opportunities call 0115 959 6133 or email info@care-awards.co.uk

The Great British Care Awards are proud to support the Maggie’s Centres as our nominated charity.

The Maggie’s Centre has sites situated throughout the UK offering support for people who are impacted in some way by cancer.

www.ceretas.org.uk

thinking of selling your home care business?

but not sure which direction to turn...

You are invited to a business seminar 19th April 2010 10.00am - 12.30pm Yew Lodge Hotel, Kegworth, Derby Please contact heather@ceretas.co.uk or phone 0115 959 4130 to reserve your place or for further details

Skills for Care Accolades

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

The Dorchester Hotel, Mayfair, 25th November 2010 Nominations are now open for the Skills for Care Accolades celebrating best practice and innovation in social care workforce development.

These renowned awards now seen as the Oscars of the social care world reward organisations for the support and development of individuals rather than rewarding the individuals themselves.

The Accolades are now in their eighth year and this is the third year they have been presented in partnership with the Department of Health, who join Skills for Care in celebrating the achievements of the very best social care employers and their employees.

Last year TV presenter and journalist Fiona Philips was the celebrity presenter at the awards and was joined by Phil Hope MP, Minister of State for Care Services, who presented the Winner of Winners award and Most Effective employer investment in Apprenticeships.

The innovative partnership between Voice and Kirklees Council empowering children and young people in public care, including those in the secure estate and children in need, scooped the Winner of Winners prize at the Accolades 2009 awards gala event.

“The Accolades are now seen as the Oscars of the social care world. I’m absolutely delighted Voice and Kirklees Council were chosen as the Winner of Winners as they showed the right blend of partnership working to deliver a quality service, coupled with genuine innovation that we were looking to reward,” says Skills for Care CEO Andrea Rowe.

“The most encouraging aspect of a very strong spread of entries was an ability to think radically about service delivery that was linked to much improved outcomes for people who use services, carers and families.”

In 2010 there will be 14 categories in total rewarding the vast array of social care services and there are two categories specifically for children’s services.

All the short listed finalists in the Accolades 2010 are invited to a glittering awards dinner at The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair, London, on November 25th where they will be joined by a celebrity presenter for the evening.

It’s a

date!

Ceretas The Ceretas Annual Conference 9th June 2010 The Royal College of Surgeons, London www.ceretas.orguk The English Community Care Association ECCA Conference 2010 Central London, 17th November 2010 www.ecca.org.uk Mental Health Providers Forum Annual Conference 10 November 2010 http://www.mhpf.org.uk

To enter all you have to do is go to www.skillsforcare.org.uk/accolades Nominations open on 1 March 2010 and close on the 21 May 2010.

Association for Real Change ARC Conference 2010 26th/27th October 2010 www.arcuk.org.uk The National Care Forum Annual Conference 14th/15th April Reading Managers’ Conference 8th/9th November South Gloucestershire www.nationalcareforum.org.uk

Ceretas Home Care Focus

45

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS

ADVERTORIAL

Tagtronics has now been developing its successful Homecare Software solution for over 13 years. We have kept our promise from the outset on the ease of use and user friendliness of the system when developing our software, allowing you to continue with the same processes in running your business but now within a central system.

Our all-inclusive home care management software takes care of all carers training, supervision reviews, appraisals, CRB expiries, holidays and sickness, therefore ensuring the best match carer attends the home visit.

Additionally the system can calculate carers contracted hours and highlight if someone has gone over their hours for the week. Our unique mileage application gives you the advantage of allocating the nearest carer from their previous visit. The system also assists you in service user reviews, respite and care plans and ultimately provides a fully comprehensive list of reports required by Social Services, Care Standards and CQC. We ensure that all of our supported clients have the latest version of our software allowing them to keep up with requirement changes within the industry as part of our comprehensive support package, which offers unlimited telephone support for a per annum cost set at the time of purchasing our system.

Our home care rostering software has also helped our clients with their AQAA. This allows your staff to be more efficient and focus on what you do best, which is providing home care for your clients.

Our advanced electronic monitoring software allows you to utilise both answered and unanswered calls depending on the information you need from your home carers, and can telephone your on-call team out-of-hours to alert them instantly of any problems.

46

Ceretas Home Care Focus

If using the answered service, the carer would ring a dedicated number once they have arrived at the service users home. They will then be prompted to key in their unique PIN for the system to determine if it is the correct home carer rostered to do that visit; the system can also accept a different carer but will produce a report detailing the change in carer.

Recently we have integrated with Panztelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eziTracker telephone monitoring solution, giving our clients a choice when deciding on an Electronic Monitoring system depending on their own requirements or that of their local authority.

This alternative solution offers a fully answered service where the carer rings a dedicated freephone number and enters their unique PIN to log in and out. Panztelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eziTracker system also allows you to leave voice messages for your staff, and is charged on a per carer per month basis.

We have also developed our software to utilise the latest NFC technology, an alternative way of confirming your carers arrival and departure in real time. This solution also allows your carers to have their rotas and more importantly changes to their rotas to be sent directly to their mobile phone as soon as the changes are made.

To discuss the benefits our Home Care rostering software could offer your business contact us now by www.tagtronics.co.uk/contact.aspx or call 01254 819200

BUSINESS BRIEF

CARE UK PLC Care UK plc is rumoured to have received two approaches regarding possible offers for the company. One such offer of 450 to 500 pence per share from private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital values the company at £275m to £300m. No further details have currently been made public.

BROWN BACKS CARE CAREERS Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited Anchor Homes’ Chief Executive, Jane Ashcroft, to 10 Downing Street in January. Ashcroft said: “The growing number of old people, facing increasingly complex care needs, is one of the biggest challenges faced by our society. Government efforts to help young people start a career in social care are a real step forward and a double win. Supporting young people to develop a career will have an extremely positive effect on some of the most vulnerable people in this country.”

ENARA CONTINUES ITS ACQUISITION SPREE August Equity backed Enara Group Limited has completed four acquisitions in the domiciliary care market, continuing the group’s rapid expansion. The latest additions to the group, which operates in London and the Home Counties, include “First Class” of London, “Romney Marsh” of Kent, “Keratome Limited” of Kent/London and “Sophisticare Limited” of Berkshire.

Since the initial buy-out of Enara in 2008, the group has made 18 bolt-on acquisitions.

CAREWATCH Carewatch, backed by Lyceum Capital, has recently completed the acquisition of “Always There Homecare” and “Four Seasons” – the latest of eight Lyceum funded acquisitions in the past twelve months. Carewatch, which itself was acquired by Lyceum in October 2008 in a £37m transaction, now delivers around 190,000 hours of care per week through 147 branches, 115 of which are operated by franchisees.

APPOINTMENTS Melinda Phillips, the Chief Executive of Housing 21 retired after 15 years running the company. Melinda has been succeeded by Deputy Chief Executive, Pushpa Raguvaran who has been with the company for 14 years.

East Anglian based, Manorcourt Homecare (part of Healthcare Homes) has promoted two members of its team. Janice King becomes Operations Director and Andy Bantock takes on the role of Commercial and Finance Director.

M & A ACTIVITY Whilst merger and acquisitions activity levels appear slightly reduced this quarter, Smith Cooper Corporate Finance are aware of a number of ongoing transactions which should complete shortly, as vendors seek to realise their investment prior to the much anticipated hike in

capital gains tax. Care businesses are still attracting the attention of trade buyers, private equity houses and wealthy individuals alike, whilst pricing continues to hold strong, especially for quality businesses.

PLC NEWS CareTech Holdings plc, the AIM listed provider of social care services, announced its preliminary results for the year ended September 2009, with turnover of £83.4m, EBITDA of £22.8m and profit before tax of £15.3m.

Nestor Healthcare Group plc and Mears Group plc will both shortly be announcing preliminary results for the year ended December 2009 ... watch this space.

Mears Group plc continues its process of the acquisition of Supporta plc, and has just received the backing of almost 95% of the shareholders of Supporta. As part of the deal, Supporta’s board of directors have tendered their resignations.

SEVACARE ACQUIRES BRAMBLETON LTD Sevacare, the midlands-based domiciliary care provider, continues to make a big impact on the market with the announcement of the significant acquisition of Brambleton Ltd, a successful North-West based provider, trading as Primecare and delivering over 7,500 hours of care with an annual turnover of £5million.

The acquisition represents more than a 20% increase in Sevacare’s business volume, taking it to some 38,000 hours per week, reflecting a remarkable 90% growth in annualised turnover during 2009, placing the company firmly within the top 10 national homecare providers in England.

This acquisition gives Sevacare an immediate presence and strong profile in the North West of England, supplementing the company’s expansion this year in West Yorkshire. Brambleton Operations Director and shareholder, Jane Walsh, becomes Sevacare’s Care Services Director (North West), ensuring continuity of management, which is extremely important in a deal of this size. Since 2002, Brambleton’s business has expanded from its Burnley and Rochdale base to become a significant regional business. With 4 branches, it is a key provider to 6 Local Authorities: Blackpool, Lancashire, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and Manchester Councils.

Andrew Durbin is a partner in Smith Cooper Corporate Finance, the Midlands based advisor to acquirors and vendors in deals of £2m to £25m. For more information, email andrew.durbin@smithcooper.co.uk or call 01332 374419.

Ceretas Home Care Focus

47

Ceretas Annual Conference 2010

How the new regulations affect homecare Wednesday 9th June 2010

This year's conference will focus on the New Regulations from the Care Quality Commission.

The 3 Key areas of focus will be: • New Registration standards • The impact on Homecare Services • Transformation and personalisation • Commissioning

This is an excellent opportunity for people from all corners of the sector to consider issues highlighted by the conference themes. Benefit from expert knowledge in the promotion of best practice and developments within the sector and how this impacts on the private, voluntary and statutory areas.This is also an ideal event to network with like-minded colleagues from every corner of home care.

Invited Speakers include:

Phil Hope MP Angela Rippon Cynthia Bower Andrea Rowe John Mayhew Julie Jones

To book your place email info@ceretas.org.uk or Tel 0115 959 6130.

See the flyer in this newsletter for further information.

www.ceretas.org.uk

Supported by

GUEST SPEAKER ANGELA RIPPON

The Royal College of Surgeons 35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE