Skills for Care launches new guide to help services improve
Skills for Care has launched a new online guide to help social care employers to identify, plan and implement improvements across their service The ‘Guide to improvement’ offers a comprehensive toolkit to help organisations deliver high quality care and support, and meet regulatory standards. The guide was created because, at the beginning of this year, 17% of regulated adult social care services in England were still delivering care that didn’t meet the CQC’s fundamental standards. Organisations need to act quickly to make sure that they meet these standards, as, when quality begins to drop, they’re much more likely to need costly interventions to turn that service around. Even when a service is already achieving the CQC’s fundamental standards continuous improvement is a key part of achieving and maintaining a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ rating. Skills for Care’s project manager, Rob Hargreaves, knows from working with employers that continuous improvement is vital for any service so they can meet the needs of the people they support. “Whether you’re responding to a negative inspection, or striving for ‘outstanding’, making improvement brings lots of benefits, no matter what your CQC rating,” says Rob Hargreaves. “As a manager, it’s your responsibility to decide what you want to improve and how you’ll do that. A CQC inspection provides an independent assessment of your service, and gives you the essential and potential areas for improvement to ensure that you meet, and exceed, their fundamental standards – but your CQC inspection shouldn’t be the only thing that drives improvement in your service. “’Good’ and ‘outstanding’ rated providers invest in a robust quality assurance process that considers feedback from people who need care and support, families, staff and other stakeholders, and use this to make informed decisions about their service. “They have strong leaders and managers, committed staff and a positive workplace culture that support improvement, and make the right investments to ensure it happens.” The online guide will help adult social care employers to identify what their service needs to improve and develop an action plan to implement the required changes. You can download the guide free from Skills for Care’s website at www.skillsforcare.org.uk/guidetoimprovement
The power of networks in adult social care
Good managers and leaders in social care are committed to embedding best practice through engaging with their peers, sharing information and growing their knowledge. The importance and value of networking shouldn’t be underestimated. Skills for Care facilitates registered manager networks, covering every local authority area in England. They offer registered managers the chance to meet locally with other like-minded managers who often face similar, everyday challenges. These networks are a great source of information and support for registered managers who can find themselves isolated in this pivotal role. They are led by network chairs, who are themselves registered managers and who understand the daily pressures of working in social care. Local networks meet at least three times a year and ensure topics are relevant to the attendees. Case study: a registered manager network in action Sam King is registered manager at Hightown Housing Association and also a network chair for Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. She talks about the many benefits of registered manager networks. “I’m really pleased with how the network has grown and the feedback I hear after each meeting. If a network can help even one manager feel more supported and less isolated then that’s great. Most of the registered managers in my organisation attend network meetings now – and I often hear my colleagues refer to it in other meetings – that’s a good sign! “Networks empower managers and are one way of helping them recognise just what an important part of the social care workforce they are. Some of our attendees are new managers and attending network meetings has increased their confidence. It’s a role that can feel lonely sometimes, but through attending they can see that everyone has the same sort of issues. Every manager attending also learns from the opportunities to share best practice that the network provides. The network has also been a good way to engage with stakeholders – everyone faces the same issues and sometimes having a group of people as a collective ensures that stakeholders receive one, consistent message. “Our network attendees have benefitted from hearing from local Care Quality Commission (CQC) representatives, the chance to raise issues and having a better understanding of CQC processes. This also supported relationship building; the inspector speaking to us was clear about wanting to work in partnership with us. “One of the things we are working on, as a network, is a list of the speakers we want to hear from in the future. We have National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) speaking to us soon about medicines management and we also want to ask our local authorities to attend the network to talk about local changes they are making. “Finally, thinking about what the network gives us as managers – I think it’s important not to underestimate the benefit of protected time away from a busy workload and service; every manager needs time to stop and reflect on things.” Join your local registered manager network Find out more about joining your local registered manager network here.
