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NEWS RELEASE: Scottish Care supports UK-wide campaign

Independent social care sector launches campaign to save orangutans and the planet

Scottish Care supports UK-wide campaign

A call has gone out to care homes across the UK to support a new campaign against single-use plastic and the wholesale destruction of rainforests to make unsustainable palm oil.

The Five Nations Care Forum, which is made up of social care providers from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire is urging care home owners and other social care providers to do their bit to save the planet

The issue of palm oil hit the headlines recently after Clearcast, the body which assesses adverts against the UK code Broadcast Adverting, banned the Christmas TV advert by Iceland Frozen Food, using a Greenpeace animation telling the story of rainforest destruction and the impact on the orangutan.

According to Clearcast, the advert was deemed too political because it highlighted the impact of palm oil on the environment.

The new strategy was agreed at a meeting of the Five Nations Group, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and was hosted in Cardiff hosted by Care Forum Wales.

They particularly want to reduce the use of single use plastic and palm oil and are asking members to do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint.

Details of the campaign were included in the Cardiff Communique drafted at the meeting.

Dr Donald Macaskill, Scottish Care CEO, said:

“Plastic pollution is a problem we can no longer ignore. It is poisoning and injuring marine life and disrupting human hormones. It is littering our beaches and landscapes as well as clogging our waste streams and landfills. In short, it is now threatening the survival of our planet.

“The Five Nations Group is calling on social care providers to join the battle to combat the increasing menace posed by single use-plastic.

“The social care sector exists to serve the public good. It is an integral part of the rich and vibrant tapestry of our communities. It represents all that is decent about humanity.

“As the leaders of this vital sector, we have the opportunity to demonstrate in a very practical sense that we also care about our planet.

“Together we provide social care for more than one million people. In order to do so, we procure a huge amount of products and resources. If we change the ways in which we do this, we can impact the environment as positively as we do the lives of the people we care for.

“Many of these things are not difficult to do. Small changes can have a big impact. It’s a tiny investment of time and effort when you consider what is at stake.

“We can also reduce the amount of plastic and particularly single use plastic that we use and step up our recycling efforts.  We can significantly cut our use of fossil fuel by being more energy efficient.

“A recent report from the global scientific authority on climate change revealed we only have a dozen years to stop disastrous levels of global warming.

“The television advert featuring a friendly orangutan that highlighted the problems caused by the destruction of the rainforests, but we do not want to go from the frying pan into the fire.

“So, we’re not advocating that people do not avoid using palm oil entirely, as this would only increase demand for other oils which can be even more damaging impact to the environment. Instead we are campaigning to encourage the social care sector to come together to increase demand for sustainable palm oil.

“We have a simple choice. We can either ignore the looming dangers, pretend they’re not there, and bury our collective heads deep into the sand. Or we can take action, and do our bit to help literally save the planet.

“If we do not act, soon it will be too late, and the damage will be done.  We can make a difference, and we must.”

ENDS

 

Pictured below: Mario Kreft Chair of Care Forum Wales 

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New Scottish Care Blog: Aberdeen Team

Open morning in Aberdeen City - October 2018

As part of Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership Conference Week 2018, Scottish Care Partners for Integration Team hosted an Open Morning on 4th October.

We thought it would be a good way to engage with communities and partners, inviting them to come along and meet our team and hear how Scottish Care are supporting Independent Sector care homes and care at home services as part of the integration of health and social care.

The Scottish Care team in Aberdeen has doubled in size over the past year and is a team with a wide range of experience in development, training and research. An open morning would serve as an opportunity to learn about what the Aberdeen team are involved with, what projects we are working on and the opportunity to network with us – with the main aim not to eat all the pastries ourselves. It was also a chance for folk to see our new office base at Centurion Court.

 As part of the session, we found ourselves hosting an impromptu seminar on integration with our international visitors from Robert Gordon University.

Professors of nursing studies and health journalists from Japan and Finland, as well as Scotland, were keen to understand how our work fits alongside the work of the third sector and the statutory health and social care agencies.

Around the table were informal carers, care co-ordinators, care at home managers, community planning reps, care home managers and nursing staff, researchers, third sector staff and volunteers all keen to demonstrate the value of their approach to building partnerships and developing better relationships.

We had a good time with lots of visitors and there were even some pastries left over!

Julia, Fiona, Gosia, Nicola and Marnie

Aberdeen City

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New Scottish Care film launched – A Place of Care: Through Our Eyes

Scottish Care is delighted to have launched a new film at our annual Care Home Conference & Exhibition on Friday 16 November.

 

This short film, created by film maker Michael Rea and commissioned by Scottish Care, showcases what care home life is like from the perspective of staff, residents and relatives.

The services and individuals featured in this film are the three finalists in the 2018 Care Home Service of the Year Award.  Thank you to all at Annan Court Care Home, Carrondale Care Home and Crofthead Care Home.

You can access the full film at: https://youtu.be/juRqqbXoMu8

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New report – Care homes: then, now and the uncertain future

 

At the 2018 Care Home Conference & Exhibition, Scottish Care launched our latest research report entitled ‘Care homes: then, now and the uncertain future’.

We undertook this research because it is Scottish Care’s belief that care home services have a fundamentally important strategic role to play in creating a person-centred, rights based pathway of care and support fit for Scotland’s citizens in the 21st century.

But we know that the historical and recent development of care home services has shaped the sector in particular ways, both positively and negatively.  It has led to a popular understanding of care homes that is often at odds with the reality of life and work in these services, especially as these services continue to change and develop to meet the needs and wishes of individuals and communities.

This research therefore sought to track the development of care homes in order to paint a descriptive picture of the reality of modern care homes, from the perspective of care home providers, managers and front-line nurses and carers.

The findings highlight the reality that care homes have changed beyond recognition from their origins in the ‘workhouses’ of the 18th century  – but public perception hasn’t necessarily evolved at the same rate.  Myths still abound about care homes being places of neglect, inactivity and ‘last resort’ – either as a care option or a career option.

The report therefore outlines various areas of work that need progressed urgently to ensure that the future of care homes is a more positive and sustainable one:

  • Care homes understood and treated as a key component in integrated service provision
  • Work undertaken on understanding resident needs
  • The transformation of workforce support
  • Development of proportionate and flexible scrutiny underpinned by a robust resourcing model
  • The need for greater public awareness and understanding of care homes

We are clear that the publication of this research needs to be the start of a process, not the end of it.  Scottish Care is committed to ensuring that this report gets to every individual and organisation, nationally and locally, who needs to understand what the care home reality is, in all its glory and all its challenges.  And for that information sharing to lead to a more engaged and informed dialogue.

Please read the report and share your feedback with us.

We look forward to working with all providers and stakeholders to ensure that future of care homes is one grounded in information and knowledge rather than emotions and stereotypes.

If there are any individuals or organisations who you think would benefit from receiving a copy of the report in your local area, please email [email protected]

Thank you to all individuals and organisations who participated in the research through attendance at focus groups and completion of Scottish Care surveys.

You can read the report here.

We have also created an accompanying animation, with the help of Rosie McIntosh at Third Sector Lab.  You can view the short animation below:

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NEWS RELEASE: Scottish Care call for funding boost for care home sector

REAL THREAT TO THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE CARE HOME SECTOR – THE ‘CINDERELLA’ SERVICE OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE – SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO INCREASE FUNDING BY 6-8 PER CENT 

 

CARE HOME SECTOR CALLS FOR URGENT DEBATE ON THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL CARE 

Care home operators say more needs to be done to recognise the crucial roles that care homes play in supporting vulnerable people and to ensure a sustainable future for care home services and the people that work in them. 

The message will be delivered at the National Care Home Conference in Glasgow today (FRI NOV 16) by Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care, the representative body for the country’s independent social care services. The 450-delegate event, which is sponsored by the Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank, will include an address by Cabinet Secretary for Health & Sport Jeane Freeman. 

Unveiling a new report ‘Care homes: then, now and the uncertain future’ – Dr Macaskill said that research with front line staff has highlighted just how much people still don’t understand about the reality of care home provision in 2018.  

He said:  

“This report demonstrates the dramatic and unappreciated changes which the care home sector has undergone over the last few years. It challenges myth and stereotype and calls for the development of a mature understanding of the invaluable role which care homes play in our health and social care system in Scotland. It argues forcibly for the need for us to challenge the societal and popular negativity which ignores the fact of the brilliant care and support given by tens of thousands of staff in care homes throughout Scotland today.” 

Highlighting that a lack of understanding of the skilled and important work that takes place in care homes is putting people off working in them, Dr Macaskill will tell delegates:  

“The most immediate challenge care homes face is getting enough of the right people to see caring as something they want to dedicate their life to.” 

What’s more, the continued under-resourcing of care homes means not only are care staff not being sufficiently rewarded but that services themselves are at very real risk of closure. 

Dr Macaskill said a 6-8% Scottish Government increase in social care funding is needed would provide the system our citizens deserve:  

“I cannot remember a period of such real threat to the sustainability of the care home sector. Things are very fragile indeed.  Care homes are truly the Cinderella service of health and social care. 

“Yet again Scottish Care is calling on our politicians to put down their party political megaphones and start talking to one another, to providers, to citizens, about how we are going to fund social care.”  

ENDS 

 

 

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Our CEO’s latest blog: Turning remembrance into action

On Sunday the world seemed to stop and rest for a moment in remembrance of the millions who gave their lives in the First World War and in memory of all those since who have died after the war to end all wars. Remembrance Sunday was a day full of words and music, poetry and prose, pageant and solemnity. It was also, I suspect, for many a day when more personal stories and memories were brought to mind and shared with family and friends. For me it was a day when I remembered my own grandfather who left his Skye village as a boy and returned years later a man who whilst he carried a medal for his bravery also brought back the scars of encounters and experiences that would fragment his living and ache his heart until he died. Remembrance is many things to many people. It is both an act of literally ‘re-membering’, of putting back together the stories of a broken past but it is also about a resolve and a conviction that the lessons of that painful past need to be so real and so vital that the journey into darkness can never be repeated. In a few days’ time many of us will be gathering in Glasgow for the annual Scottish Care conference which is this year called, ‘A Caring Place.’ In thinking about it I could not stop recollecting the first person I ever met in a care home on a visit as a child. I forget his name but I remember his face etched with lines of laughter and fun, and the fact that he was introduced to us children as an old soldier of the First World War. Characters like him are long since gone from our communities and our care homes, but Friday in its own way at the conference is about remembering, putting together stories and developing resolve to learn from the lessons of the past. Scottish Care’s policy and research manager, Becca Gatherum will be publishing her latest report. This report is an exploration of the role of care homes, past, present and into an uncertain future. It is a remembering of the role of care homes through good and ill, it is a challenge to the casual myths and stereotypes which still dominate the public perception of care homes, and it is an articulation of what the future needs to be if we are to continue to celebrate the best of care. Care homes are very much ‘caring places’. Places where those with memories fragmented by the awful disease which is dementia are able to find assurance, comfort and a degree of purpose; where those who are living with palliative and end of life conditions are able to live to their fullest until the moment of their end; where those who have grown into frailness find the support and strength to still contribute, be valued and have purpose. Care homes are marvellous places of care … But there are still too many times when care homes are painted as places of negativity, of emptiness and abandonment. But there are still too many colleagues in health and social care who do not value the work of those whose skill we will be celebrating at our Care Awards on Friday evening, who do not see the professionalism and recognise the excellence happening in care homes up and down Scotland every moment of every day of the year. But there are still too many in places of policy development and decision-making who have an image of those who reside in care homes and what care homes do which is dangerously out of date and unappreciative of the reality of complex compassionate care. But there are still too many who decide upon resource allocation and strategic priority who dismiss the ‘homely setting of our ‘caring places’ as spaces beyond our contemporary need and purpose without realising the tremendous untapped potential of care homes in the modern era. Remembering the past can become a dangerous illusion if we remain in the memory but can be the most enormous strength if we use the energy that it gives to change the world around us and find new purpose and direction. The Scottish Care conference on Friday is both a reflection on the contribution of care homes in the past but much more importantly it is a looking forward to how these places can become the heart of our compassionate communities, how they can become oasis of belonging for the thousands who live in loneliness in our villages and towns, how they can be at the forefront of innovation, person-led dignity and rights based choice and control for all. Come and join us at ‘A Caring Place.’ Dr Donald Macaskill  

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Care Home Conference 2018 – Focus on Insight Sessions

The National Care Home Conference: A Caring Place will take place on 16 November at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow.

This unique event is the largest care home specific conference and exhibition of its kind, with every aspect curated to specifically cater for the sector in Scotland.

Among the many varied items on the programme are a number of learning opportunities for delegates - our insight sessions. Check out the details of a few of these below and click here to book your tickets for the event itself.

#caringplace

#carehome18

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Scottish Care statement: Nursing student intake figures

The Scottish Government today announced nursing student intake figures for the academic year 2019/20.

Commenting on the news that the number of student nurses starting their course in the autumn is set to increase by nearly 8 per cent, Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care said:

“The independent care home sector employs nearly 10% of Scotland’s nurses. The sector is facing a critical shortage of nurses with an increase in vacancies over the last year and care homes struggling to recruit skilled nursing staff. Added to this is real concern over the impact of Brexit and any future immigration restrictions.

 

“The care home sector in Scotland needs more nurses.

 

“I am therefore pleased to welcome today’s announcement on student places for 2019/20.

 

“We are grateful that the Scottish Government has listened to our concerns and is working with Scottish Care and other partners to address both the immediate and future nursing challenges facing social care. This announcement together with other initiatives will begin to address the critical shortage which our care homes are facing.

 

“Nursing in a care home setting is a rewarding and immensely fulfilling profession and we look forward to ensuring that many of those who will start their training next year will see older people’s nursing as a priority for their careers.”