Posted on

Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 – how will this affect your way of working?

Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 – how will this affect your way of working?

The Scottish Government want to hear your views.

 

28 September 2016 – 10:00 – 15:30

Trades Hall Of Glasgow, 85 Glassford St, Glasgow, G1 1UH

 

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 9 March 2016 and will commence on 1 April 2018.  Carers, key stakeholders and national organisations are now contributing their knowledge and experience to help shape the Act’s implementation, as they did the Act’s content, and the Scottish Government want to hear the views of front line practitioners who are working to support carers and the people they care for in shaping implementation of the Act.

 

At this interactive session you will hear more about the Carers(Scotland) Act 2016 and how it might operate. It will provide you with the opportunity to ask questions and clarify your understanding about provisions in the Carers Act 2016, hear more about implementation and approach to commencement, regulations and guidance; and participate in the development of Act regulations and guidance and other work streams, through facilitated discussion groups on specific topics.

 

To register, please follow this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/carers-scotland-act-2016-how-will-this-affect-your-way-of-working-tickets-27071524659

Posted on

Blog from Loretto Care’s Eddie Coleman : “No Two days the same”

Eddie Coleman : No Two days the same

‘A fantastic blog by Eddie Coleman – a front line support worker at Loretto Care and an active member of the Scottish Care Front Line Strategy Forum– highlighting the skills and attributes needed at the front line of social care.

Thanks Eddie!

 

I rang the bell. The door was opened by a perplexed looking Mrs Jones (not real name) clutching a letter in her hand.

‘Come in’, she said. So I did. ‘You look worried this morning’ I offered.  ‘Aye, I am son. I got this letter this morning and I haven’t stopped worrying since. I haven’t been able to eat breakfast for worrying’.

No breakfast, now that’s not good.

‘Can I look at your letter?’ I asked. ‘Of course you can, you were getting it anyway. They’re stopping my benefits’.

I looked at the letter and sure enough it was from the benefits office. The letter stated that there had been overpayments to Mrs Jones’s housing benefit going back three months and that they would be taking £3 off her benefits every two weeks until the overpayment is paid back. I explained all this to Mrs Jones who was visibly relieved. ‘Aw is that all? I just saw overpayment and pay back £30 and thought the worse’. She sighed.

‘Three pounds, not thirty’ I advised. ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’. That gave us a laugh anyway.

The Sherlock Holmes in me decided to double check the claims in the letter. I explained to Mrs Jones that I would like to phone housing to verify that there was in fact overpayments made to her housing benefit and asked her if that would be ok. It was.

In short, I spoke with a very nice person who informed me that this wrong and that it was a mistake on the part of the benefits office.

Right, I thought, put the rest of the morning on hold while I phone the benefits office. To be fair, I know they have a very, very busy schedule.

I phoned my office and spoke with the shift co-ordinator who was able to arrange for a colleague to do my next projected visit for me.

Deep breath.

Pachelbel’s Canon was very soothing to my ear. Not so the ‘you are number 48 in the queue’. Ok, so that was a bit of an exaggeration but you get the picture.

To cut a long story short, and quote Spandau ballet, I got it all sorted out after an hour and a half and was very happy to tell Mrs Jones that there had been a mistake and that her benefits will remain as they are.

Now, about that breakfast……

And the moral of the story is that patience, persistence, inquisitiveness, a nice manner and team work will get you through most days as a frontline care worker.

 

Posted on

URGENT – CAH & HSS PROVIDER MEETING

We are now just a month away from the implementation of the Living Wage for frontline care staff in care at home and housing support services.

This general meeting will consider the progress or lack of progress in some parts of Scotland in achieving the outcomes we all desire.

It will be an opportunity to reflect on what is working well and what still needs to be done.

All CAH and HS members are requested, if possible, to attend. The event will take place at the Renfield Centre, Glasgow at 1.00 on the 2nd September.

Please confirm your willingness and ability to attend to [email protected]

Posted on

National Care Home Contract Reform : Results of Independent Sector Provider Survey July 2016

National Care Home Contract Reform : Results of Independent Sector Provider Survey July 2016

Download Report

 

The input of providers to the Reform of the National Care Home Contract is of crucial importance, as whatever new arrangements are arrived at will underpin the commissioning, procurement, funding and delivery of publicly purchased care for the foreseeable future.

We therefore felt it was important to gather people’s views at the outset of the strengths and weaknesses of the current NCHC, and what they would most want any new framework to deliver. We will of course consult fully on the detail of what is proposed as this emerges.

The response to the survey in the time available was very gratifying, and has already allowed us to highlight to the other parties – Government, Councils, Health Boards, Care Inspectorate etc, the range of provider opinion. 

 

Please read the report, let us know if you think there are any key areas which have been missed, and keep involved with the process as it gathers momentum. 

We will ensure providers are kept up to date as the Reform process continues towards October and next April.

 

If you have any comments, feedback or questions, please contact Becca or Ranald.

 

Becca Gatherum

Policy & Research Manager

 

01292 270240

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 07584 659995

 

 

Posted on

Age Scotland Learning Services and Workshops this October / November

 

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 11.37.42

 

Age Scotland are now taking bookings for a series of learning services and workshops in October and November, to help support older workers; and to ready an organisation for an ageing workforce.

 

Planning Your Future Workshops – Helping your older workers decide if, when and how to retire.

Early Stage Dementia Awareness – Helping you and your staff understand dementia and prepare for its increasing impact on workplaces.

Open Workshop on Dementia, the Law and Workplace Good Practice – Wednesday 5 October, Edinburgh, £60 plus VAT per person

Age Awareness – Helping you and your staff understand the ageing process, how to avoid discriminating against older workers and prepare for an ageing workforce.

If one or more of these opportunities are of interest, or if you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch:

Jonathan Park
By phone: 07808 024807
By email: [email protected]
www.agescotland.org.uk

 

1. Planning for Your Future workshops

As people are able to choose their own retirement age and now have pension freedoms, we find there is a lot of uncertainty amongst people who are at the age of deciding when it is right for them to consider leaving full time employment. These freedoms also make succession planning more difficult for organisations who are unsure when their skilled people might decide to leave. Many people take this huge step unprepared and find that after a few months they are really struggling to come to terms with the changes their decision has brought.

Our Planning for Your Future workshops help people address this major decision and give them the tools they need to start planning. The workshop is one full day and is a unique opportunity for people to spend time with an Independent Financial Adviser, a Solicitor, a health professional and a careers advisor. The sessions are interactive with several group discussions to start people thinking about and planning for their future. Here is a sample of the topics we discuss:

· Coping with the changes that retirement bring to all aspects of life
· Can you afford to fund the lifestyle you want in retirement?
· How are you going to spend the 40+ extra free hours each week – both in summer and winter?
· Power of Attorney and wills – are you aware of the importance?
· Ways to keep socially and physically active once you leave your work colleagues behind
· If you are thinking about finding alternative employment – part-time, flexi, starting your own business or even volunteering, what does the job market look like in 2016, what are employers looking for and what are your routes to market?

Many people tell us they feel empowered to discuss their future with their employers following a workshop so it can open up lines of communication that were possibly inaccessible beforehand. If you would like to make this workshop available to your people, please give me a call.

Cost of workshop – £190 plus vat per delegate

Next workshops – Edinburgh 4th Oct, 7th Nov Glasgow 11th Oct, 15th Nov Dundee Oct TBC

How to book: By email: [email protected] or 0333 323 2400 or online – http://nowandnext.scot/workshops/one-day-workshops/

 

2. Early Stage Dementia awareness (delivered in-house to a group of 10 minimum)

Dementia is a workplace issue.
Around 90,000 people in Scotland live with dementia, a number that will double in the next 25 years. As changes to retirement and state pension rules make working beyond age 65 common more people will experience early symptoms of dementia while in employment. Many workers are also unpaid carers for someone who has dementia. And a growing number of people who use your organisation’s products and services will be affected by dementia, directly or as a dementia carer.

 

We run two in-house half day sessions and also open sessions for individuals to attend:

 

Becoming a dementia aware workplace: (For an employee group at your premises)
· Half day: Suitable for all staff. Participants will learn about:
· Dementia; what it is, and why it’s relevant to the workplace
· The symptoms of dementia and how it can progress
· Communication with someone who is living with dementia: whether customer or employee
· The risk factors for dementia and how risks can be reduced

 

Dementia, law and workplace good practice: (For an employee group at your premises)
· Half day: Suitable for managers and those in HR roles. Participants will learn about:
· Employers’ legal obligations when someone has dementia, or is a carer from someone who is living with dementia
· Ways in which someone with dementia, or who is a dementia carer, may be supported to continue in employment
· Support available to employers and employees around dementia

For further information on our dementia awareness sessions including pricing please follow this link – Dementia Awareness Training

 

3. Open Workshop on Dementia, the Law and Workplace Good Practice (for individuals)

Where: Age Scotland, 160 Causewayside, Edinburgh, EH9 1PR
When: Wednesday 5 October: 10am-1pm.
Who: Suitable for staff with a personnel and/or people management role

How to book: By email: [email protected] or 0333 323 2400

Cost of workshop – £60 plus vat per person

 

4. Age Awareness in the workplace

Current projections suggest that the population of Scotland will rise to 5.7 million by 2039, and that the population will age significantly, with the number of people aged 65 and over increasing by 53% between 2014 and 2039. As people will increasingly be in a position where they have to work for longer, the way older workers are treated in the workplace will have increasing significance.

Our half day training session aims to:

• Consider best practice and make the most of your older workforce.
• ensure everyone in your workforce engages with and appreciates older colleagues and customers appropriately.
• ensure your organisation is age aware in compliance with current legislation – Equalities Act 2010.
• perhaps rethink/refresh your policy on older employees.
• Highlight how commonly discrimination and prejudices are experienced by older people and suggest ways to address these in the workplace.

Cost of workshop – £50 plus vat per person

How to book: By email: [email protected] or 0333 323 2400

Posted on

Back to the Future ; staying where we are is not an option.

“BACK TO THE FUTURE”

 

Any night of the week, there are 33000 older people in Care Homes in Scotland, and  approximately 22000 of these are publicly funded. For the past 10 years these placements have been made under the National Care Home Contract.

I joined Scottish Care as CEO when the first annual settlement was being negotiated, and now as an Associate I’m working on the Reform of the Contract, to put in place the framework by which Care Home provision will be commissioned, funding levels determined and placements made for the next 10 years or longer.

Get it right and hopefully it will deliver improvement in both service quality and business viability. Get it wrong, and an already stetched and fragile sector, could be severely impaired. Whatsmore, the reform of the Care Home contract is likely to have a knock on impact on the reform of Care at Home.

But staying where we are is not an option: change has to happen. The local planning and commissioning environment has altered significantly with the advent of the new Integrated Health and Social Care Partnerships. The needs and dependency levels of residents have shifted over time.

The role of Care Homes, the services on offer, and the expectations of service users and their families have grown and developed, together with the demands of Regulation and Inspection. Partly as a response, the business models underpinning the sector have also adapted, with much tighter margins and pressure on investment. And, as if this wasn’t enough, we are going through the most challenging period in terms of the public finances for a generation.

Any new set of arrangements has to respond to all these factors, and find a way of combining the protection and efficiency of national benchmarking and negotiation with a new emphasis on local planning and flexibility. Moreover, we have to have at least the bones of this teased out and agreed by the end of the autumn. A tall order, yes, but potentially achievable, providing we have the continued support and commitment of all parties.

Watch out for updates and make sure you are fully connected to Scottish Care: The Bulletin, the Website, Branch Meetings, and of course, Yammer.

For me, retirement can wait, it’s time to power up the De Lorean and get back in there!

 

Ranald Mair

Associate, Scottish Care

Posted on

Scottish Care Awards

The Care Home Awards have now officially been launched by Scottish Care.

es_305

 

Scottish Care’s Annual Care Home Awards is an opportunity to recognise the tremendous work undertaken by organisations and staff who work in residential care and nursing home services. This is a chance to highlight the skills, dedication and abilities of the many talented individuals and organisations who are dedicated to making life better for people and in supporting them achieve their fullest potential.

The Awards take place on Friday 18th November at the Hilton Hotel Glasgow following on from the Scottish Care Care Home Conference and Exhibition during the day at the same venue.

This is your chance whether as an organisation, individual or family member to tell us and others about the work you value.  We want to acknowledge what can be achieved when people work together to improve the lives of those who access care and support services in care homes.

Scottish Care CEO Dr Donald Macaskill :

“It is often the little things and the willingness of staff to go the extra mile that makes the real difference to the quality of life of residents and it is important for us to highlight how much of this goes on throughout the country.”

“The media often focus on negative publicity regarding our sector.  The Conference and Care Awards event is a major opportunity for us to showcase the positive.  I hope everyone will give it their full support and participation.”

There are thirteen categories to enter in 2016 and we can’t wait to hear about your projects and partnerships. Please make sure you have read the Awards Guidelines before entering.

 

You will find the Entry Form right here at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/carehomeawards2016

 

The deadline for entries is Friday 16 September 2016.

 

If you find it difficult to enter an online submission please contact: [email protected] for advice.

Book your table at the awards by emailing [email protected] or by phoning head office on 01292 270240

 

Posted on

Consultation on Scottish Governments response to UK apprenticeship levy

Screen Shot 2016-08-15 at 11.37.31

The UK Government announced its plans to introduce a UK wide apprenticeship levy from April 2017.

Employers will pay 0.5% of their annual pay bill in excess of £3m through the PAYE system. Scottish Ministers will decide how to allocate Scotland’s share of the levy and would like to work with employers to shape their response to its introduction.

Modern Apprenticeships play an increasingly important part in Scotland’s approach to workforce development and youth employment. In partnership with employers and training providers, the Scottish Government has increased the number of Modern Apprenticeship opportunities to 26,000 in 2016/17. As part of Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy Developing the Young Workforce the Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of opportunities to 30,000 a year by 2020.

Employers can complete a survey to give their views on how levy funding coming to Scotland can be used to benefit employers, individuals and our economy as a whole.

Find out more here http://ssscnews.uk.com/2016/07/20/consultation-on-the-scottish-governments-response-to-the-uk-apprenticeship-levy/

We encourage providers to submit their own responses to this consultation, or to feed their views into Becca Gatherum before the consultation deadline.

Contact Becca at

[email protected]

Posted on

Book now for Care Home Conference 2016

View the conference programme now

View

Scottish Care Annual Care Home Conference 2016
In association with the Clydesdale Bank

18th November 2016
Hilton Hotel, Glasgow

“Care Homes at the Heart”

Scottish Care is a membership organisation and the representative body for independent social care services in Scotland.

The Scottish independent social care sector contributes to:
• The employment of nearly 100,000 people
• The employment of over 5,000 nurses
• The provision of 83% of care home places in Scotland

Scottish Care’s 17th Annual Care Home, Conference and Exhibition takes place on Friday 18 November 2016 at the Hilton Hotel, William St, Glasgow.

Over 450 day delegates are expected to attend the conference including care providers, local authority, Care Inspectorate, NHS and Scottish Government colleagues. This event is the only one of its kind in Scotland specifically for the care home sector and, whilst organised by Scottish Care, is very much a cross-sector event.

The title of this year’s conference is “Care Homes at the Heart”.

Book your places now at: www.carehomeconference2016.eventbrite.co.uk

10% early bird discount until 2nd September 2016.

Care homes are premised on providing compassionate care and support to those who require it. For those that live there, care homes are not a care setting but people’s own homes; places filled with love, laughter and kindness.

What’s more, the integration of health and social care means the role of care homes is changing but of no less importance to the future of care provision in Scotland. They are at the centre of communities, local planning, innovative practice and the whole health and care spectrum of support, and need to be recognised as such.

The conference will reflect all of these themes and offer an opportunity to learn, share, network and challenge.

We are doing things slightly differently this year, with best practice insight sessions planned for the morning to give a more varied and participative feel to the day. Delegates will have the opportunity to select one insight session to attend on the day.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The conference hashtag is #carehome16