Today, at the National Care Home Conference and Exhibition, CARE badge, the unifying symbol of pride and quality in care, is launched by Duncan Campbell, Director of everyLIFE Technologies Scotland, supported by Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care.

Under the slogan “It’s the small things that bring people together”, the CARE badge aims to highlight and respect nearly 1 million people delivering care in Scotland every day. This is made up of over 200,000 social care workers, accounting for 7.7% of all employment in Scotland. Unpaid carers are estimated to be 788,000, which is 14.5% of the Scottish population.

Dr Donald Macaskill: “I am delighted to be involved in the launch of the Care Badge in Scotland. The work of care is one of the most rewarding, invigorating yet at the same time challenging jobs in Scottish society. We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to the thousands of women and men, both paid and unpaid carers, who every day make a difference to the lives of others. They are the soul of our nation and show us our communities at their best.  I hope we will see thousands of these badges being worn in villages, towns and communities across Scotland so that we can celebrate care. This is all about making care visible The valuing of the work of care is a mirror of a nation that cares.”

Duncan Campbell: “It’s time to raise the public profile of this crucial service and the appreciation of those providing care. So we’ve launched the CARE badge campaign in Scotland as a unifying symbol of pride and quality in care.”

In the UK as whole, there are over 2 million social care workers and 7 million more unpaid carers in the UK today. With each carer supporting at least one person, over a quarter of the UK population is either providing or receiving care outside of hospital every day.

The daily impact of care is even greater, given the significant number of family members of those working in or receiving care, as well as the suppliers and employees that assist the sector. Carers deliver this high-quality support each day, no matter if it’s a holiday for others or if the weather is adverse and travel is difficult. Unfortunately, they often do so without the public interest and support that other professionals reasonably enjoy.

The CARE badge CIC is administered and managed for free by everyLIFE Technologies who also donated the first 20,000 badges. To date, over 87,000 badges have been distributed. All profits from the sale of CARE badges are given to care related charities, suggested by care workers and carers and overseen by a CARE badge CIC charity committee.

www.thecarebadge.org

Press Information about everyLIFE Technologies, co-founders of CARE badge

everyLIFE Scotland:

everyLIFE Technologies, a leading provider of care planning and delivery software, is led in Scotland by Director, Duncan Campbell.

everyLIFEprovides the “PASSsystem” suite of care-planning software and apps to the UK’s homecare, reablement and residential care sectors. Provided on a SaaS basis since February 2015 and on a monthly payment structure, the PASSsystem is used by ~700 care businesses throughout the UK.

The PASSsystem digital care planning and management platform provides a single view of care records in real time on both desktop and mobile devices. From initial enquiry and service user assessment through medications (MAR charts), task changes to outcome reviews, PASSsystem automates care management processes while promoting safe medicines administration.

“openPASS” is a sister application that provides consented customers, family members and additional health professionals with inclusive access to real-time care plans and records in the PASSsystem.

Together, everyLIFE’s PASSsystem and openPASS are proven* to:

• better manage risk
• realise business efficiencies
• aid delivery of high-quality care
• demonstrate accountability to services users, families and regulators

everyLIFE is a Founding Member of the Care Software Providers Association (CASPA).

* Improving care through digital care planning: An evaluation of the PASSsystem by the Social Care Institute for Excellence. SCIE March 2019. Available at https://www.scie.org.uk/

Scottish Care:

Scottish Care is a membership organisation and the representative body for independent sector social care services in Scotland, covering private, charitable and not for profit social care organisations.

We represent over 400 organisations, which totals almost 1000 individual services, delivering residential care, nursing care, day care, care at home and housing support services.

Our membership includes organisations of varying types and sizes, amongst them single providers, small and medium sized groups, national providers and family run services.

Our members deliver a wide range of registered services for older people as well as those with long term conditions, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, dementia or mental health problems.

In Scotland, the independent social care sector contributes to:

• The employment of over 103,000 people, which is more than half of the total social services workforce, including approximately 5,000 nurses
• The provision of 88% of care home places for older people
• The delivery of over 55% of home care hours for older people

About the Care Home Conference:

Over 400 day delegates are expected to attend including care providers, local authority, 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 conference is now in its twentieth year.

The conference contains a mixture of key contributions. Through creative, business-focused, practical and policy sessions, the event will focus on the significant role care home services play in ensuring individuals are able to remain connected to their communities and the criticality of their involvement in shaping Scotland’s future health and social care system.

The conference will address current challenges in the sector including workforce shortages, Brexit and the sustainability of the care home sector. There will also be a range of innovative approaches and tech products showcased to help people in their every day care practice.

A number of resources will be launched at the conference:

• New Scottish Care conference paper – Essential care: the critical role of care homes
• A hints and tips guide on supporting people with visual impairment from Royal Blind, in partnership with Scottish Care
• The formal launch of the CARE Badge in Scotland

The conference hashtags are #essentialcare and #carehome19

Genesis of the CARE badge:

The CARE badge was born on the 19th March 2019, while listening to Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, highlight the challenges faced providing care and the unfortunate message that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care inadvertently sends to those involved by only wearing an NHS lapel badge. The Chairman of everyLIFE Technologies, sitting in the audience turned to his colleague and said, “We should work with them to change that”.

How to get CARE badges: 

The CARE badge is sold to companies, charities and other organisations by the CARE badge CIC (community interest company). Badges are not sold to the public directly. Badge purchasers are both from the care community as well as national corporations and organisations, such as supermarkets, manufacturers, service industries etc., interested in supporting care workers and the carers in their own workforce.

Badges are distributed for free to employees and customers i.e. badges are not for resale. Badge purchasers are also given the right to use the CARE badge logo in their marketing materials to highlight how much they CARE.

Organisations with few employees or customer outlets can donate purchased badges to the CARE badge “pool”. These will be distributed on their behalf to individual carers for free by the CARE badge CIC at care-related events.

Order details can be found on www.thecarebadge.org. Badges cost £1 including P&P (plus VAT when applicable). There is a minimum order size of £100, with a choice of three fixing styles; butterfly pin, magnetic and brooch to suit both care and non-care settings.

All profits from selling CARE badges go to care-related charities:

The CARE badge CIC is administered and managed for free by everyLIFE Technologies who also donated the first 20,000 badges and 1,000 display trays. Costs incurred are therefore limited to the cost of badges, packaging and postage. All profits from the sale of CARE badges are distributed to care related charities, suggested and voted for online by care workers and carers and overseen by a CARE badge CIC charity committee.

Find out more: 

The website (www.thecarebadge.org) carries background, details of our growing community of partners, and how to order the CARE badge. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are live with @theCAREbadge and #badge4CARE. Please post pictures of individuals and teams showing how much they CARE.

Feel free to get in touch by emailing [email protected].