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Care Home Day 21 – 14 July

Get involved in Care Home Day on 14 July

Care Home Day is taking place this year on Wednesday 14 July.

This day is a largely online event on Twitter with the aim to raise the profile of care homes across Scotland. We hope to share good news stories to bust myths about care homes and recognise the vital role they play in supporting and caring for residents.

The theme of Care Home Day is ‘Care Forward’. As we start to emerge from the pandemic, we need to plan and move forward positively, allowing time for restoration, rehabilitation and recovery. We understand the past year has been difficult for everyone and events like Care Home Day may not seem significant. However, this makes it even more important that we share positive stories to shine a light on social care and the care home sector.

You can help us commemorate the day by sharing any good news stories, resources, projects blogs or an example of an innovative practice that highlights:

  • The dedication and professionalism of care home workers
  • The achievements of residents
  • The innovation of care homes with different ideas or activities in place or planned for the future
  • How care homes are valuable and important to society

We are also gathering positive examples of care home visiting to share on the day. If you have something to share, please send this along to c[email protected] before the end of day on Monday 12 July 2021.

Scottish Care encourages care home providers to consider doing some sort of virtual activity on the day between residents, staff, families and the community. If you do decide to take part in any activities, please remember to share them with us on social media.

As part of the day, we will be holding a ‘Care Conversation’ session on Zoom between 1:30 – 2:00 pm. Join Jenni Mack and Dr. Tara French for this session to celebrate the newly published book ‘When I grow up I want to be a Carer’.

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_da-xEYgCSvyCXQxx06etoQ

Please share and get involved on Twitter using the hashtags #carehomeday21 and #careforward21

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Homecare Festival 21 – recordings available for purchase

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our virtual care at home and housing support conference. This year’s Homecare Festival took place over 15 -17 June and brought together colleagues, providers and stakeholders from across the homecare sector.

Delegates have been sent session recordings from the event. We have also made recordings available for purchase for those who missed the event. The recordings are priced at £15+VAT and can be purchased here.

More information on the Homecare Festival can be found here.

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Launch of the Independent Sector Nursing Data Report 2021

Today, Tuesday June 29, 2021, the Independent Sector Nursing Data Report 2021 has been published.

The report is aptly titled ‘A Look to the Future – Achieving the Nursing Vision.’ It provides an updated view of nursing in care homes and in the independent social care sector in Scotland with a look to the future of nursing in the sector. This report is a follow-on to the Independent Sector Nursing Data 2018 report.

We wanted to gain an updated view of issues in social care nursing and issued a survey to members on topics where we are aware of areas of longstanding difficulty, such as recruitment, turnover and retention. We also asked about nurse agency use, learning and development, and the areas where we as an organisation might help promote further development, such as nursing access programmes and prescribing courses. All questions considered the context of the pandemic as this has had a considerable effect over the past year and a half.

Social care nursing requires distinct expertise; nurses fulfil a complex and multi-faceted role where they enable people with care and support needs -many of whom have multiple co-morbidities and complex health issues- to live positively in homely settings. They support individual health conditions and understand the impact this has on their social and community life. We wanted to ensure the report focuses on the importance and perception of this area of nursing, with mention of where we can make improvements, not least through how social care nursing is valued and how to continue to support students and colleagues in years to come. It is time that our social care workforce is provided with parity of pay, terms and conditions, and are seen with equal value to NHS colleagues to have sustainable and inclusive growth.

We hope this report paints a clearer picture and provides greater insight into the significant workforce challenges facing nurses in the independent social care sector, where data has previously been limited, and therefore support a wider range of stakeholders to better understand the criticality of the issues. Further, it can lead to collaborative working around some practical solutions to address the challenges experienced by providers as well as to the continued learning and development of the nursing and care workforce. As an organisation, we will continue to challenge how people view, value and use language around social care to shift mindsets and demonstrate the real importance the sector provides to society.

Read the report here
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Care at Home & Housing Support Awards Winners

Congratulations to our 2021 Care at Home & Housing Support Awards winners!

Scottish Care’s annual Care at Home & Housing Support Awards was held on Friday 25 June 2021. The awards ceremony took place virtually, hosted by Dr Donald Macaskill and Michelle McManus.

Huge congratulations to all of our deserving finalists and winners, and thank you to all the Awards Sponsors.

#careawards21

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Care Inspectorate Consultation – Quality Framework for Care Homes

We are issuing a brief questionnaire for feedback on the updated draft of the quality framework for care homes for adults and older people. This will now be a single framework and will replace the October 2020 version. You will notice a few changes to the framework including the addition of the Care Inspectorates’ core assurances on points 1.4, 1.5 and key point 7:

  • Quality indicator 1.4 has been changed to cover contact and connectedness, previously summarised as getting the service right for the individual. This is now a more comprehensive summary.
  • Quality indicator 1.5 has been added which covers Infection Prevention and Control (in relation to any outbreaks of infectious diseases, not just specific to Covid-19).  The key area states ‘people are protected because staff take all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection.’
  • The rest of key question 7 has been incorporated into the relevant sections across the whole framework. As a reminder, question 7 was developed in May 2020 to augment quality frameworks for care homes for adults and older people. This was done in response to the pandemic and to meet the duties placed by the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act and subsequent guidance that must evaluate infection prevention and control and staffing.

The majority of changes are under key question 1, although the Care Inspectorate have made changes to update all key questions.

Below you will find the link to the draft document, as well as the October 2020 versions.

The questionnaire will close on Monday 5 July at 12:00 pm to ensure all comments can be collated and provided to the Care Inspectorate by the deadline.

Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/RLYL6ZW

Updated draft - The quality framework for care homes for adults and older people
October 2020 version - Quality framework for care homes for adults
October 2020 version - Quality framework for care homes for older people
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Kickstart Programme Webinar with DWP – 1 July

We are hosting a webinar with DWP on Thursday 1 July at 2:00 pm, this session will focus on the Kickstart Scheme.

The Kickstart Scheme helps employers create job opportunities for young people, providing funding to employers to create jobs for 16-24 year-olds on Universal Credit.

Social service employers of all sizes can apply for funding which covers:

  • 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of six months
  • associated employer National Insurance contributions
  • minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions.

Join us for this webinar to find out how Kickstart works.

Please note that this webinar will be hosted on Microsoft Teams in a meeting format. Details to join this webinar will be in the Members Area of this website.

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Job Opportunity – Administrator

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Scottish Care/Partners for Integration for an Administrator to work as part of our team. This is a full time post with a £23, 347 salary, working flexibly between our Scottish Care office in Ayr and home-based and there will be a requirement for occasional attendance at meetings & events.

Scottish Care is the representative body for the largest group of health and social care sector independent providers across Scotland delivering residential care, day care, care at home and housing support. Our vision is to shape the environment in which care services can deliver and develop the high quality care that communities require and deserve. The work we do helps to create these conditions through partnership working, membership support and innovation.

Our Partners for Integration team is a national network of development staff with backgrounds in education, social care, health, and the voluntary sector who work to ensure the effective representation of independent sector agencies within Health and Social Care Partnerships.

The post holder must have experience in office administration.  They must have the ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines, versatility & flexibility along with excellent interpersonal skills at all levels is essential. The post holder must also have excellent IT skills with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages.

This is an exciting post for someone who will have a strong commitment to the work of the organisation and the ability to work in a culture that is innovative.

For further information please email [email protected]  who will forward a Job Description & Person Specification and Application Form.

To apply, forward a completed application to [email protected]

Interviews will be held on Thursday 22nd July 2021.

Closing Date: Monday 12th July at 12.00pm

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Scottish Care launches new social care data report

Scottish Care, the representative body for Scotland’s independent social care services, is publishing a new report which shares their vision for social care data. This report will be launched on the final day (Thursday 17 June) of their virtual Care at Home and Housing Support Conference.

The conference, ‘Homecare Festival’ – is a three-day event that brings people together from across the care at home and housing support sector to share their experiences and plan for the future of home care.

The report titled ‘Seeing the diamond in social care data’ brings together findings from a series of data forums hosted by Scottish Care and involved colleagues from across the social care sector, industry, academia and government.

Scotland is data-rich but intelligence poor, whilst fragmented data collection, standards and access in social care have made data hard to navigate. The report highlights the importance of a human rights-based perspective, enabling people to have control over their data and how it is shared to initiate care and support on their own terms. Scottish Care seeks a vision where data is person-led; is based on the needs, wishes and aspirations of people for their care and support, informs the design of services and planning and the resulting indicators of performance and success.

Karen Hedge, National Director of Scottish Care commented:

“For too long, the fragments of social care data have been drivers acting on behalf of the social care system rather than on behalf of those who access social care and support. Implementing the principles and vision contained within this report, would completely turn that on its head and put the individual in control. In addressing the fragmentation, it also allows for better use of resources by enabling better coordination for planning and delivery.”

Read the report here
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Media statement: mandating Covid-19 vaccinations for care home staff

Reports of the UK Government seeking to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for care home staff have little relevance for Scotland.

The Scottish approach to date has been one of close partnership working between the sector, the NHS and the Scottish Government.

We have sought to develop a policy and practice of information and encouragement rather than mandating and instructing.

In large part this has been a successful approach to date. As of the 15th June the vaccination dashboard from PHS details that 100% of care home staff have received both doses. Obviously statistically this does not mean all staff have now been vaccinated because there is a continual flow of new staff etc and there may be some homes with less than 100.% compliance. But even then we have clear measures now in place to ensure new starts are offered the vaccine and where there are gaps that there are targeted efforts to increase uptake.

We have found that answering questions honestly where there are concerns, getting trusted voices to communicate the importance of the message for the staff member’s own safety and that of residents, encouraging peer support and taking the vaccines to care homes have all helped to both remove barriers and reduce reticence.

Ends./

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Legal Webinar: BTO Solicitors – 23 June

We are delighted to present the second webinar in our Legal Webinar series.

These webinars will feature our Legal Resources Select group, a carefully selected group of law firms in Scotland. Find out more about our Legal Resources Select group here.

This session will take place on Wednesday 23 June at 2PM, hosted by Scottish Care CEO, Dr Donald Macaskill and featuring representatives from BTO Solicitors LLP.

Covid Legacy Challenge: Would your organisation pass the Covid health check?

BTO will consider a range of challenges affecting organisations in the post-Covid era. From employment law claims to Health and Safety Investigations/prosecutions, employers must still be wary.  While we hope that the worst of the pandemic is over, there is still much for employers to be aware of.

We will provide advice on how best to manage the ongoing employment issues, looking at, for example, foreign travel and holidays, self-isolation and quarantine, and vaccinations, with a review of some of the Covid related employment tribunal claims that are now, in increasing numbers, coming through the system,

We will consider the continuing health and safety obligations, and how to protect your workplace from claims and Regulatory scrutiny. BTO will consider the challenges that you may face and how best to ensure resilience in the face of emerging risks and longer term aspects of the post Covid era. Q&A for members.

Our presenters are as follows:

Douglas Strang, Associate – Employment Law: [email protected] / 0141 221 8012

Vikki Watt, Partner & Solicitor Advocate – Health & Safety, Regulatory & Criminal Defence: [email protected] / 0141 225 5317.

Joining details will be available on the Members Area shortly.