Since 2018, the Care Inspectorate have been rolling out a revised methodology for inspecting care and support services. The core of the new approach is a quality framework for use in self-evaluation, scrutiny and improvement support which sets out the elements that will help answer key questions about the difference care is making to people and the quality and effectiveness of the things that contribute to those differences. This involves setting out what they expect to see in high-quality care and support provision in order to help allow improvement. Using a framework in this way develops a shared of what constitutes good care and support.

Work is currently underway on a joint framework for support services (care at home) and housing support services (including combined services). The Care Inspectorate wish to consult with the sector to ensure that the framework reflects key issues and areas of practice that will support positive outcomes for the people using this range of services. This will be an approach that will consider how they inspect services across the range of services under these registration categories.

Consultation events are being held at the following locations and we encourage you to participate. A session will be run at each location from 9.30am – 12.30pm. Places will be limited, so please book your place as soon as possible if you are interested.

Please contact Jane McIntosh at [email protected] to request a place at any of the following events:

• Tuesday 26 November 2019 at the Best Western Queens Hotel Dundee 160 Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4DU
• Thursday 28 November 2019 at the Stirling Court Hotel, Airthrey Road, Stirling, Stirlingshire, FK9 4LA

 Please note: A further event will be arranged for Orkney to take place in January 2020.

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].

Every single day I hear people discussing the sustainability of the care sector.

I hear it from providers, I hear it from commissioners, I hear it in the news, I hear it from our Politicians. But the quietest of all in this are those who are most affected. I almost never ever hear it from those who access care and support or indeed their loved ones who are also impacted by social care experience.

This voice is missing for many reasons, but mostly because it comprises of our most vulnerable. Those who may need support to articulate their desires clearly, or perhaps those who do not wish to rock the boat because they may have fought for what they receive, or even those who come to social care at a point of crisis. At best, it may find itself contained within a report presented to an Integrated Joint Board or kept in a silo perhaps because it is considered to pertain only to carers and not the holistic setting that a family is.

There is a stigma in accessing care and support. Those media headline grabbers and others on that bandwagon should put themselves in the shoes of those who may be in the demographic of the ‘ticking time bomb’ they write about. My own loved one describes a pervasive guilt about accessing something in case it prevents another, “perhaps younger person”, from accessing it. The guilt is so deep that I cannot even name them here.

And so we find ourselves (for a variety of reasons) in a place where people are coming to care much later than previously, which means they have more complex needs, are requiring a more intrusive intervention and face potentially life-limiting circumstances as they often first enter ‘the system’ because of an unplanned hospital admission.

This position then creates a ‘double whammy’, in both the here and now, and in the future, as without accurate data, we cannot accurately plan. For instance, how do we know how many care staff or nurses we might need, or need to train, if we do not have a true picture of those who may actually need care and support? And perhaps more importantly, how do we adapt for the future? For instance, by utilising and embedding preventative disruptors such as technology developed and applied with human rights in mind (guided perhaps by Scottish Care’s Human Rights Charter and Guidance for Technology).

Amidst this there remain Health and Social Care Partnerships who continue to dis-invest from social care in order to meet targets, without realising the wider impact upstream. Or worse still, to test out that impact in order to prove a point. And in doing so, completely missing the point. Health and Social care is about people’s lives and lifestyles, not about which funding body holds the pot of money.

The chronic and long-term under-funding of the care sector is undermining the human rights of the citizens of Scotland. It has created the conditions for marketplace competition – a drive for the lowest price rather than the high-quality care and support that the people of Scotland deserve, but which care providers continue to strive for. You don’t come into care if you don’t care.

An Ipsos Mori/Centre for Ageing Better survey conducted earlier this year explored user views on the worst things about getting old: 30% are concerned they won’t have enough money to live on, 26% losing mobility, 24% losing memory; 22% unable to do things they once could, 19% being lonely[1]

Quite frankly, we can do better. If people knew about the opportunities which lie in social care, this could be vastly reduced.

However, I write this blog in the week that the process for application to the National Procurement Framework for Care and Support is due to close. Scottish Care is eager to play our part in ensuring that the current model of commissioning and procurement is changed to ensure that it better reflects a rights-based, trust focused and relational approach to the care and support of older people. I personally have a history in disrupting commissioning practices from when I worked for a Local Authority in England (incidentally, joint funded by the NHS) leading to a model devised by working with families and providers, and resulting in 110% more people having access to care and support than previously at no additional cost.

Collaboration and co-production is where we work together to make the most out of what we have, and the bringing together of minds around a common vision and focus leads to realistic innovation, choice and control. Not incidentally a characteristic required of the market by the Self-Directed Support (Scotland) Act.

Scottish Care saw the initial development of the National Procurement Framework as offering the potential of reducing complexity, fostering relationships and addressing some of the sustainability issues. Yet the process has resulted in a Framework which is far from proportionate, requiring only the accountability of providers, it leads merely to a duplication of regulation and negotiation. An action in opposition of the trust-based relationships being nurtured and in effective community-based planning, and which led to the inherently more cost effective and equitable service provision which I describe above in my previous work.

There are of course other challenges with the framework, but that unwillingness to engage and work with the whole sector as equals is what mostly holds us back. In one recent review of a Health and Social Care partnership, their only comment on the contribution of the independent sector, was to list the number of care home beds and home care hours that they provide. This undermining of resource and opportunity and resistance is clearly articulated in the Audit Scotland report into integration which describes the challenges of culture change and the role of leadership in achieving and embedding best practice. After all, it is best practice which offers opportunity.

Whilst a solution is complicated, it is not unachievable.

In May I launched a paper on ‘Putting Human Rights into the Commissioning Cycle’ at the Scottish Care National Conference for Care at Home and Housing support in an attempt to put the person into planning. All too often Strategic Planning happens behind closed doors and based purely upon a set of statistics, or upon the results of community engagement which is tokenistic or piecemeal and therefore not representative. A shared vision grounded in human rights can support a whole community, including the significant contribution of independent care providers, to come together for good.

Above all however, that shared vision must be a positive one. A vision which recognises the value of our older people and the contribution that they and their families make, a vision which recognises the wider value of social in employing 1 in 10 Scots, and in contributing £3.4 billion to the economy, a vision which values the varied mix of care and support which offers real choice and control to those who may wish to access it.

At the recent Business in Parliament Conference, the First Minister said that “ … any country will only achieve it’s potential if it enables the people within it to achieve their own potential”.

Well, that time has come, who’s with me?

Karen Hedge

National Director, Scottish Care

 

[1] IpsosMori/Centre for Ageing Better/Feb 2019

Research by Scotland’s biggest sight loss charity Royal Blind has revealed low awareness among blind and partially sighted people of the Scottish Government’s flagship social care policy.  The findings have prompted fears that people with sight loss who could benefit from Self-directed Support are missing out, and led to a joint call from Royal Blind and Scottish Care for Scottish Ministers to take action to ensure people living with visual impairment are aware of their right to benefit from the policy.

Royal Blind surveyed over 100 people with sight loss to get their views and experiences of Self-directed Support. The charity found that:

• • Almost two thirds of people with sight loss participating in the survey had not heard of Self-directed Support.
  • Only five respondents to the survey had a support plan funded through Self-directed Support.
  • Over 60% of respondents had never been informed of the budget available to them for their care and support.

The research follows previous findings published by Audit Scotland in 2017 which reported that at least 53,000 people were accessing Self-directed Support, but more people should benefit from the policy and more information should be available on how to apply.

Royal Blind and Scottish Care are now calling on the Scottish Government to take further action to raise awareness of Self-directed Support including through providing accessible information on the policy for people with visual impairment. The organisations are also urging local authorities to develop plans to increase access to Self-directed Support for people with visual impairment, including through providing more training to staff on supporting people with sight loss to have the information they need on the policy.

Mark O’Donnell, Chief Executive of Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded said:

“Self Directed Support is a great policy initiative by the Scottish Government which could benefit thousands of people living with sight loss. That is why it is so disappointing that there appears to be low awareness of the policy among blind and partially sighted people, and also why we are backing the call by Scottish Care for more action to raise awareness that it is available. With the numbers of people with sight loss in Scotland set to increase significantly, it is vital they can access the specialist care they need and have access to Self-directed Support which can help them live well with visual impairment.”

Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive Officer of Scottish Care said:

“Self-directed Support is one of the most progressive pieces of law in Scotland. It gives people choice and control over their care and their lives. It is therefore hugely disappointing that five years on since it started this survey shows that hundreds perhaps thousands of older Scots with a visual impairment they are not benefiting from these rights. The excuses from local authorities and Integrated Joint Boards are running out and we are left with the conclusion that this human rights based policy is being consciously ignored, blocked and underfunded, or that only those who shout the loudest are being given choice and control.

There is little point in having fantastic legislation if there are is a collective failure to put it into practice. There is little point in having rights under the law if the obstacles to exercising those rights are growing every day.

Scotland needs to get serious about the denial of the human rights of our fellow citizens with visual impairment.”

 

ENDS

Note to editors

1.Details of the survey by Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded:

• • The survey was promoted to people with sight loss using Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded services in August and September. Responses were from people with visual impairment or a carer or family member on their behalf. There were 110 respondents to the survey, although not all respondents answered all questions.
  • 109 people responded to the question “have you heard of Self-Directed Support.” 68 (62%) said they had not.
  • 81 people answered the question “Are you currently receiving care services” with almost half (39 people) stating that they were.
  • Only 5 respondents said they had a support plan funded through Self-Directed Support. Four of the five people who received care through Self-Directed Support said the system had worked well for them.
  • Around a fifth (19%) of respondents felt SDS was something they could benefit from, while 57% did not know whether they would.
  • Around a third (30%) of respondents said they had been given an explanation of SDS options, while 60% said they had not had the options explained to them.
  • A majority (63%) of respondents had never been informed of the budget available to them for their care and support.

2. Royal Blind is Scotland’s largest visual impairment organisation. We create life changing opportunities for visually impaired children and adults from across Scotland and the rest of the UK with the following services: The Royal Blind School and Learning Hub, Adult Services, Care for Older People, the Scottish Braille Press and Kidscene After School and Holiday Club.www.royalblind.org

3. Royal Blind’s sister charity is Scottish War Blinded. Together, we operate as the Royal Blind Group. Each organisation has its own management, and both are overseen by the Royal Blind Board and Chief Executive.

The Scottish Government vision is that by 2021 everyone in Scotland will have access to high quality palliative and end of life care no matter where they are cared for – at home, in the community, in residential care, in hospital or in a hospice. For this to happen there is a need for staff in all areas to become more confident in delivering end of life care that helps people to live well and die well and to meet individualised needs and wishes.

The University of the Highlands and Islands has developed a new continuing professional development award for health and social care workers that is designed to provide candidates with the  knowledge and skills base set out in the NHS Education for Scotland Palliative and End of Life Framework for staff who regularly provide care and support to people with palliative and end of life care needs, their families and carers. This is a SCQF Level 7 award (HNC/ first year undergraduate level) and has a nominal 200 hours of learning over 15 weeks, which equates to 20 credits. The award will be delivered online using the university virtual learning environment. Online learning may seem a little daunting, but candidates will be fully supported by an online tutor who will guide students through the content and assessments. Studying online allows students to study at a time and place that fits in with their work and family commitments.

The first presentation of the course will start in January 2020. We are pleased to advise that there will be a limited number of free places funded by the Scottish Funding Council for this first cohort of students.

If you are interested in undertaking this award, then please discuss this with your line manager. If you wish to know more about the award or need further details, please contact Jacqui Allison at Perth College UHI – [email protected].

Palliative Care A5 leaflet (003)

“Keeping body and soul together’ reports on the challenges faced by Scotland’s ethnic minority older people

Trust Housing and Scottish Care, today (31st October, 2019) launch the 9^th Care Cameo in the Care Cameo series, a programme of papers by care professionals, designed to foster debate on some of the most important issues associated with the delivery of care and support for older people across Scotland. It was launched at the Scottish Parliament event, sponsored by Bill Kidd MSP.

Today’s Care Cameo, entitled “Keeping body and soul together”, reviews the physical, emotional, cultural and spiritual care needs of ethnic minority older people in Scotland and has been researched and written by Rohini Sharma Joshi FICH, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager for Trust Housing.

Rohini has extensive experience of working and engaging with hundreds of ethnic minority older people to listen to their concerns about care and housing and to define what they needed to restore their dignity, self-esteem and independence. “Keeping body and soul together” draws together some of the key concerns that were reported directly by older people.

Rohini Sharma Joshi said:

“We are failing our ethnic minority older people in Scotland. Older people who have worked hard all their lives in this country are now finding themselves isolated, lonely and discouraged. They are often unable to access services, they are estranged from the wider community because of language barriers and can no longer depend on traditional family support networks. Many of these older people do not live in appropriate accommodation, yet there is no sheltered housing and care home accommodation available to meet their needs. Today’s Care Cameo gives Scotland’s ethnic minority older people a voice. It is imperative that we listen to them and take action.”

Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO Scottish Care, said:

“As an organisation our vision is to shape the environment in which care services can operate and thrive. One of the ways we can do this is by working co-operatively with care providers and most importantly, with the people who use the services. The ethnic minority older people who have contributed to today’s Care Cameo have articulated the challenges they face and the care and services they are unable to access with heartbreaking candour. We are very grateful for their contribution to both this care cameo and to the wider debate in Scotland.

If Scotland is serious about including all citizens regardless of race or ethnicity then we must adequately resource the already stretched care sector to develop services, train staff and work with people to create services which meet the needs of all our citizens. At the moment Scotland is failing to be racially inclusive.”

CARE CAMEO FINAL WEBSITE