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Home Care Day 18: A Day in the Life of Home Care

Earlier this year Scottish Care commissioned a Day in the Life of Home Care. This is a film created in collaboration with Michael Rea, an experienced documentary film maker with a long standing relationship with Scottish Care and a proven ability to capture the diverse voices of those working in and receiving social care.

What better time to revisit this than during Workforce hour this Home Care Day 18?

#homecareday18

#workforce

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Home Care Day 18: Workforce blog from our National Workforce Lead

The 4 R’s: the open door of recruitment and retention in social care

‘A career in care is not the same for everybody but it needs to be available to everybody’

Independent sector home care services support 47% of nearly 50,000 people who receive this form of support, over half of whom are frail older people.  It also employs nearly 54,000 people in Scotland.  The sector is absolutely crucial in supporting people to stay at home for as long as possible and, alongside care home services, in preventing admissions and supporting discharge from acute settings.

However on-going, recruitment and retention challenges have continued to intensify for home care providers throughout Scotland; fewer people are choosing to enter the home care sector and more people are leaving.

Mindful of the impact this is having on Scottish Care members, Workforce Matters supported a piece of research that sought to capture the employment journey of so many committed, dedicated and skilled individuals of different ages, backgrounds and experiences working in care homes and care at home organisations across Scotland.  The 4 R’s - recruitment, regulation, representation and retention – provides us with a framework designed to explore the experiences of the workforce and in doing so, encourage us all to think differently about transforming the way we enable care provision and the people who deliver it to grow and flourish.

To make this a reality however, we have to consider the 5th R – reality.

  • The reality of trying to develop, train, qualify and lead a workforce against a backdrop of task and time commissioning, fifteen minute visits and the persistent denial of policy and decision makers of the true cost of delivering dignified, person led, preventative care and support to older citizens across the country
  • The reality that the potential of health and social care integration is yet to be realised in Scotland and we continue to see the confliction of a health or social care workforce.
  • The reality that a largely unappreciated and undervalued social care workforce, delivering compassionate care to individuals with multiple complex mental and physical illness in their own homes, is at breaking point.
  • The reality that if we choose to do nothing, we will simply cease to have a social care sector.

Only by acknowledging these realities and working together to develop solutions in a meaningful way will we have any chance of developing a rights-based, dignified social care system for the tens of thousands of older people receiving care in their own home.

The 4R’s provides a structure and a foundation to work in partnership with employers, front line workers and stakeholders across the health and social care landscape to do something different, ambitious and brave – operationally and strategically; tinkering around the edges simply won’t suffice.

Let’s all of shut that door through which dedicated and skilled individuals are flooding out from, and create conditions where people stay, develop and thrive in the home care sector.

Please take time to read our report and watch our animation and do get in touch if you would like to find out more about our Workforce Matters project.

 

Katharine Ross

National Workforce Lead

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Home Care Day 18: Convention on the Rights of Adults and Older People Receiving Care at Home or Housing Support

It is over 2 years since Scottish Care published the Convention on the Rights of Adults and Older People Receiving Care at Home or Housing Support. 

With our focus on Human Rights in the first hour of Home Care Day 2018, it is an opportune time to revisit the Convention and the simple yet crucial ways in which individuals told us their human rights can be protected and promoted through the delivery of care and support at home.

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Home Care Day 18: Health & Social Care Standards

Scotland’s new Health and Social Care Standards were published by the Scottish Government in June 2017 and started to be used from April 2018.

The Health and Social Care Standards set out what we should expect when using health, social care or social work services in Scotland. They seek to provide better outcomes for everyone and to ensure that individuals are treated with respect and dignity and that the basic human rights we are all entitled to are upheld.

They mark a shift in how services are regulated, commissioned and delivered in that they are grounded in human rights.

We’re delighted, as part of Home Care Day, to be able to share a short film - created in partnership with the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care, CCPS, home care providers and individuals who access support – about how the new Standards and their rights-based approach can make a difference in home care services.

#homecareday18

#humanrights

 

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Home Care Day 18: Human Rights blog from our CEO

The Dignity of Rights: Homecare and Human Rights.

Dignity is one of those words which risks falling into overuse and thus into misunderstanding. This is a great pity because it has a real importance within the care and support of people and has a real power when we consider the role of human rights.

When the leaders of the world gathered to sign off the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights the concept of dignity was at the forefront of their concern and appears many times in that document. Indeed Article 1 of the Declaration states that:

‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’

In some sense then ‘dignity’ is in with the bricks, a foundation marker, embedded at the heart of what we mean by human rights. In the new Health and Care Standards which are relevant for all care services including care at home and housing support we also find ‘dignity’ as one of the core over-arching principles. It states that as someone who uses services:

‘My human rights are respected and promoted. I am respected and treated with dignity as an individual. I am treated fairly and do not experience discrimination.’

So what exactly does this oft mentioned concept of dignity really mean? The Oxford English Dictionary states that dignity is:

“The state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect”

Every human being is worthy of respect for who and what they are. By virtue of their very existence a human person deserves to be treated with value and worth, concern and protection. We are not saying that it is only some who have dignity, we are proclaiming all humanity has dignity. There is something in our status as human beings that makes us worthy of respect and necessitates us to give respect to others. We do not require a person to change, to grow into their dignity, they are born with full dignity, as and who they are. Every person has within their being a sense of dignity which is, as it were, part of their DNA. It is inherent. It is a human right.

Closely linked to both respect and dignity is the view that we have of our own identity. Our understanding of who we are as a human being and as an individual is formed and nurtured by a whole series of influencers. It is the classic nature and nurture debate. We are influenced by our upbringing, by the development of our attitudes and values, by our emerging personality and character. We are shaped by the encounters we have, the relationships we form and the experiences we share.

We mould our self-understanding into something which either includes or excludes. We can become individuals who accept and recognise the inherent worth and value – the ‘dignity’ – of those we come across – or we can become someone who puts conditions and restrictions on the full humanity of another. We can go through life developing a robust sense of self which gives us esteem and self-love, or circumstances and encounters can serve to limit and demean us to the extent that we consider ourselves as having little worth or value.

There are so many people in today’s society whose identity, their self-understanding, is one which emphasises their own ‘self’ to such an extent that it causes arrogance and narcissism. Some psychologists have argued that we are in the midst of the ‘selfish generation’, a time where the necessary and healthy concern and attention for your own self is out of balance and replaced by an over-emphasis on your own ‘self’ and the arrogant advance of the ‘me.’ It’s all about my needs, my desires, my priorities. It is as if we have stopped growing up and are stuck with a toddler sense of the self.

Dignity is a human right. Dignity demands that the individual recognises worth in another. As a consequence dignity requires humanity to be mature in how it sees the individual, how it values the self, and how it celebrates difference.  These are fundamental requirements for those who would want to work in homecare – they are the essence of care.

But it goes even further than that. A human rights concept of dignity says to us that not only should we recognise the inherent value of other people, but that it is actually the degree to which we are able to relate to, engage with and include others that marks us out as being human. I recognise that recently some have criticised the concept of dignity being inherent within humanity and a given in terms of human rights but I think this is to miss the point that at a profound psycho-social level there is something in the marrow of humanity that requires respect and value.

If this is true, and I would argue it is, then the task of caring is one which is a paramount example of human rights in practice. To care for another is to give of your ‘self’; to care for another enables you to become a better version of who you are, it nurtures an openness to encounter and a willingness to be changed by interaction and relationship with someone you care for. The more we give of ourselves in the care we do, the stronger that ‘self’, that ‘humanity’ at the heart of me becomes.

To treat someone without dignity, with no regard to their needs and dignity, is what we describe as ‘inhuman treatment.’ To care for, to have regard to someone else by caring for them is a glorious illustration of what true humanity really is. It is not a truism to suggest that by caring for another we become more fully human. And it is not just in the actions or tasks we undertake but it is in the being with and the attending to someone who is not your own self.

The poet John Donne famously wrote:

 

No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

 

Now without getting into a debate about Brexit, what Donne articulates is a view of humanity which says that if someone is missing, if we do something that cuts off another from society, then we cannot describe our community as whole, our humanity as mature.

But there are now and always will be threats to the human right of dignity.

Dignity is so tied to our conceptions of humanity that we use terms like ‘inhuman treatment’ to describe acts that breach our human rights. There is a sense that treating someone humanely means behaving towards them in a way that is consistent with their humanity and dignity.

So in homecare today are there threats to dignity, a dignity inherent within our humanity?

Is our dignity threatened when at the point of vulnerability society decides because of fiscal budget and austerity that the supports I used to get to enable me to be independent, to be part of the community I live in, are to be withdrawn? Where is dignity in eligibility criteria in homecare provision which makes it harder and harder for the majority to access free care and support?

Is our dignity threatened when the increased use of technology leads to a situation where human presence is being replaced by technological interventions? Or do we need to re-define dignity for a technological age?

Is dignity threatened when we make decisions to give greater value to some because of their youth compared to others who are old?

It is easy to recognise the assaults on human dignity that come by means of ‘inhuman’ treatment, by torture, by punishment, by violence and force. But what are the potential ‘inhuman’ assaults of dignity that come by means of less subtle interventions?

The delivery of care in whatever context is a superb example of dignity in action. The fulfilment of human rights within any society demands the nurturing and support of the care for others. For unless we adequately resource and seek to develop a workforce able to deliver cradle to grave quality care, then we risk being ‘inhuman’ in our treatment of the most vulnerable and to diminishing the ‘dignity’ of all.

Dr Donald Macaskill

CEO, Scottish Care

@DrDMacaskill

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Brexit Statement from the Five Nations Care Forum

Failure to recognise impact of Brexit on social care presents real risks for our most vulnerable citizens

Leaders of care provider associations across the UK have come together to express serious concerns about the implications of Brexit on the social care sector in terms of availability of staff and equipment.

The Five Nations Care Forum, made up of representatives from Scottish Care, Care England, Nursing Homes Ireland, Care Forum Wales, IHCP, UKHCA and the National Care Forum, said:

‘The social care sector is heavily reliant on a workforce from across the EU. On any given day over 100,000 staff from across the EU are working tirelessly to support some of the UK’s most vulnerable citizens. Their contribution is vital and valued by those accessing care and support from them. It is currently difficult to recruit sufficient workers to undertake this important but challenging role and we can already see the prospect of immigration rules post-Brexit making it worse.

‘Care workers are carrying out complex tasks: delivering end of life care, supporting people with advanced dementia and neurological conditions, and working with people with complex mental and physical health needs. The failure to recognise the contribution of this workforce to society as a whole will leave some of the most vulnerable people unable to be discharged from our already overstretched hospitals. The current categorisation of social care staff as “low skilled workers” by the Migration Advisory Committee doesn’t recognise the level of expertise demonstrated by frontline staff 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

‘We are also concerned about the availability of key resources. For example no continence products are made in the UK and future access arrangements to drugs and radioactive isotopes are unclear. Health and social care providers need guaranteed access to these products to be able to deliver safe, quality, individualised care to some of our most vulnerable citizens.

‘The government must recognise the interdependencies between the EU and the UK social care sector in ensuring continued access to the skilled workforce and the resources required to deliver quality care.

‘We need a Brexit which solution recognises the need to ensure continuity of care across the UK

‘The UK government needs to take urgent steps to ensure a continuous supply of quality workers from across the globe, by determining an exemption for social care staff or addressing the income threshold to better reflect the pay of front line workers.’

http://www.fivenationscareforum.com/ 

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Job Opportunity – Human Rights Project Worker

Do you have human rights knowledge and experience?

Are you passionate about protecting and promoting the rights of older people?

Do you want to improve the experiences of those living with dementia?

Scottish Care, in partnership with Life Changes Trust and the University of the West of Scotland, wishes to appoint a Human Rights Project Worker to support Rights Made Real: a two-year funded project focused on actively promoting the human rights of care home residents living with dementia.

A range of creative and innovative projects are being funded which will benefit people living with dementia and show others how to make rights real in care homes. All partners in this project are committed to ensuring that older people, including those living with dementia, have a right to maintain strong connections with family and friends, with their communities and with the things that matter to them regardless of where they live.  We believe that people of all ages, circumstances and conditions have a life to live, the right to thrive and hopes and dreams to achieve.

We are looking to for someone with a strong background in human rights who shares our passion to join a small, committed team.

This is a part time post (3 days per week) for 18 months, hosted by Scottish Care and based between Scottish Care’s offices in Ayr and the University of the West of Scotland’s Hamilton Campus. However, it is anticipated that the post-holder will spend a significant amount of their time travelling throughout Scotland supporting the care homes involved in the project.

Salary: £25k FTE

For an application pack please contact:  [email protected]

CLOSING DATE – FRIDAY 9TH NOVEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW DATE – FRIDAY 23RD NOVEMBER 2018

 

 

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Job Opportunity – Development Officer, Highland

DEVELOPMENT OFFICER – HIGHLAND

CARE AT HOME SERVICES – INDEPENDENT SECTOR

PARTNERS FOR INTEGRATION and IMPROVEMENT, SCOTTISH CARE

November 2018 to March 2019 initially
£41,928 pro rata per anum
Full time fixed term post (35 hours per week)

Scottish Care is a membership organisation representing the largest group of independent health and social care providers across Scotland.
We are seeking to appoint a Development Officer to join an existing team to support independent sector care providers in Highland. The post holder will focus on Care at Home services with an emphasis on:
• Working collaboratively with independent sector providers and NHS Partners to deliver key outcomes for people in receipt of services
• Facilitate independent sector engagement in commissioning and development of older adult social care
• Play active role in the adoption of SDS Option 2 resulting in new care pathways and innovative options for care and support
• Promote quality of care through facilitation of education opportunities

The post holder will develop close working relationships with Scottish Care’s Highland team as well as key stakeholders from NHS Highland, Third and Independent sectors, and people who use services and their carer’s and family members.

The post holder will require to be highly motivated and be able to use initiative, possess excellent communication and networking skills, demonstrate success and experience working with providers, regulators, people supported by services and carers. Qualifications and experience at a management level in health or social care would be an advantage as would knowledge of relevant policy, practice and the needs and aspirations of the Independent sector.

The post will home-based and hosted through Scottish Care. Secondment and job share opportunities considered.
For further information please contact Carolanne Mainland (Regional Lead) at [email protected] or telephone 07845803029.
For an application pack please contact Colette Law at [email protected]
Closing date 4pm on Monday 15th October 2018. Interviews will be held in Inverness – date to be confirmed.

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Congratulations to our 2018 National Care Home Awards finalists!

We are delighted to announce the finalists in this year's Care Home Awards. The standard of 2018 entries was very high, making the judges' task extremely difficult. Thank you to all who submitted nominations.

Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony, hosted by Michelle McManus on the evening of 16 November 2018 at the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow.

Awards tables can be booked by contacting [email protected]

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Job Opportunity – Regional Integration Lead – Dumfries & Galloway

REGIONAL INTEGRATION LEAD (DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY)

PARTNERS FOR INTEGRATION and IMPROVEMENT – SCOTTISH CARE

Health and Social Care Integration – Independent Sector Initiative.

October 2018 to March 2020
£45,900 per annum – 35 hours per week (part-time or job share would be considered)

Integration of Health and Social Care is the Scottish Government’s ambitious programme of reform to improve services for people who use health and social care services.

Scottish Care is a membership organisation representing the largest group of independent health and social care providers across Scotland.

The Independent Care sector is a key player in health and social care integration agenda and we are seeking to engage and Independent Sector Regional Integration Lead to support this programme. Hosted by Scottish Care and working closely with Independent sector providers and partners, the post involves ensuring sector involvement in the delivery of the agreed outcomes for integration.

The post holder will lead on the strategic development of the Independent Sector Integration team in Dumfries and Galloway and will be expected to create significant collaborations across the independent care sector while contributing to the development of new care pathways and the delivery of improved outcomes for people in receipt of services.  The role requires considerable and skilful collaboration with our key partners in the NHS, Local Authority, Carers, third sector organisations and other forums.

The post holder will require to be highly motivated and be able to use initiative, possess excellent communication, leadership and networking skills, demonstrate success and experience working with policy makers, providers, regulators, people supported by services and carers. Experience at senior management level in health or social care is preferred. Educated to degree level is essential as is a knowledge of relevant policy, practice and the needs and aspirations of the Independent sector.

The post will be home-based and hosted through Scottish Care. Consultancy, employment, secondment and job share opportunities considered. Employment is the default position

Please contact [email protected] for an information pack and application form. For further information please telephone Margaret McKeith (National Lead, Partners for Integration) on 07415979729.

Closing date 4pm, Monday 15th October 2018

Interviews will be held in Dumfries, date to be confirmed