Care Homes and Monitoring

Introduction:

Continuing on from my conversation with Tony Stowell the recognition of the service that our care home staff provide to all ranges of residents from the young, the sick or the older individual their dedication has been deeply valued by the communities they work in. However, as I said in the previous article we do not want those who are not showing the strength of character of their peers reflecting purely on the sector.

Monitoring:

In terms of monitoring, both Tony and I spoke at length about the need for monitoring changes to reflect a tougher framework for investigation. We acknowledged that organisations will never be able to address stressors in the sector if they do not see this and the current framework will only put extra pressures on staff. Improving what monitoring and inspections teams are looking for will not address the issue if there are methods in place whereby management can demonstrate one area which may not be the true reflection of the organisation. This would easily be remedied by surprise visits and yes as with any inspection this would cause short term stress but when these visits are known about in advance it places additional pressures on staff and management to meet these needs. The second element needs to ensure that reports point out flaws but give a road map for improvement as with no clear areas for improvement that must be met. Now abstract targets are often difficult for organisations to make changes in, why is this? Because current systems of grading will remove public confidence, reduce funding which increases pressure which then promotes a vicious circle of a challenge for organisations and businesses and impacts the residents and staff the most.

Funding:

Once we solve the funding challenges for a care home we will be able to provide a more suitable method of retaining staff by allowing those within and joining the sector to have a solid and long term prospect of fair employment. That way we can ensure our vulnerable residents are getting the care they deserve and need as well as making sure that staff are provided with the correct resources to be able to do high quality of service for years to come. We want to ensure that the sector is able to deliver this and will do so in a way that allows it to develop into the future. Now part of the solution has to be in ensuring that we use our resources to the best of our ability and we can do this by making sure that as many individuals as possible can get the treatment in the right places and in the right way. This can be at home care where they receive the support of professionals who can either help repurpose the relatives home and offers provisions to ensure that the relatives are able to not only safeguard their family members but make sure that they can maximise their independence. If they are able to have their independence this will reduce the number of individuals in care homes reducing the pressure on the organisations. Thereby having a lower staff to resident ratio which then allows for a more specialised care regardless of the individuals circumstances the reduced financial pressure can also then allow for more training and development of staff. We can do more by restructuring how we see care as a supported service offering reviews of the individual’s profile and looking at what support can be provided to the individual to prevent an escalation of the provisions necessary without solely resulting in increasing the funding. Although as we see a rise in the ageing population we must ensure this sector sees all forms of support and measures established.