independent care matters · pdf filee-mail: [email protected] a second meeting...

Inside this issue:

Great North Care

Awards 2009—pics

2

Swine Flu -

Vaccinations

Meeting in Skipton

3

3

Care Alliance for

Workforce Develop-

ment—

Care Ambassadors

4

Fairer Fee Forum 5

NYCC dialogue with

independent providers

5

Your letters 6/7

Meds in Home Care 8

NYCC Safeguarding

Tool

5

Great North Care Awards—showcasing excellence

Independent Care Matters the newsletter for independent care providers in York

and North Yorkshire

Issue 20

Autumn 2009

The Great North Care Awards celebrated social care in

great style for the second year running. With more than 18

winners and 80 finalists—all of whom had demonstrated

enthusiasm, personal commitment, and a genuine desire

to have a positive impact on people’s lives—it was the

highlight of the year for social care.

More than 700 guests attended the gala evening which was

hosted by the Independent Care Group (ICG).

The event was made possible by a partnership between

the ICG, North Yorkshire County Council, City of York

Council, Skills for Care and NHS North Yorkshire and York.

Harry Gration of BBC Look North celebrating with the winners

ICG Chair Mike Padgham told the assembled guests ‘For far too long social

care has been the Cinderella of the care professions, starved of the

appreciation it deserves, and far too often blighted by bad publicity.

Well, tonight YOU, who provide excellent, professional care are finally

getting the recognition you so richly deserve.

‘Social care is a network involving people in the public, private and voluntary

sectors. We believe that there needs to be co-operation and mutual

respect across that network and that is why these awards are inclusive to

everyone involved in social care. We all work together to make sure that

the person who needs care and support gets the care they need and every-

one here tonight plays a vital role in providing that support.’ Main Sponsor of GNCA 2009

Independent Care Matters

Special thanks to all our partners and sponsors The biggest social care event held in the North of England—and possibly even the UK—was our second Great

North Care Awards. For the first time we included an award for unpaid carers as well as 17 awards for

individuals and teams. The event Programme, all the shortlisted candidates and all the winners will be on the

ICG website: www.independentcaregroup.com. Here are just some of our stars:

A truly glittering occasion

A big thank you to Lisa Carr & her

great team of helpers for all their

hard work

All 2009 shortlisted candidates

Care Home Manager—Yvonne Clarke

Westwood Care Home, Selby

Care Innovator—Debbie Von Malachowski Wilf Ward Family Trust

Care Newcomer—Stephanie Bates Beaumont Stamford Bridge

Care Trainer—Yvonne Tomlinson

Domus Healthcare

Ancillary worker—Sylvia Wilson Woodlands R & R Centre, York

Hardeep Singh Kholi, Mike Padgham,

Harry Gration and raffle prizes

‘a truly wonderful and

rewarding evening’

‘an excellent

showcase of the

social care sector’

‘a real boost to

staff who are

chosen to attend ‘

‘the atmosphere was

electric’

‘a super venue and the

food was delicious’

Home Care Worker—Susan McGovern

Continued Care from Oakville, Harrogate

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Advertisement

In North Yorkshire and York plans are being

drawn up for NHS teams to visit some of the

larger care homes either to give the vaccinations

(residential homes) or to work with nurses in the

nursing homes to give the vaccinations.

For home care and supported living, and staff in

the smaller homes, the plan will be to ask people

to arrange an appointment with their own GP as

soon as there is sufficient vaccine available to

promote this. At the moment supplies are limited

and surgeries are working hard to make sure

patients in the at risk categories are offered

immunisation. As soon as the vaccine is avail-

able a letter will be circulated and managers will

be asked to give a copy of this to eligible staff

who will then arrange an appointment.

Contact: Kate Lloyd

Senior Public Health Nurse

01845 573 843

E-mail: [email protected]

A second meeting organised by ICG to enable care

providers to meet with the PCT was held recently in

Skipton. The purpose of the meeting was to hear the

latest news on flu pandemic planning and have the

opportunity to raise issues and ask questions.

Derek Bartrop, Head of Emergency Planning, pictured

here with providers (blue shirt), explained that often

announcements were made in London by the Dept of

Health which then took time to implement in the regions.

Providers questioned the advice to put in place

agreements with other providers and voluntary sector

organisations—to help in an emergency—when advice

from the local NHS Trust was that in the case of any

infection in a care home all visitors should be banned.

People attending the event found the time given for

discussion and sharing experiences was very valuable.

Swine flu planning—meeting for

care providers held at Skipton

Swine Flu—Vaccination Programme

for care staff—wait to hear


The Care Alliance for Workforce Development

(CAWD) has been set up with three lead

partners—ICG, NYCC and Wilf Ward Family

Trust and a range of other partners—to help

employers to gain access to useful information

on leadership and management, recruitment

and retention, help with Skills for Life basic

skills, and other workforce priorities

It is supported by Skills for Care and managed

by ICG. CAWD ran a series of successful

events for employers this summer. More are

planned. Other key partners in CAWD include:

• Selby College

• Craven College

• North Yorkshire Learning Consortium

• City of York Council

• Avalon

• St Anne’s Community Services

• Jobcentre Plus

For more information contact ICG on

01423 816 582.

CAWD lead partners:

Jackie Ridley (NYCC), Rachael Ross (SfC) Keren Wilson (ICG)

and Steve Liddle (WWFT)

A very special Care

Ambassador

Mrs Winnie Hudson aged

103, who lives at The

Millings Residential Home in

Bedale, has become our first ‘service user’

Care Ambassador.

Winnie was inspired by the manager of The

Millings, Sandra Anderson, and two of her

staff who are all Care Ambassadors.

Winnie says ‘I think working in care is a

wonderful job. I would have loved it had I

been younger. You need to be interested in

people and enjoy their company. I am very

well looked after. I don’t need a lot of help

but when I lived on my own I kept having bad

falls. I can be active here with no worries.’

Recruitment and retention is always an issue for

care providers—how do you attract the right

kind of applicant?

We think that having trained Care Ambassadors

within your organisation can really help you.

CAWD is running a Care Ambassador Programme

which is managed by NYCC and jointly funded by

CAWD and NYCC.

What is the Care Ambassador Programme about?

Our appointed officer Michael Watt, who works

within NYCC but for the whole care sector explains:

‘This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of some-

thing really positive! And the training is free.

‘We now have more than 30 Care Ambassadors.

These are experienced care workers who want to

encourage and inspire others to consider a career in

social care, by telling them about the work they do,

the opportunities and rewards.

‘Care Ambassadors are chosen by their employers for

their enthusiasm, the ability to identify with people

from all backgrounds, and a passion for their work.’

The scheme was launched lo-

cally in April 2009 and in its first

six months different

Ambassadors have attended 13

events, ranging from stands at

careers fairs to the launch of the

new Society Health and

Development Diploma.

Michael adds ‘ We want to

continue this success and need people who are com-

mitted and eager to promote the social care work

they do. Training will be provided to equip new Care

Ambassadors with all the skills they’ll need to carry

out presentations with confidence.’

Do you know someone in your team who has got

what it takes to be a Care Ambassador—to promote

the sector and recruit for your organisation?

Contact Michael Watt on 01609 798 541 or e-mail

Working in Partnership for

North Yorkshire and York

Michael Watt

Fairer Fee Forum presents in York More than 80 people represent-

ing a large number of care

providers in York and North

Yorkshire attended a meeting

in York to hear a presentation

from the Fairer Fee Forum on

how to take forwards the case

to persuade local authorities to

pay the true cost of care.

Aston Brookes Solicitors laid

out the case for a national

approach to the insufficient fees problem which involves them building a case to take

to Judicial Review. They told providers that Cherie Booth QC had agreed to take the

case and that the Forum is supported by Richard Briers.

ICG has reminded providers that if they are concerned about fee rates this provides

them with an opportunity to sign up to take collective action through the Fairer Fee

Forum. This is something that they have to decide and commit to. Aston Brookes

guarantees anonymity to providers who sign up to take action.

People who were unable to attend the meeting can obtain the Aston Brookes slides

and details of how to get involved, from ICG by e-mailing:

[email protected]

The Fairer Fee Forum website is: www.fairerfeeforum.org

North Yorkshire to launch Safeguarding Self Audit Tool for Providers

The newly revamped contracting and quality team at North Yorkshire have developed a self audit for Safeguarding within provider organisations. The tool has been shared with the ICG Board members who have endorsed its use.

Safeguarding is a major priority in North Yorkshire and the Council is keen to both work with providers to improve their Safeguarding processes and to see where providers rate themselves in this area. The self audit tool will be sent to all providers during December and assistance will be offered to providers who feel after completing the audit that their processes could be improved. In the future the team will be undertaking quality assurance visits to all providers and as part of this process the self audits will be checked.

This initiative is the first of a number that will be put into place over the coming months. The Independent Care Group Board will be consulted on these and Mike Webster the new Assistant Director will explain in the next issue how these will help to ensure and demonstrate the existence of good quality provision in the County.

Care and Support in North Yorkshire

Shaping the Market - a dialogue with the independent sector

Adult and Community Services (ACS) and NHS North Yorkshire will shortly be publishing a discussion document called ‘Shaping the Care Market’. This will give the independent sector the opportunity to comment on a series of proposals from ACS and its NHS partners about steps that may be taken to make the future care market in North Yorkshire locally responsive to emerging needs. The paper sets out the main challenges the sector faces and then focuses on two main questions:

∗ How will the independent sector meet the

challenges ahead such as the growth of personal budgets and changing patterns of demand?

∗ How can the way the County Council and the

independent sector work together be improved and what changes might need to be made to such things as contractual and pricing arrangements?

There will be a two month period for the sector to comment on the issues raised in the discussion and these views will be incorporated into future changes that may be made, including a procurement programme. The discussion document will be circulated electronically to all providers and will be available through the County Council website. A separate paper that sets out information that is known about supply, demand and quality in the care market locally will also be available.

The Independent Care Group has been involved in the planning of this exercise and is encouraging the sector to respond to the issues raised. Watch out for further news.

Mike Webster

Your letters ...


Dear ICG

CQC Inspection trauma

I write to seek the views of other ICG members who have recently been inspected by the CQC.

We have historically been rated as a good home by the CSCI and had optimistically hoped to be

upgraded to excellent. We had always found the CSCI inspectors to be extremely thorough and highly

efficient but who adopted a general tone of encouragement, giving praise where due.

The inspection we have just received from the CQC was utterly different with regard to the general

approach. The inspector was undoubtedly highly knowledgeable, very bright and extremely thorough

(the inspection took 10 hours) but her approach was, in my opinion diabolical for the following reasons:

1) She arrived and before she had sat down had suggested that she thought that she had unearthed a

case of abuse against us which transpired to be based on a ridiculous and totally false assumption on

her part resulting in her immediately dropping the allegation.

2) She seemed to dismiss anything that was positive about the home - i.e. the excellent results that had

been received from the survey of visiting professionals, and jumped on any potentially negative issue

before fully investigating the issue in question.

3) The staff said that they had felt traumatised by the inspection and found the inspector's attitude very

confrontational and on one occasion raised her voice to our head cook - again regarding a very trivial

matter.

4) During the inspection she adopted quite a threatening tone with our care manager and on several

occasions made reference to being 'called to the Coroner's Court' and saying that it would be 'her head

on the block'.

5) One of our more recent care worker recruits said that 'you could cut the atmosphere in the home with

a knife' during the inspection which surely must have been felt by our residents.

6) She made numerous subjective remarks about the home which we felt were inappropriate e.g. She

stated that she felt that the decor in the home was 'a bit bland'.

6) When she left the home at the end of the inspection she made no attempt to shake hands with our

care manager.

At the time of writing we have not received her report and accordingly wait with trepidation!

Name and address supplied

We do not believe it is helpful when inspections are carried out in this manner—Editor

Note: CQC replaced CSCI as the new health and social care regulator in April this year

Dear ICG

I am writing to tell you about the recent Safeguarding Adults training we have done with NYCC.

Attendees at the training sessions were from both the independent sector and the Council. I have

found it very helpful to combine our training needs with the North Yorkshire Workforce

Development team because it gives us the skills we need and shows us what NYCC Social

Services are being trained in.

I would recommend to other providers joining up with NYCC for courses

including ‘Safeguarding vulnerable adults Level 1 Alerter champions’ -

responders and referrers. The course was free and sending our trainers on this

course has benefited all our staff.

Thank you to ICG for keeping us informed of all the courses.

Nicola Pagett, Harrogate Care at Home

Dear ICG

CQC Inspection

Following our recent CQC inspection, the inspect-ing officer commented that our statement of purpose and AQAA did not reflect enough diversity. She suggested several ways to improve this in her opinion for example lesbian and gay symbols and signs displayed, statements to say we could provide specialist magazines. Our statement of purpose says that we welcome and celebrate the diversity of people in our community and in this home, in the following ways: ‘Positively communicating to our residents that their diverse backgrounds enhance the life of the Home. Respecting and providing for the eth-nic, cultural, sexual and religious practices of our residents.’

I also explained that I could source any product or magazine if a service user so wished from The Angling Times to the Gay Times.

I even went to a meeting in Leeds with the officer and her superior to dispute the fact that we did not cover all the strands of diversity, before our in-spection report was published. Stating how many other homes actually have a suite of rooms va-cant with a double bed in for anyone to occupy (not just married couples) However this was to no avail, I frankly do not know what more realistically we could do for our elderly service users. Name and address supplied

Dear ICG

Relatives seeking fully funded NHS

care (sometimes retrospectively)

More and more now, relatives are

requesting a special review of

eligibility for fully funded NHS

Continuing Healthcare (CHC).

While we support them, this causes an

enormous amount of work for the care

home—work which is not funded.

Last week I forwarded copies of notes

of a resident who was in the home

from 19/04/04—19/10/07. We had to

photocopy 336 pages which took 3hrs

plus postage which was over £4. I

questioned CHC about the cost and

was told that we are obliged to pro-

vide the notes.

I recall previously a CHC official call-

ing at the home, reviewing the notes

and taking copies if required, but it

appears it is no longer done this way.

Although this is not an every day

occurrence, more and more people are

appealing or requesting special review

and I feel it is very unfair to expect

Care Home providers to yet again bear

the cost.

What are the feelings of other Care

Homes? Are they having similar ex-

periences?

Name and address supplied

Issue 20

The voice of independent care

providers in York and N Yorkshire

Phone: 01423 816 582

Mobile: 07766 714 157

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www. Independentcaregroup.co.uk

ICG is a care association which represents

independent care providers in York and North

Yorkshire including care home providers for all

client groups, domiciliary care agencies, sup-

ported living and extra care housing providers,

and day centres in the private and voluntary parts

of the independent sector.

ICG address: Keren Wilson Chief Executive Independent Care Group 5 Beechwood Grove HARROGATE HG2 8QP.

Independent Care Matters is sent currently to

all care providers in York and North Yorkshire;

all City Councillors; all County Councillors; Chief

Executives of NY&Y PCT, Borough and District

Councils & NHS Trusts; to all local MPs and MEPs

and to senior managers at NYCC & CYC.

More than 80 home care providers attended a meeting organised by ICG

and Sandra Sweeney, Senior Pharmacist at the PCT in order to clarify

confusion around medication management in people’s own homes. Many

care workers fail to recognise the difference between 'Administration'

and 'Assistance'. There continues to be an emphasis on encouraging

people to be independent and this seems to have clouded the issue on

what constitutes administration with its required record keeping on MAR

charts. Both Sandra and Steve Baker, Regional Lead Pharmacist of CQC

stressed that compliance aids such as blister packs are only useful when

they maintain a person’s independence - rather than these, it is preferable for care staff to

administer from traditional containers which are individually labelled. Staff may only administer

medicine from a container labelled by a pharmacist.

Mike Webster, Assistant Director Contracting, Procurement and Quality Assurance at NYCC and

Kathy Clark, Assistant Director of Commissioning and Partnerships at CYC also spoke at the meeting.

If you would like the slides from the event, please e-mail: [email protected]

Safe Handling of Medicines in Domiciliary Care Meeting

Sandra Sweeney, Snr Pharmacist at the PCT,

Keren Wilson of ICG, Steve Baker of CQC and

Mike Webster, Assistant Director at NYCC.

independent care matters · pdf filee-mail: [email protected] a second meeting...

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