Caring Times Latest – June 5th 2013

Spurious phone calls claiming checks must be made on medication procedures have been made to Wolverhampton care homes.

A warning has now been issued by the City Council’s Quality Assurance and Compliance (QA&C) department urging private sector care managers to be on their guard.

A female caller, who has already contacted two homes, claimed to be working with the newly-formed Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)which replaced the Primary Care Trusts. She said she needed to “look at inspecting and auditing medication, staff training, which pharmacy the home uses and various other subjects.”

Suspicions were raised when it was discovered the phone number of the caller was out of use. The CCG said that checks across several departments had not identified who this lady is, or why these calls are being made.

Caring Times latest – 4th June, 2013

Care home owners in Birmingham are demanding back payments on fees for their services after a new city council-commissioned report highlighted they were being short-changed by more than £260 a month.

Senior council officers are now facing a call from more than 130 private sector operators in the region to hold an emergency cabinet meeting to thrash out the discrepancies. The draft report, carried out by accountants and research analysts KPMG, has bought to a head a long-standing disagreement between the council and care operators over the “real cost of care.”

The report, based on the Open Book Accounting initiative supported by WMCA, involved care providers disclosing their accounts to KPMG so that costs for private sector care could be established by an independent body. Care home owners have long argued that bed fees for council-funded … Read More »

Caring Times, June 2013

Major changes have been made in the upper echelons of the Care Quality Commission, with a number of senior people leaving the organisation.

Director of finance and corporate services John Lappin announced he had a new post last year but agreed to stay on to finalise CQC’s budget for 2013/14 and deputy chief executive Jill Finney left CQC in February to take up a senior role in the private sector.

Louise Guss, director of governance and legal services, is to leave at the end of May, as is director of operations delivery Amanda Sherlock. Director of human resources Allison Beale will leave in September.

In a statement, CQC said the restructured senior management team would consist of the chief executive, chief inspectors, director of strategy, director of change and director of corporate services.

“Together with a strengthening of the board under … Read More »

Caring Times, May 2013

A national programme of support for registered managers has been launched by the National Skills Academy for Social Care. The programme aims to better-equip registered managers to meet the challenges they face, to reduce their isolation by networking them at local and national level, and enabling to recognise their leadership role.

Speaking at the programme’s launch in March, care services minister Norman Lamb said the Department of Health recognised the valuable role registered managers play in delivering quality services.

“We have also heard the message that registered managers often feel isolated and need more support in their role,” said Mr Lamb.

“We commissioned the Skills Academy to look at how registered managers can be better supported.The programme will make a real difference to registered managers, providing the practical help and support they need. I feel it is another step forward … Read More »

Caring Times, May 2013

National older people’s charity Independent Age is concerned that council spending on social care will be cut still further as a consequence of a planned reduction in central government’s funding allocation to local authorities. The charity also points to the confusion surrounding the Government’s partial adoption of the Dilnot proposals to cap an individual’s contribution to the cost of their own care.

“We are extremely worried to see a new further one percent reduction in local council budgets from 2014-15 announced in the Budget, on top of those previously confirmed,” said Independent Age chief executive, Janet Morrison.

“This will inevitably mean cuts to essential social care services, which make up most councils’ largest item of expenditure, and extra pressure on older people, their families and carers already struggling to access care and support.

“These further cuts threaten to overshadow the … Read More »

Caring Times, May 2013

Arts Council England and the Baring Foundation have opened a £1m fund to help transform the lives of older people in residential care by providing them with quality arts experiences.

The Arts and older people in care grant, jointly funded by both organisations, will support older people in care homes to take part in arts activities, tailored towards their needs. Over the next three years, experiences supported by the fund will encourage older people to become actively involved in the arts, both as audience members and as participants.

Arts Council England chair Peter Bazalgette said the arts could make a real contribution to the lives of older people living in care homes.

“Recent studies have shown that taking part in arts activities gives older people the chance to express themselves creatively, encourages them to socialise more, and increases their enjoyment … Read More »

Caring Times, April 2013

Eighty per cent of care home residents – more than ever thought before – have either dementia or severe memory problems according to an Alzheimer’s Society report published in February.

However, while excellent care exists, the report – Low Expectations – says less than half of these 322,000 people are enjoying a good quality of life. Low Expectations finds evidence of a deep-seated pessimism about life in care homes. Only 41% of relatives surveyed by the Alzheimer’s Society reported that their loved ones enjoyed good quality of life.

Despite this, three quarters (74%) of relatives would recommend their family member’s care home.

The report also points to a severe image crisis facing the care sector. According to a YouGov public poll commissioned by the charity, 70% of UK adults say they would be fairly or very scared of going into … Read More »

Caring Times, April 2013

An independent ‘opt-in’ survey of residents in care homes operated by small group providers has shown that nearly half (45.6%) say the quality of service they received in the last six months was improving and 95.3% of residents are likely to recommend their care home to a friend.

Conducted by healthcare research specialists Howard Warwick Associates (HWA) as part of the nationwide ‘Care to Talk’ survey of care home residents, the survey polled more than a thousand residents from 43 independent care home groups during November and December 2012. Each home had a minimum of 15 residents and there were no more than five homes in any group.

“All too often we are confronted with negative images of care homes but our survey results clearly demonstrate that standards have improved and residents are enjoying a good quality of life,” said … Read More »

Caring Times, April 2013

The need to slash spending on frontline patient services appears to have been one of the key factors behind the fall in vital care standards at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, it was claimed following publication of the Francis report on the underlying causes of the corporate and individual failings that led to so many unnecessary deaths.

The Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) said the financial pressures on the Mid Staffordshire Trust had been considerable as it prepared for foundation status. RNHA chief executive Frank Ursell said there was a direct link between the amount of money available for frontline services at any moment in time, the level of demand for those services, and the standards of care being provided.

“In the light of the Francis report, we in the long-term care sector are concerned on two fronts,” said … Read More »

Caring Times, March 2013

Reintroducing ratings to regulated care services would benefit the public as well as health and social care providers and commissioners, is the major finding of a joint discussion paper issued in January by the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) and the National Care Forum (NCF).

The report, Information is power: why ratings of care services need to return, outlines inadequacies in how people choose and analyse care, and urges a way forward. It argues that, in an increasingly complex care quality environment, a plethora of different policy initiatives and agencies, are developing their own approaches to information about quality, making the task of choosing care services very challenging.

Social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), scrapped the old ‘star ratings’, also known as quality ratings, in 2010. Since then, says the report, the numerous options open to the … Read More »