Some highlights from the recent care at home and housing support conference:
- There were more providers than ever at the event.. does this mean they are ready to engage/looking for guidance?
- There was discussion on the investment into care at home services as the future of care
- Many speakers openly condemned 15 minute visits as a whole – and in my talk I attempted to push this further… should we be commissioning based on time at all?!
Discussion on the value of support staff and concern surrounding:
- – the ‘ageing staff generation’
- – poor terms and conditions
- – expectations vs. reward
- – making staff genuine partners
- Trusting staff to do their jobs and know their roles and the people they support
- But… there weren’t many front line staff in attendance – I wonder what their response would have been?
However, later in the event there was a comment from Colin Angel,ย Policy and Campaigns Director at United Kingdom Homecare Association who said that staff should be aware that CCTV is easy to install.. and they can be watched and broadcast!ย I know I was certainly uneasy about the tension between trusting staff and making them partners and threat
Care Inspectorate
It was also great to have representation from the Care Inspectorate there to discuss maintaining public faith and changes and improvements in care services across Scotland. The best stats?ย We have 4 times as many people getting home care than in hospital -98% of that care is bring delivered well or better !
The debate on SDS stressed a few things:
- INFORMATION IS KEY! (speaking of… have a wee look atย http://pilotlight.iriss.org.uk/self-directed-support)
- SDS is a real opportunity for people.. but also for providers to respond to emerging demands.
- It can be a real postcode lottery as each local authority has a different approach and some aren’t in the best interest of people who access support
- Relationships must be at the core of SDS – it isn’t a way to repackage existing failing systems.
If you weren’t able to make the day and want to see some other folks’ highlights- it’s all available on the tagย #careathome2014.