Care Academy Blog

Refreshed Common Induction Standards

Skills for Care has announced the refreshed Common Induction Standards (CIS) designed to better reflect current policy and practice.

The new CIS have been expanded to include 8 standards (up from 6) but are still expected to be completed within the first 12 weeks of employment.

The new standards are as follows:

Standard 1 Role of the health and social care worker

Standard 2 Personal development

Standard 3 Communicate effectively

Standard 4 Equality and Inclusion

Standard 5 Principles for implementing duty of care

Standard 6 Principles of safeguarding in health and social care

Standard 7 Person centred support

Standard 8 Health and safety in an adult social care setting

Full details about the new standards can be found on Skills for Care website.

Skills for Care has confirmed that their will be a 12 month transition period to enable care providers to integrate the new standards.

Care Academy is currently undertaking a cross-mapping exercise with a view to updating our CIS e-learning programmes once this is complete. We anticipate having the refreshed CIS standards available for use by our clients in September this year, keeping us well ahead of the 12 month deadline. We will provide an interim update as progress is made towards developing the new standards.

Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions or would like to discuss the new CIS standards in greater detail.

Care Academy client 'Carewatch' awarded three star rating by CQC.

They say that news travels fast on the web, although sometimes it takes a while to reach our consciousness. This is just such a story. 

We recently discovered that one of our clients (Carewatch Kingston upon Thames) is not only performing extremely well against a back-drop of regulatory change and uncertainty, but positively flourishing. Following their last Care Quality Commission inspection, Carewatch were awarded a coveted 'three-star excellent service' rating with a glowing report stating:

The provider is clearly committed to ensuring that people receive a high quality of
service from well trained staff. This ethos is communicated clearly to the managers and
staff working within the service.
 
A good training programme is in place alongside regular carers meetings, supervision
and newsletters.

It's even more pleasing, when Care Academy is cited (By Care Quality Commission Inspectors no less!) as playing a small yet significant part in helping them achieve their success - an accolade not many e-learning providers can claim!

For those who would like to find out more - please read on.

Back in the summer of 2009 Veronica Miller, owner of Carewatch Kingston upon Thames decided to investigate how e-learning could help her business address five key issues:

• Ensuring care workers are compliant with the latest mandatory training.
• Managing and delivering training programmes across a workforce with diverse training needs.
• Accessing specialist training courses at an affordable price.
• Preparing and collating management reports in readiness for industry inspections (Care Quality Commission).
• Training administration was inefficient and time intensive.

After conducting a thorough review of the market, Veronica decided that Care Academy offered by far the best overall package in terms of content, innovation and value for money. Just over six months later and with a very successful Care Quality Commission inspection report under their belt, Carewatch Kingston have every right to be pleased with their three star rating - just reward for all their hard work and commitment.

To read about the impressive results Carewatch has achieved in the short time since introducing Care Academy, click here to download our case study.

To discuss how Care Academy can help transform your organisation please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

 

Making it Personal: A Provider's Journey From Tradition to Transformation

Since the launch of the 'Putting People First' many organisations have been struggling to understand what exactly 'Personalisation' means and more importantly how to plan and implement changes accordingly.

'Making It Personal: A Provider's Journey From Tradition to Transformation' provides a fascinating insight into how leading learning disability provider 'Dimensions' has re-invented itself to meet the challenges in delivering 'Personalisation'.

'Since 2008, Dimensions has been grappling with the challenge of delivering personalised services. Leaving aside the debate about the future of residential care, they decided to transform their organisation to one that responds flexibly to individuals with a budget who will want bespoke support. Dimensions felt that if they did not consider and respond to the shift in power from the professionals to the customer, they would not survive.'

Written by Executive Director Steve Scown, the tone is charmingly frank and open detailing;

'how Dimensions changed what they offer people and their families by breaking down every aspect of their ’bundled’ support packages. He talks about developing a more sophisticated cost model for one-off, fixed-term and on-going personalised support components. He also explains how Dimensions is developing a web portal that means everyone - the people they employ, the people they support and their families - will all have the same means of accessing all information.'

This book is essential reading for anyone grappling with putting 'Personalisation' into practice and provides reassurance that you are not alone!

Skills Accounts now live

The much lauded personalised Skills Accounts have moved beyond their trial period and are now available online.

The accounts have been developed to enable individuals to learn a new skill or even completely change their career direction. They are available to all individuals and upon registration, learners will be provided with a 'notional' fund to help pay for additional training.

Skills Accounts are an integral part of the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service (AACS). Over time, the online portal will become more closely integrated and aligned with other information and services delivered through Directgov (e.g. Careers Advice).

Currently restricted to the education sector, Skills Accounts are expected to encompass all training providers over the next few months.

It will be interesting to see how care provider's, trainer's and individuals make sense of the current 'shake-up' in funding streams over the next 12 months or so and whether Skills Accounts actually make a difference!

Skills Funding Agency News

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has issued the latest in a series of 'Guidance Notes' designed to communicate changes (primarily in funding) to the sector.

Not surprisingly it contains a few points worth noting:

• During 2010/11 the SFA will be introducing a minimum contract level of £250,000. Providers who fall below this threshold will be encouraged to form partnerships and sub-contract work accordingly.
• Where applicable, employer contributions will increase from 47.5% to 50%.
• Large employers (1000+ employees) will see an up front 25% rate reduction for all 19+ learners on Train to Gain and Apprenticeships. Both public and private sector organisations will be included along with any provision delivered through National Employer Service (NES).
• 50% reduction in funding for any second qualification including both level 2 and level 3.

It appears that the continued financial pressures on training providers who depend on a 'funded' business model are set to increase and perhaps that is part of the reason we are seeing many small companies either folding or 'for sale'. It will be interesting to understand the framework within which the proposed 'partnerships' will operate, although details are scarce at present.

Care Quality Commission Quick Guide to Registration.

The Care Quality Commissions new registration system becomes effective for all adult social care providers from October 2010.

Registration is a legal licence to operate, with providers being monitored against a new set of standards for quality and safety. To help providers understand and prepare for registration, CQC has produced a series of 'Quick Guides' which can be accessed from their website www.cqc.org.uk

Latest Care Academy Clients

In the last month we have seen a number of new clients choose Care Academy to help deliver their regulatory and compliance training including Enham, Care Staff Solutions, L'Arche, Insignia and Nursing Solutions.

Enham's vision is a society where disabled people are valued as individuals and are enabled to achieve their full potential through the choice of independence and the opportunity to work.

From housing and employment to personal development and care, Enham delivers a wide range of essential services that provide choice and empower people to make their own decisions about their lives.

Enham also operates a number of Commercial Enterprises. These provide direct employment opportunities for disabled people, improve access to essential products and services and generate income to support Enham’s charitable objectives.

To find out more please visit their web site: www.enham.org.uk

Carestaff Solutions is a local company in the North West that specialises in providing temporary Support Workers in the local area. We recruit temporary staff close to our service user base and consequently pride ourselves on our 100% reliability record.

We aim to work in partnership with our clients in order to provide a consistent and reliable service that compliments existing ones.

Carestaff Solutions provides an on-call service from your local office staffed by trained consultants who can deal with any emergencies which may arise - we never close!

To find out more please visit their web site: www.carestaffsolutions.co.uk

L'Arche is a family of 130 communities in 30 countries worldwide. In L'Arche communities people with learning disabilities and their assistants live and work together. L’Arche means ‘The Ark’ in French. L'Arche has nine Communities in the UK. Another 2 are being planned. They are all ordinary houses and real homes. More than 100 people with learning disabilities live there.

To find out more please visit their web site: www.larche.org.uk

Nursing Solutions is both a registered Nursing Agency and Domiciliary Care Agency with offices in the south west of England and Wales. Nursing Solutions recruits and supplies all grades of Qualified Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and Support Workers to a variety of care settings including nursing and residential homes, hospitals, Local Health Authorities and Local Government. To find out more please visit: www.nursingsolutions.co.uk

Get Online at Home

Home Access is a government initiative designed to help low income families purchase computer and internet access for use at home. The grants are designed to encourage families to access and undertake online learning and personal development programmes.

Care Academy currently provides online training and workforce development solutions to many leading charities and voluntary sector organisations, and it's clear that many of their staff may well benefit from these grants. This programme complements our previous news release about SCIE funding broadband and wifi for care providers via Get Connected which is just about to launch it's second round of funding.

Naturally, we welcome any initiatives that helps to build capacity within the health and social care sectors and enables as many organisations and individuals as possible to benefit from our training and qualifications.

Free Infection Prevention and Control Training offer extended

Following the launch of our earlier Infection Prevention and Control e-learning offer we were inundated with requests to participate from organisations of all sizes. However, with only 25 corporate licences available, inevitably some customers were going to be disappointed! Those lucky enough to secure access included; Crossroads Care, Nursing Solutions, Bickham House, Linc-Cymru Housing Association, Alternative Futures Group, First Choice Homecare and Recruitment and Jewish Care.

For many, this was their first opportunity to experience the benefits of delivering training via e-learning and was particularly timely given the importance Care Quality Commission (CQC) are placing on IPC training!

To date, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many of the lucky organisations looking to extend their use of Care Academy to deliver both mandatory and specialist training.

Typical of the feedback we have received includes:

'All 26 staff have now completed on time (Infection Prevention and control).....some staff used the computer for the first time ever, grappling with the mouse, was a feat in itself. Once again thank you'.
(Bickham House)

Building upon the momentum developed by our first IPC promotion, we are again offering 25 corporate licences to new customers who will be able to train up to 50 users per licence. As before, these are offered on a 'first come first served basis'.

As an added bonus, we will also provide access to our innovative policy management solution Policy-Safe ensuring the successful applicants are able to demonstrate 'best-practice' to industry regulators.

To discuss the offer in more detail, please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or download our application form.

Policy-Safe helping clients prepare for CQC registration.

In order to comply with The Health and Social Care Act 2008, many of our customers are currently busy preparing to register with Care Quality Commission (CQC) by October 2010. The new system promises to bring many significant changes, not least, a much more robust system of monitoring, compliance and enforcement against a whole new set of regulations. Unannounced inspections are set to replace scheduled visits from inspectors which in the words of CQC:

Registration means that all health and adult social care providers will be required to be registered with us if they provide regulated activities.

Registration isn't just about the initial application for registration. We will:

• Continuously monitor compliance with essential standards as part of a new more dynamic, responsive and robust system of regulation.
• Seek information from patients and public representative groups, and from organisations such as other regulators and the National Patient Safety Agency.

If we have concerns that a provider is not meeting essential standards of quality and safety, we will act quickly, working closely with commissioners and others, and using our new enforcement powers if necessary.

Effective Policy Management Key to Success

Most organisations appreciate that effective policy management is key to preparing to meet the new regulatory environment. At a corporate level, having a robust policy management system goes to the very heart of good governance and yet many care providers fail to ensure their key policies and procedures are delivered, tracked, understood and accepted by their workforce. At a workforce development level, many of the new regulations will demand that care workers have received appropriate training, including access to appropriate policies and procedures such as Administration of Medication and Infection Prevention and Control.

The key question is: 'Are you confident that both your training and policies and procedures are delivered in a manner that will withstand scrutiny under the new regime'?

Step Forward Policy-Safe

A simple yet extremely effective online solution to all your policy management headaches.

In short, Policy-Safe enables customers to develop an organisation-wide policy management solution which provides:

• Senior Management with clear, demonstrable evidence of meeting governance accountabilities to industry regulators.
• Compliance Managers with end-to-end control over policy communications and immediate visibility of potential risks and breaches.
• Policy Administrators with instant efficiencies and cost savings from automated policy life-cycle management.

Key features and benefits of using Policy-Safe include:

Benefits

• Demonstrate rigorous governance and control.
• Respond dynamically to regulatory changes.
• Avoid compliance and security breaches arising from lack of policy awareness.
• Identify and correct inadequate customer support processes.
• Cut costs resulting from operational inefficiencies.
• Retain complete visibility and control over policy-related risks.
• Prevent damage to reputation and brand.

Policy creation

• Ability to support collaborative drafting of policies.
• Importing of existing policies held as Microsoft Word or PDF documents.
• Ability to easily assign different attributes and properties to different documents.
• Privacy and confidentiality ‘Chinese Walls’ between operational departments.

Policy review

• Workflow processes for approval and sign-off.
• Automatic reminders to policy administrators to review policies.
• Automated version control.

Presentation of policy documents

• Controlled presentation of documents to employees via links from within Care Academy.
• Single or multiple documents in one publication (batch).
• Timescales for agreement.
• Facility to schedule policy communication in advance.
• Automatic presentation of policies to employees when changing roles in the organisation.
• Role-based communication i.e. different documents to different groups of employees.
• Access for employees to a personalised policy library.

Testing Awareness

• Optional testing of employee understanding of a policy.
• Variable pass marks.
• Flexible actions in the event of poor policy comprehension e.g. re-do, mark as non-compliant.
• Ability for users to see the results of tests if required for use as a learning aid.
• Surveys for gathering information.

Auditing and Reporting

• Comprehensive management information and audit trails on compliance.
• Security on reporting e.g. restrict the Compliance department to running reports on just compliance-related policies.
• Export reports.

To find out more about Policy-Safe please call 0161 228 1712 or contact us via our on-line form.

Autistic Spectrum Disorders e-learning course

Following the government's commitment in 2009 to develop a comprehensive strategy for Autism, the Autism Act 2009 became the first ever disability specific law in England.

The Autism Act will guarantee the introduction of a national autism strategy which will set out how services should be improved covering health, social care, employment and training. Importantly, it will place a legal obligation on local authorities and NHS bodies to meet specific requirements and is expected to be published by April 2010 with the accompanying legal guidance due by December 2010.

A key tenet of the Autism strategy is likely to be the development of specialist autism teams aimed at improving diagnosis, training and developing capacity to support adults with autism. As part of this momentum, Skills for Care has launched additional knowledge sets to include; 'Supporting People with an autistic spectrum condition'. These knowledge sets will be used to establish learning disability focused vocational qualifications as part of the new Qualifications and Credit Framework.

In response to the introduction of the Autism Strategy, Care Academy is pleased to announce the launch of our latest course; 'Supporting people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders' which has been mapped to the required Skills for Care knowledge set. In summary the course outline is as follows:

1. Introduction to Autism.
2. Laws and policies associated with supporting someone with Autistic Spectrum Condition.
3. Supporting someone with an Autistic Spectrum Condition.
4. Supporting the person with Autistic Spectrum Condition through good practice.

To find out more about our Autism e-learning course please call 0161 228 1712 or contact us via our on-line form.

Common Induction Standards now 5 years old!

Launched in 2005 to help improve the standard of training for the social care workforce, the Common Induction Standards have proven to be a valuable resource. However, recent developments such as the Qualification Credit Framework (QCF) mean they are now due an update to ensure they are consistent with current guidelines and continue to provide underpinning knowledge in line with the proposed qualifications.

The first and perhaps most obvious change is the expansion from the current 6 standards to a much more comprehensive 8. Not surprisingly, some of the changes reflect topics which have been extensively reported in national press over the past twelve months, including both Dementia and Nutrition and Well-Being. Although the devil is always in the detail, we are currrently reviewing our Common Induction Standards programme to ensure Care Academy continues to offer a comprehensive and fully compliant package.

As part of the review process, Skills for Care is currently seeking feedback from employers, workers, service users and carers to ensure they remain fit for purpose. To access and participate in the consultation please visit Skills for Care.

What every L&D professional needs to know about e-learning

Towards Maturity is an independent, not for profit organisation with a passion for helping others to improve the impact of learning technologies at  work. The site provides access to a wide range of useful research, resources and case studies aimed at helping individuals and organisations wishing to introduce technology into their learning strategies.

Not surprisingly, the most popular download from the site is: 'What every L&D professional needs to know about e-learning' which is described as follows;

'The free 20-page booklet, helps trainers to understand just how extraordinary the opportunities are for improving the impact, accessibility, flexibility, timeliness, cost-effectiveness and environmental friendliness of learning and development interventions. And most importantly of all, it shows trainers how they can play a vital role in bringing this all about.'

We think everyone will find the site really useful and the booklet provides a good insight into how different organisations are integrating technology into their business.

Understanding Challenging Behaviour in Care course launched

Care Academy is pleased to announce the launch of our latest course, 'Understanding Challenging Behaviour in Care' which whilst being important in it's own right, is perfectly timed to compliment our Level 2 Dementia course.

Given the estimate that some 70% of people living with dementia will exhibit some form of challenging behaviour during their lifetime, it will come as no surprise to discover that it's a subject high on many care providers agenda.

Challenging Behaviour is a complex subject, so it's reassuring to know that our course meets the requirements of Skills for Care Induction Standards, with the key learning outcomes being:

• Explain what challenging behaviour is and possible reasons for it occurring. 
• List the different types of challenging or aggressive behaviour.
• Understand how to manage challenging/aggressive behaviour.
• Understand the importance of your own personal safety when working alone.
• Describe how to identify the risks and how to apply risk assessment procedures to your work.

To find out more about Care Academy please call 0161 228 1712 or contact us via our online form.

Level 2 Dementia Course

The governments first national dementia strategy; 'Living well with Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy' is intended to introduce a structured universal framework for the awareness, training and associated care provision across the health and social care sectors.

The document makes stark reading, with the 700,000 people currently living with dementia set to double within our lifetime to 1.4 million and in doing so, costing the UK economy around £17 billion a year.

The strategy identifies some 17 key objectives, the most pertinent here being:

Objective 11: Living well with dementia in care homes

Improved quality of care for people with dementia in care homes by the development of explicit leadership for dementia within care homes, defining the care pathway there, the commissioning of specialist in-reach services from community mental health teams, and through inspection regimes.

Objective 13: An informed and effective workforce for people with dementia

Health and social care staff involved in the care of people who may have dementia to have the necessary skills to provide the best quality of care in the roles and settings where they work. To be achieved by effective basic training and continuous professional and vocational development in dementia.

Clearly, purchaser's and commissioners will be expecting to see evidence of care providers ability and committment  to delivering against these objective's. Specifically, two areas are worthy of particular note:

• Home care: with two thirds of dementia sufferers living at home, specialist dementia teams are likely to be in high demand.

• Residential care: Similarly, it is estimated that some two thirds of people living in care homes will have dementia. Again, care staff will be required to receive specialist dementia training.

In response to these development's, Care Academy has developed a level 2 Dementia course that not only meets the Skills for Care knowledge sets but has also been cross referenced against the recently released QCF dementia units.

Skills for Care knowledge sets for dementia can be found here: Skills for Care.

By mapping our Dementia course to the proposed QCF units, candidates can be totally confident about it's accuracy and they will also be able to progress onto the full certificated qualification once details have been ratified by Skills for Care.

To find out more about Care Academy please call 0161 228 1712 or contact us via our online form.

Free Infection Prevention and Control Training

With the threat of swine flu now seeming no more than a distant memory, Infection Prevention and Control is still very much a hot topic for the Care Quality Commission. In their recent report; 'Working Together to Prevent and Control Infections', CQC suggest that infection prevention in care homes is inadequate, with many failing to follow guidance documents published by the Department of Health; 'Essential Steps' which provides practical advice on infection control and ' Infection control for care homes'.

In August, the Department of Health launched a consultation on revising the infection control guidance for care homes as part of a wider review on a new code of practice for health and social care providers on infection prevention and control. The draft code contains details of how providers should comply with registration requirements which will come into force for NHS providers in April 2010 and adult care providers in October 2010.

To help organisations prepare to meet their compliance requirements, Care Academy has decided to offer new clients free access to our dedicated 'Infection Prevention and Control' online learning until March 2010.

The course is designed to meet Skills for Care knowledge set for Infection Prevention and Control, covering:

• The cause and spread of infection.
• Preventing and controlling the spread of infection.
• Management of infectious outbreaks.
• Roles, responsibilities and boundaries (this module requires the student to 'understand the organisation's key policies and procedures').

Upon completion, users will be able to download a certificate of completion for their portfolios and managers will be able to access detailed management reports on-demand.

Additionally, as part of this promotion, we will also include access to our unique 'Policy-Safe' solution, enabling client's to deliver, track and confirm acceptance of key policies and procedures which is crucial to achieving compliance. 

The Infection Prevention and Control course will be made available to the first 25 organisations on a 'first come first served' basis and will include a maximium 50 user licence.

To discuss in more detail or to claim your free access, please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

Demand for Administration of Medication training soars!

Following our original post; 'Confusion over Administration of Medication' we have been inundated with requests to purchase our 'Administration of Medication' training course from both single site operators right through to major PLC's. Whilst the recent BBC news item; 'Fears over care home drug errors' has no doubt helped to raise the issue amongst the wider public, the main driver for most of our current clients is the need to meet expectations of CQC inspectors. Care providers are now being asked to demonstrate appropriate training to support Administration of Medication over and above the Safe Handling of Medicines which forms part of the standard Common Induction Standards.

It's reassuring for our clients to know that Care Academys Administration of Medication course has been reviewed by CQC and been approved as meeting the requirement for any inspections.

To find out more about our Administration of Medication course please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via or online form.

SCIE to provide funding for broadband and wifi

The Department of Health has launched a capital investment fund named 'Get Connected' to enable registered providers of adult social care in England to access digital technology more effectively. The fund will be administered by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and is intended to allow those who use, visit or work in adult social care to benefit from the learning, knowledge and access that the internet can bring.

The launch of 'Get Connected' is particularly timely given that Care Quality Commission will require registered providers to provide their returns online from April 2010.

Details of how to apply for the grants will be posted via the SCIE website

If you are considering making a bid once funds have been announced, Care Academy will be pleased to provide support in creating and submitting a bid. To discuss further please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

Advance Housing and Carewatch choose Care Academy.

In recent weeks both Advance Housing and Support and Carewatch have chosen to purchase Care Academy to help them deliver their regulatory and compliance training.

Advance Housing and Support

Advance, based in Witney, West Oxfordshire provide housing, support and employment advice to people who have either a learning disability or mental health problems. Faced with the need to provide specific learning disability training to key staff, Advance reviewed the market and decided Care Academy was the most cost-effective and efficient solution. Our City & Guilds accredited LDQ qualification provides the option to enrol staff immediately, ensuring they are able to complete their qualification in a timely manner at their own pace.

Carewatch (Kingston upon Thames)

Carewatch is one of the leading providers of care and support to people in their own homes throughout the UK. With 127 franchised offices and 11 company owned 'best practice' centres the company supports a wide range of groups including, elderly people, children with special needs, people with physical or learning disabilities and individuals with mental health problems.

Carewatch franchise owner, Veronica Miller purchased Care Academy to assist with delivering Common Induction Standards training, stating,

“I have looked through a few of the demonstrations.  I like what I see.  It is thorough, with current and relevant information.  Similar to the information I would be putting together if I was running a training course.  I also did some of the questions with right and wrong answers and like the way it makes you stop and consider the right answer.”

Not only will Carewatch benefit from high quality training, but they will also be able to take advantage of the robust candidate tracking and management reporting (on-demand) to assist with future Care Quality Commission inspections.

To find out more about Care Academy please call 0161 228 1712 or complete our online form.

Skills for Care Common Induction Standards

As we all probably already know, the Skills for Care Common Induction Standards set out what all new care workers need to know within the first 12 weeks of their employment. However, conversations with some of our key clients confirm our hunch that, not surprisingly many people are still slightly confused regarding the exact details and how to apply them. We've therefore posted the full Skills for Care Common Induction Standards on our site, along with a direct link to the original Skills for Care page so nobody can claim them haven't found them!

Confusion over Administration of Medication training

New Administration of Medication Course Launched
The handling of medicines by care workers is often difficult to manage due to a lack of guidance and confusion regarding the level of training required. Many care workers fail to recognise the difference between “administration” and “assistance” (often referred to as “prompting'). A common misconception is that training provided as part of the Common Induction Standards (CIS) requirement is sufficient. Unfortunately this often focuses on the Safe Handling of Medicines commonly referred to as Level 1 and not “Administration of Medication” which is a Level 2 requirement. Care Academys’ “Administration of Medication” course meets the requirements for Level 2 training which should be supported with workplace supervision to ensure best practice.

Failure to recognise the difference between “Administration” and “Assistance” can leave both care workers and service users at significant risk and ultimately lead to claims of negligence and non-compliance. Following recent Care Quality Commission (formally CSCI) inspections, a number of our clients have had to review their training as well as their policies and procedures to ensure the correct level of training is provided. By deploying our latest course in conjunction with our unique Policy-Safe solution, Care Academy users have been able to respond and implement changes with the minimum of fuss.

Care Academy's Administration of Medication course has been reviewed by CQC and approved as meeting the specification required for any inspection. In outline, the course covers the knowledge requirements for Health and Social Care NVQ 3 optional unit 375 including:

• Legislation and organisational policy and procedures.
• Drug storage (such as medical and legal regulations, local pharmacy policy).
• Drug handling, preparation and administration.
• Health and safety when dealing with drugs (e.g. COSHH).
• Theory and practice.
• Care and support.
• Pharmacology.
• Materials and equipment e.g. medication aids.
• Reporting, recording and documentation.

If you would like to find out more about our Administration of Medication course please contact us.

For further reading on Administration of Medication:

• The Administration of Medication in domiciliary care
• Training care workers to safely administer medicines in care homes
• Medication in Extra Care Housing

Policy-Safe helps our customers' win new business

Policy-Safe ensure compliance!
For many of our customers, the problem of ensuring care workers receive the correct training and have also read, understood and accepted associated policy and procedure document's presents a real headache even for the most efficient organisation!

Ensuring compliance has traditionally been time-consuming and resource intensive, with the potential for mistakes to occur being a constant and real threat.

Policy-Safe improves efficiency!
Policy-Safe, our unique policy management solution has been developed to address these very issues and help streamline the whole policy management and administration process. Policy-Safe enables customers to upload their key policy documents, distribute to key staff, test understanding, track acceptance and deliver detailed management reports on-demand. Once they have used Policy-Safe many customers wonder how they ever managed beforehand!

Policy-Safe will help you win new business!
Policy-Safe offers multi-level functionality enabling customers to upload, distribute and track not only their own corporate policy documents, but also those belonging to their clients. This effectively means care workers can have access to documents relevant to their role, a key client or a specific region with everything configured and managed from one single user-friendly interface.

Your clients will love Policy-Safe!
The ability to micro-manage policy compliance in this way has helped many of our current customers secure new business and win tenders. Increasingly, the requirement to ensure policy compliance is becoming an important consideration for contracts and tenders and it is here that Policy-Safe really helps provide a competitive edge.

To find out more about Policy-Safe please contact us.

Become part of the UK's leading e-Learning Community

Following the successful launch of our Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) Care Academy is now available to established training providers as a ‘White’ label solution.

Training providers can now become part of one of the UK’s leading e-learning communities and gain access to our innovative range of learning technologies. We currently provide on-line learning and assessment materials to over 25,000 users including Common Induction Standards for adults and children's services, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SOVA), Safe Food Hygiene and we are the only provider of a City and Guilds accredited on-line LDQ-IA qualification. We are also currently working on a number of specialist courses which include 'End of Life', 'Understanding Dementia' and 'Nutrition and Well-Being'. 

By signing-up as a Care Academy partner, training organisations will be able to deliver a wide range of courses including our unique LDQ-IA. This scarce, yet highly sought after qualification is delivered entirely online, including learning content, assignments and assessor feedback, making it a very cost-effective option.

We are currently receiving enquiries from individuals and care organisations throughout the UK looking to identify providers of LDQ-IA and we will be happy to pass these onto our registered ‘White Label’ training partners. To-date we have received enquiries totalling in excess of 5,000 qualifications!

To help our training partners get the most out of Care Academy, we are also currently developing an NVQ ToolKit which combines our learning content, NVQ knowledge assessments and our Accredited Prior Learning (APL) tool to streamline candidate assessment and portfolio building tasks.

Care Academy is currently in discussions with many leading Health and Social Care training providers including; Colleges and Universities, Local Authorities, Care Partnerships and private training providers and aims to be the number one choice for technology enabled learning.

If you wish to become part of this exciting phase of development and really move your training provision forward, please contact us or download further details here.

Administration of Medication Training

Care Academy has recently launched our Administration of Medication training course.

The course covers the Knowledge requirements of the Health & Social Care NVQ optional Unit 375, including:

• Legislation and organisational policy and procedures
• Drug storage (such as medical and legal regulations, local pharmacy policy)
• Drug handling, preparation and administration
• Health and safety when dealing with drugs (eg COSHH)
• Theory and practice
• Care and support
• Pharmacology
• Materials and equipment e.g. medication aids
• Reporting, recording and documentation

Written by industry experts and reviewed by CSCI (now CQC), the course will ensure staff receive training in line with national minimum standards and when supported with workplace supervision, will exceed inspection requirements.

To find out more about our Administration of Medication course please contact us.

Welcome to our new Learning Disability Qualification clients.

Care Academy would like to extend a warm welcome to our latest clients The Priory Group, Care UK, Circle Anglia and Lancashire Workforce Development Partnership who are all currently piloting the UK's first and only accredited online Learning Disability Qualifcation - Induction Award programme.

As a fully online programme, both the delivery of learning content and assessment is delivered via our unique Care Academy Learning Management System, which means no lost paperwork and every user's details are instantly available and fully trackable!

We wish all our new clients every success with their pilots and look forward to rolling out even more courses and programmes with them in the near future.

To help new customers understand how our online Learning Disability Qualification actually works, including the submission and marking of assignments online, we have created a short presentation which is available as either a PowerPoint or PDF document. If you would like to receive a copy of the presentation please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

Recession Busting Training Offer!

Keeping up to date with regulatory and compliance training is never easy let alone cheap!

The cost of traditional classroom based training is often compounded by fairly high levels of staff turnover, resulting in significant recurring cost's such as trainers, classrooms, travel and resources.

Even before the economy slipped into recession, many organisations were looking for ways to ensure maximum value from their training budgets, whilst ensuring compliance with CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) audits.

After talking with some of our clients, we identified two common problems;

1. Difficulty in forecasting exact number of staff requiring training, especially across multiple sectors such as older people, children and learning disability services.
2. Investing in staff development only to see key personnel move on soon afterwards.

In order to address these key issues, Care Academy has taken the bold step of introducing two new pricing models.

Learning Pathway 1 - Induction

Under this innovative pricing model, customers can purchase access to all Care Academy Induction programmes under a single licence fee. Once agreed, clients are then free to 'mix and match' employees to the appropriate training programme. This concept provides customers with maximum flexibility and the opportunity to respond to the changing needs of the organisation without incurring further cost.

Current induction programmes available within Learning Pathways include:Common Induction Standards (CIS), Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC), Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) to name but a few.

Learn Now - Certify Later

From April 2009 we are offering Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award customers the opportunity to split both the learning content and certification. This means you can register staff on a dedicated LDQ-IA learning programme without registering (and paying) for the full certified qualification.

This provides a number of benefits including:

1. Clients can demonstrate to CSCI and other regulatory bodies a commitment to providing appropriate regulatory training.
2. Clients can choose to pay for the full certifcation at a later date when they are confident of the candidate suitability and commitment.

This is great news for learning disability services in particular, who can now take a significant step towards meeting their regulatory training requirements without incurring significant upfront expense.

To find out more about these offers please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via the online form

Upgraded Policy-Safe solution

After many months working 'under the bonnet' our technology team has finally delivered our all new Policy-Safe solution.

Policy-Safe is a market leading end to end policy management and compliance solution. If you need to ensure key policies and procedures are delivered, read, understood and acted upon, then Policy-Safe is a must have product.

The new updated version now includes an enhanced administration interface to help managers easily upload, manage, distribute, assess and track key policies and procedures.

From a users perspective, individuals are now presented with a clean, user friendly policy document which they can read, answer key assessment questions and both acknowledge receipt and acceptance.

Policy-Safe can be used in any environment where policy management is required, with typical applications covering:

1. Recruitment
2. Employment Contracts
3. Induction
4. Health and Safety
5. Quality Assurance
6. Training

Policy-Safe has been designed to provide complete peace of mind to senior managers who have responsibility for ensuring compliance with organisational policies and procedures.

To find out more about Policy-Safe please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via our online form.

Skills For life Audit Tool

Care Academy is currently developing an online 'Skills for Life' audit tool created specifically for the care sector. Although the governments latest Skills for Life progress report indicates that the Department for Innovation, Universities and the Learning and Skills Council are exceeding targets for improving basic literacy and numeracy, many care organisations in particular are still struggling to make significant headway due to the low skill profiles of much of the workforce.

Care Academy Skills for Life audit tool, will provide all organisations with an excellent starting point with which to assess their workforce against the National Standards in Literacy and Numeracy. The outcome from this innovative diagnostic tool can then be used as the foundation from which to build a truly accurate workforce development programme.

Key Features include:

• Users logon to the system and work through a series of short literacy and numeracy assessments designed in line with National Standards.
• Questions are randomly selected from a databank, ensuring users are not presented with the same question format.
• All assessment questions are taken from 'real-life' care worker environments.
• Assessment scores are stored within the system and will automatically indicate the users level against the national standards.
• A variety of key reports can be generated by senior personnel for further analysis.

To find out more about Care Academy Skills for Life Audit Tool please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via the online form.

Funded Places on our Learning Disability Qualification

Care Academy is currently running a pilot programme with Lancashire Workforce Development Partnership to provide funded places to qualifying members on our unique Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award (LDQ-IA) programme. As a fully accredited City and Guilds centre, Care Academy is able to offer the UK's only fully online LDQ-IA.

Following the successful launch of the pilot, we still have a very small number of funded places available, so please get in touch if you wish to discuss this offer.

We are also in discussion with many similar funding partners throughout the UK, so please contact us to register your interest and we will keep you up to date as funding opportunities become available.

Are you missing out on valuable TSI funding?

Despite the fact that Training Strategy Implementation (TSI) funding has been available for some time, here at Care Academy we are still surprised that some organisations are still missing out on claiming around £75 per completed induction!

Whilst the reasons may well be many and varied, a common problem appears to be that often the responsibility for processing the claim is not centralised, rather it is the responsibility of managers and staff to complete and process the necessary paperwork. Hardly surprising then that this is often overlooked and vital funding is not claimed!

In order to address this problem, Care Academy has recently introduced an automated TSI funding feature within our system. This ensures that TSI forms are generated automatically upon completion of the induction and signed 'electronically' by the individual. This not only reduces the burden of administration but also ensures no missed funding opportunities. In fact, we recently demonstrated to one client that by using our system to centralise and claim all the funds they were entitled to the system would pay for itself within the first year and provide additional funds to support other training activities!

Our system has been approved by Skills for Care and should provide a welcome relief to over - worked staff.

To find out more about our TSI funding technology please contact us on 0161 228 1712 or via the online form.

Sothern Cross introduce abuse helpline to help improve their services

Thousands of people live in Care Homes throughout Britain and for most people this is pleasant experience. However, some people become victims of abuse and neglect, which can go unnoticed and unreported.

This is why care provider Southern Cross is offering a new helpline to residents in all of its 735 care homes in the UK.

The helpline which has been set up for residents or their relatives, to report cases of neglect is the first scheme of its kind, and the company is the only major care provider offering such a service.

The helpline is staffed by trained advisors from the charity Action on Elder Abuse, which means they will not need the permission of Southern Cross to alert authorities to any problems, as they are entirely independent.

Chief executive, Gary Fitzgerald of Action on Elder Abuse hopes other major providers of care homes might follow this lead.

"We hope this initiative provides an influence for the whole sector to seriously tackle issues of abuse... We recognise how difficult it can be for residents and their families to raise issues of abuse and neglect. This service will tackle many of those barriers, making it easier to report abuse in the knowledge that a response will be achieved."

The charity already has a national free phone helpline offering confidential advice to anyone concerned about abuse of the elderly. This latest project with Southern Cross will run alongside, and the success of the helpline will be reviewed in a year.

Have you taken the Dignity Challenge?

The Dignity Challenge lays out the national expectations of what constitutes a service that respects dignity. It focuses on ten different aspects of dignity - the things that matter most to people.

High quality care services that respect people's dignity should:

• Have a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse.
• Support people with the same respect you would want for yourself or a member of your family.
• Treat each person as an individual by offering a personalised service.
• Enable people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control.
• Listen and support people to express their needs and wants.
• Respect people’s right to privacy.
• Ensure people feel able to complain without fear of retribution.
• Engage with family members and carers as care partners.
• Assist people to maintain confidence and a positive self-esteem.
• Act to alleviate people’s loneliness and isolation.

The Dignity Challenge is a clear statement of what people can expect from a service that respects dignity. It is backed up by a series of 'dignity tests’ that can be used by providers, commissioners and people who use services to see how their local services are performing.

To take the Dignity Challenge click here.

The Care Services Minister, Phil Hope hosts Web Chat

Phil Hope will be hosting his first web chat Today at 11am to discuss ‘Dignity in Care’.

The web chat will provide the opportunity to talk to the Minister for Care Serves about your thoughts and ideas on how the ‘Dignity in Care Campaign’ can be expanded.

To access the web chat, all you have to do is to visit the website, or you can visit the website at anytime between now and the event itself to pre-submit your own question.

CSCI Improve their Services Directory

CSCI have implemented improvements to their directory, which is the the only independent source of information about adult social care services in England.

These improvements follow CSCI request for comments and suggestions from users about their services, which has been reflected in the changes, with improved accessibility and a better design for the services directory.

What’s new?

The directory has held onto many features and users can still use the directory to find reports and quality ratings on all your local care homes, home care and other registered services.

But in addition to this the service will also offer:

• New search page
• CSCI have simplified the search page with clear steps and colour coding.
• New search criteria
• In step 4 you can now also search by provider type and capacity.
• If you want to search by name check the 'name of establishment box', this will open a text field where you can type in the name of the service.

Major organisations come together in a ‘Safeguarding Adults Alliance’ to seek Adult Protection legislation

The Safeguarding Adults Alliance has been launched this week by a coalition of more than 700 organisations and individuals, with representatives from Action on Elder Abuse, Mencap and the Alzheimer's Society, the coalition consists of 53 associated member organisations and 621 individuals. A number of statutory organisations have also lent their support.

The alliance which was formally established following a conference held on 12 January and is part of a campaign to urge the government to put adult protection in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on a statutory basis.

David Congdon, Head of Campaigns and Policy at Mencap, said,

"The death of Steven Hoskin, the abuses faced by the family with Learning Disabilities in Hounslow, and the concerns we have raised in the 'Death by Indifference' report, are all evidence that the current systems are failing to adequately consider and respond to the needs of adults at risk of abuse. We are supporting the Alliance because we believe that a statutory basis for safeguarding adults is the only way forward".

Campaigners have long warned that the lack of the legislative base has led to a lack of engagement with adult protection by key agencies and inadequate funding, while hampering investigations of abuse and neglect.

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, said that there was a “fair degree of intensity” in the debate leading up to the creation of the alliance. This was particularly over its demand to grant professionals powers to enter people's homes if they suspected a vulnerable adult was being abused. So far mental health charity Mind has declined to join the campaign over the issue.”

“Other key organisations are currently consulting their membership and trustees and I anticipate that they will become full members in due course, leading the Alliance towards its goals. We collectively acknowledge that the current systems are failing to provide the necessary framework to ensure adequate protection for adults at risk of abuse, and we are committed to achieving a system that both protects the rights of adults to live their lives in the manner of their choosing while simultaneously having access to systems that genuinely provide protection.”

Care Academy Welcome Sunshine Care

Care Academy would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest client Sunshine Care, who have recently purchased Care Academy to help them deliver their regulatory training programmes.

Sunshine Care is a family-owned business providing both Domiciliary Care and Live-In Care to clients living in the South West of England. 

Sunshine Care Academy has been branded to reflect the corporate identity of Sunshine Care and has been personalised by the inclusion of bespoke policies and procedures. The programme allows carers to complete their training via an easy to follow on-line learning programme, which can be completed at their own pace and at a location of their choice.

For more information on how Care Academy can solve your training needs please visit our website or contact Paul Allman on 0161 228 1712.

Do you work in a Care Home Service for Adults?

If you work in Scotland and are not already registered with the SSSC (Scottish Social Services Council) or with another relevant workforce regulator you will need to apply to register with the SSSC.

To find out why registration is important and how it will affect your organisation SSSC are holding registration information sessions across Scotland in January or February. These days will help people understand and are for people at practitioner level, support worker level and their employers.

The sessions will focus on:

• Background to registration
• The purpose of registration
• Timescales for registering workers in care home services for adults
• Meeting the registration criteria, including qualifications
• The process of registration – what applicants have to do to register

For more information or to book a place email enquiries@sssc.uk.com or telephone 01382 207248 or 01382 207267

Skills for Care launches first ever resources and funding guide for social care employers

Skills for Care have launched the first ever comprehensive online guide to resources and funding for social care, with directions and help for social care employees in relation to funding for staff development.

This guide has been developed because within social care there is no single source of funding support for workforce development, education, training or assessment. Due to this some organisations miss out on funding opportunities which could help improve the training of their staff.

The guide has been designed to be easy to use by focusing on national funding sections and then dividing these into a regional contact list for local sources of funding. Furthermore, the guide will be continually refreshed to ensure all information is up-to-date with Skills for Care making a hard copy available form the end of January 2009 complete with contact telephone numbers for each entry.

Skills for Care CEO Andrea Rowe said:

"There’s no doubt many employers do find the often dizzying array of funding sources an obstacle to seeking money to train their staff which is exactly why we’ve produced this easy to use guide,"

"For the very first time we have brought together the wide array of resources and funding opportunities nationally and regionally into one easy to use online guide as we want every one of the 38,000 social care employers to be able to more easily access resources to support the development of their staff."

"If we are serious about making sure that every one of 1.5 million social care workers can access high quality training then we must make sure that employers can access resources and funding as easily as possible to make that aspiration a reality."

The resources and funding guide which can be accessed here.

Funding rules will be relaxed in 2009 in many areas of the Care Sector

Changes in the funding regulations for care training will be introduced in 2009. These changes, which will affect many different sectors of care, include funding from Train to Gain to improve carer’s access to training when and where carers need it, regardless of their previous training and qualifications. The changes include:

• Stand-alone accredited training modules and part-qualifications in essential areas like business systems, communications, sales and marketing, information technology, customer service, new product design, finance and credit, cash flow and profit management, and risk management;
• Fully funded Level 2 qualifications and subsidised level 3 qualifications, regardless of whether the employee already has a qualification at this level.

Minister announces 2009-10 Disabled Facilities Grant Programme

                                                                                                                    

The government are making £157m available to local authorities in England for 2009-10 through the Disabled Facilities Grant Programme, Housing Minister Baroness Andrews announced this week.

The Disabled Facilities Grant Programme helps around 37,000 disabled and older people each year to live as comfortably and independently as possible in their own homes, and has seen successive increases in funding in recent years increasing from £57million in 1997 to £146million in 2008-09.

Housing Minister Baroness Andrews said:

"This funding provides a lifeline to thousands of disabled and older people across the country, which is why we have increased the grant again this year."

"Providing something as simple as a ramp can really make the difference between being able to stay in your home and having to leave and this is exactly how the Disabled Facilities Grant helps - it gives people the opportunity to stay in their homes and communities, near friends and family."

The allocations to each local authority can be found in detail on the CLG website.

Carer services are among top priorities for the NHS

For the first time carers have been included in the NHS Operating Framework. This change follows the National Carers' Strategy which gave the NHS £150m to provide emergency and planned respite breaks for carers.

The Framework hopes to increase the quality of life for carers of people with dementia, along with improving information for carers as well as patients. These changes are expected to ensure carers are not excluded and ignored, and are better prepared to care for their loved ones.

Carole Cochrane, Chief Executive at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, welcomes the changes:

"We are delighted that after much campaigning from ourselves and other carers' groups, services for carers has been included in the NHS Operating Framework's list of priorities.

"We hope this inclusion will signal a shift in NHS culture so that carers are treated as real partners in care, and not just people who have to pick up the mantle after a discharge."

Leadership and Management Training will Boost Leadership Skills

Training, which will be available from Train to Gain, the government's flagship skills service, will offer an extended leadership and management programme ensuring all staff are performing at their best during challenging economic times.

Funding rules which will be relaxed in January 2009, will also able Third Sector organisations to access more flexible training support, delivered when and where they need it, including:

• Stand-alone accredited training modules and part-qualifications
• Fully funded Level 2 qualifications and subsidised level 3 qualifications, regardless of whether the employee already has a qualification at this level.

These changes offer learners much more flexibility and builds on the current Train to Gain learning structure, which currently offers all third sector organisations support for training to GCSE and A level equivalent.

Lord Young said:

"Third sector organisations play a vital role at the heart of communities. It is right that those who work for them have the opportunity to gain the skills they need to develop successful and rewarding careers.

"These further improvements to Train to Gain mean that those in most need of support can develop the skills they need to get on, ensuring that the sector is well placed to weather tough times and to continue their valuable work for the community."

Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third Sector, said:

"This is another important step in creating the environment for a thriving third sector. To do the best for their beneficiaries, charities and other third sector organisations need the same high skill levels as businesses. I have no doubt that the sector will take full advantage of this new opportunity to access leadership and management training. It is vital that the third sector."

Developments for 2009!

Here at Care Academy we are always looking for ways to improve the range of products and services avaialable to clients and as 2008 draws to a close here is a sneak preview of some of the exciting developments in the pipeline for 2009:

• Skills for Life audit tool to assist organisations with the assessment of numeracy and literacy skills. The audit tool is being created with a specific focus on care sector questions and scenarios and will form the basis for our 'learning pathway' concept, taking learners from induction through to NVQ and beyond.
• A range of on-line and tutor led numeracy and literacy programmes to support the delivery of Skills for Life programmes.
• Integrated learning content and e-portfolio solution to streamline the delivery, tracking and attainment of NVQ qualifications. A key feature of the system will be access to on-demand reporting specifically created to meet the requirements for access to funding streams.
• Specialised courses to address key topics including:
  • Dementia
  • Risk Assessment
  • End of Life
  • Administration of Medication
  • Equality and Diversity
  • Managing Challanging Behaviour
  • Lone Working
  • Infection Prevention and Control
  • COSHH
• Housing365 - a dedicated solution created specifically to provide Health and Safety training to Housing Assocaitions.

If you would like to find out more about any of our plans for 2009 please get in touch.

Welcome to Allied Healthcare Group

Welcome to Allied Healthcare Group, our latest Care Academy client!

With over 100 branches throughout the UK and more than 11,000 care workers, Allied Healthcare has chosen Care Academy to help them deliver their regulatory and compliance training. Allied Healthcare are currently running a pilot programme through some of their key branches and plan to roll out Care Academy nationally during 2009.

The first programmes to be delivered via Allied Care Academy include Common Induction Standards, Learning Disability Qualification, Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) Induction and associated update programmes. 

Following a thorough review of the marketplace, Allied Healthcare chose Care Academy because of the extensive range of learning content combined with real-time, on-demand management information to effectively assess, track and train their workforce, whilst also providing detailed reports to industry regulators. Additionally, through the deployment of Policy-Safe within Care Academy, Allied Healthcare are easily able to create, distribute and monitor key company policy documents such as employment contracts, induction procedures, health and safety, QA and compliance policies.

Here at Care Academy, we are excited about the prospect of working with one of the sectors' leading organisation's to help them improve the delivery of their in-house training programmes. As a key client, Allied Healthcare will have privileged access to the latest technology currently being developed by Care Academy, enabling them to further streamline and improve their regulatory and compliance training programmes.

Policy-Safe a key feature of Care Academy

As we continue to work with more and more clients, it's become obvious that one of the key features of Care Academy that is of great interest is Policy-Safe. Policy-Safe is our solution for the creation, delivery, tracking and reporting of key documents such as recruitment guidelines, employment contracts, induction procedures, health and safety policies, quality assurance and compliance procedures to name just a few.

Policy-Safe has been designed to address four key issues:

• Policy creation
• Administration and delivery
• Tracking and assessment
• Auditing and reporting

Policy-Safe is particularly useful where evidence of regulatory or legislative compliance is required for either HR or training functions. To find out more about Policy-Safe download our brochure or contact us directly to arrange a demonstration.

Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award

Following the successful launch of Care Academy Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award we have been busy registering organisation's and individuals alike!

Key organisation's already using our unique on-line system include Henshaws College, part of Henshaws Society for blind people who aim to put through up to 50 learning disability specialist to help them meet their CSCI inspections.

We have also recently signed up Frontier Support Services a London based provider of specialist supported living services for individuals with a learning disability, dual diagnosis, Aspergers Syndrome and Autism.

Frontier Support Services are a small but growing company who put investment in training at the heart of their commitment to achieving service excellence through a well trained workforce. Commenting on why they chose Care Academy Frontier state;

"With a dispersed workforce and staff working variable hours the opportunity for flexible access to training is essential if staff are to develop. Regardless of contracted hours all staff have equitable opportunity to manage their own learning schedule.Being able to work at their own pace also contributes to the likelihood of a successful learning outcome".

To find out more about how our Learning Disability Qualification - Induction Award can help you meet your regulatory requirements contact us directly for an informal chat.

Human Rights act to include people who receive nursing and personal care

The protection of the Human Rights Act has been extended to include people living in publicly funded accommodation with nursing or personal care.

The extension which came into action on December 1st will mean that under section 145 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 providers of accommodation with care will be treated as exercising a function of a public nature. This means that people using these publicly funded care services will now be protected by the Human Rights Act, but, adult placements are not affected by this legislation.

For more information on the act and how it may effect you please click here.

Department of Health gives go-ahead for Legal Review of Adult Care

The Department of Health have given the go-ahead for a full review of adult social care law in England and Wales, updating all outdated, overlapping and inadequate legislation to create a single over-arching statute similar to the Children Act 1989.

At present there is no single modern statute which disabled people, carers and social care staff can look to, which is something this review is hoping to change. The review should help ensure that organisations, professionals and individuals understand the law and its application and are able to challenge it when it is not followed.

Care services minister Phil Hope said:

"The law in relation to adult social care has not been systematically reformed since 1948. This demonstrates the importance of the review we've asked the Law Commission to do.

"It is vital that we create a clear, efficient and sustainable legal framework, which is easy to understand and can accommodate future changes to government policy."

The review which will be undertaken by the Law Commission will also examine the legal framework for safeguarding adults, including powers to remove people from their homes and enter premise.

Alice Maynard, chair of disability charity Scope, said the review was "urgently needed" if the government was to deliver on its pledge of equality for disabled people by 2025.

She added:

"We are particularly pleased that the commission has highlighted ordinary residence rules and eligibility for services as key areas that need clarifying. The current framework is unfairly and inconsistently applied across the country and we would like to see this changed so that disabled people are able to access the services they need and have the same freedom in their choice of home location as non-disabled people."

CSCI reveal Star Rating for 2008

CSCI have released their performance ratings for the 150 local councils with statutory responsibility for adult social services in England.

The performance ratings summarise CSCI independent judgement of how local authorities carried out their responsibilities to young adults and older people. Ratings are based on a continuous, rigorous and structured assessment process using evidence drawn directly from people using services, performance indicators, inspections and reviews.

This is the last year of CSCI star ratings before the introduction of comprehensive Area Assessments, which is being instituted following framework amendments in cross agency concordat on transforming adult social care, Putting People First.

Key Findings include:

• no councils with a zero-rated service
• 19 councils with one star
• 75 with two stars
• 56 with three stars

With Key improvements focusing on the things that really matter to people, such as:

• helping people regain independence
• preventing avoidable hospital admissions through better care services
• giving people more choice and control about their care

For more information, please click here.

End of Life Care Strategy: Quality Markers Consultation

The Department of Health has launched a consultation on Quality Markers for End of Life Care, as promised in the End of Life Strategy published in July.

The document, aimed at commissioners, performance managers and providers of end of life care services, is a development from the July strategy, where it was agreed that a unified national approach should be taken to develop quality standards for care provided to people at the end of life.

Ken Sutton, Director of Strategy and Policy for Marie Curie Cancer Care, said:

"It is important to keep up the momentum on end of life care improvements established in the summer with the End of Life Care Strategy and Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review. We welcome the consultation and the commitment to introducing quality markers."

For more information click here to download the consultation document.