Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I do hope that everyone has had a peaceful Christmas.

After what was an exceptionally busy year for us here at National Care Association and more importantly for each and everyone of you I do hope that 2011 will be a year for consolidation and an opportunity for you to ensure that all the new regulations are firmly embedded in your home and that you have the time to concentrate and what is really important your service users.

At the end of 2010 the Department of Health published a revised copy of the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance.

The Code of Practice has been revised by the Department of Health to take into account the services which will have to be registered by April 2011 which include dental care and ambulance services.

The helpful thing is that the Department of Health has tried to further clarify the point that not all criteria will apply to every regulated activity.

You may wish to download the latest version of the Code of Practice which you will find at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_122604

27th October 2010

For those of you who didn't see her, Nadra was on ITV News last night talking about Dementia Care.

The Home Office has released this morning the terms of reference for the review of CRB checks: http://www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk/

I am on the way to Leamington Spa to chair and speak at a small seminar for care home owners, more about that tomorrow.

Twitter

National Care Association now has a Twitter account, to keep up to date with Nadra and Sheila's day to day activities and the latest information, please follow them at : http://twitter.com/nationalcareasc

26th October 2010

It has been a strange day today.

Overnight the Care Quality Commission issued a consultation document on the annual bed fees paid by registered providers. On first reading it seems to me that there is something deeply unfair about the proposals but I will read it again tomorrow.

This morning Nadra went to a breakfast meeting in London of the Dementia Action Alliance of which National Care Association is a member. Paul Burstow was at the breakfast and he and many others including Nadra signed the National Dementia Declaration.

I hope that she is at the moment being interviewed by ITN for the 6.30 news. More information about this and a photograph to follow hopefully tomorrow.

26th October 2010

Yesterday morning we arrived back in the office after all the exertions last week of staging one of our most successful conferences in recent years. Attendance was up and the quality of the speakers was very high. For the first time ever we ran two simultaneous conference on the first day one about care of people with a learning disability and the other about dementia care.

Peter Grose our solicitor was able to make an important announcement about the outcome of a Court Case about Mental Capacity and Supported Living. Peter entitled his presentation “Local Authorities and Supported Living Providers Beware”.

Members of National Care Association should contact us for a briefing document.

At the dementia conference we had invited a speaker from the United States of America, Erin Bonitto who mesmerised the delegates with her presentation about the work she is doing with care homes in the United States through an Alzheimer’s Dementia Lounge.

Amongst other things the programme is reported to significantly reduce the use of psychotropic medication. National Care Association has agreed to work closely with Erin Bonitto in the coming years to bring the benefits of her programme to the United Kingdom.

Again for a copy of Erin’s presentation please contact the office.

More about both these items to come in newsletters and emails.

Opportunity to help improve care services for adults with autism

Dear Members,

Today the Department of Health launched a consultation to help improve care services and healthcare outcomes for adults of autism in England.

I think that as a provider your views will be an important voice in shaping how the needs of adults with autism are to be met.

It will be you and your staff who will be delivering services to adults with autism and so I strongly urge you to contribute.


This consultation as well as the draft guidance document can be viewed below.
Fulfilling and rewarding lives:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_113369
Opportunity to help improve care services for adults with autism:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_118058

15th July 2010

The end of last week and the beginning of this week have been very busy with meetings, seminars etc.

Last Friday I attended a Social Care Institute for Excellence seminar in London about innovation in Social Care. Those of you who have heard me speak in the last year will know that I believe that innovation and modernisation may be part of the future for many care providers and that I think the introduction of the new regulator may allow more flexibility in the way services are provided in care homes.

This Friday Nadra will be spending the day working on briefing papers etc to be submitted to Ministers, MPs and other opinion makers about this and several other issues. As we release them we will also put them on the website so watch this space!

On Monday I went to the launch of The State of the Ault Social Care Workforce in England 2010 report. The report collates and analyses the information collected by the NMDS-SC project and makes interesting reading.

The report is available on the Skills for Care website:

www.skillsforcare.org.uk/research/research_reports/annual_reports_SCW.aspx