On 20 January I went to the latest meeting of the National Skills Academy Steering Group. The National Skills Academy will formally come into being in April this year ( i think) and I am keeping a very close eye on developments because I think that there will be some early projects that will bring real benefits to small and medium sized care providers.
On 21 January I went to a hotel in Gatwick to a meeting arranged by David Waters of Care Homes Insurance Services. There was a wide ranging group of people there including a banker, a training provider, 2 or 3 medium sized care providers and the Chief Executive of a local Association. David was keen to hear everyone's views of likely developments during 2009.
I think all of us were of a similar view point. Trading is not going to be easy this year because of the world wide financial situation and there will be pressure on fees both in Local Government contracting and also for people who are unable to sell their homes. Having said that everyone who was there was optimistic about the future.
On 22 January I went to Swindon to meet with Richard Harris one of our Board member and to visit two hotels for potential use for Conference 2009. An announcement will be made shortly!
National Care Association Logo
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I hope that you, your staff and the people you care for had a peaceful Christmas and that you are able to look to the New Year with confidence.
The first few weeks of January are usually a time for catching up here in the office, and to reflect on our plans for the coming year. As many of you know by now we successfully tendered to Skills for Care for a contract to assist members to complete the National Minimum Data Set (Social Care) The data that is collected is stored confidentially and it is an invaluable source of information for lobbying purposes. I know that many of you have already completed NMDS-SC but anyone that hasn't is welcome to contact us at the office and we will be pleased to assist.
There are advantages to you in completing the NMDS-SC:
1. With your consent CSCI can access the data held for your establishment and that saves you from having to complete the staffing section of the AQAA
2. Accessing some of the TSI funding is dependent on having completed NMDS-SC
I was very disappointed last week to see articles in The Times about care homes. In one of the articles the Minister had been interviewed and he was quoted as saying that he intended to raise standards in care homes but the sector could not expect any "new money"
The following is the letter that we submitted to The Times but it was not published:
Dear Sir,
Your leader and articles yesterday ('Who Cares?')
addresses a crucial problem we raised at our National Care Association annual conference late last year. Time and time again our conference speakers pointed out that Government and care homes regulators must take some of the responsibility in those instances where the provision of care fails.In your articles today the Minister is saying that he will raise standards of care but he cannot offer more money to fund the raised standards. Almost 70 percent of people in receipt of care in care homes are funded by the State. So if there is to be no more money but the standards are to be raised how is that to be paid for within the financial climate businesses are operating at the current time? This is not a new question. For many years the fee increases awarded by local authorities have so often failed to keep up with inflation and in some instances last year there was no increase at all and I know that many of our members fear the same this year. This is a shortfall borne by independent care home owners. Nationally the majority of providers are rated excellent or good by the regulator. There must also be a question around the competence of the regulator who receives millions of pounds a year in fees from care providers to monitor their responsibility to the frail and vulnerable. It is of course extremely disappointing for the responsible providers we represent to hear reports of poor provision when they work so hard within tight financial constraints to provide the best possible care for the frail and vulnerable. We would urge the Government, the Regulator and Commissioners to make sure that they are fulfilling their side of the contract to the old and frail as well as the people they so freely criticise. Until this mismatch is remedied the viability of the Independent Care Sector is under threat.
Nadra Ahmed
Chairman
The first few weeks of January are usually a time for catching up here in the office, and to reflect on our plans for the coming year. As many of you know by now we successfully tendered to Skills for Care for a contract to assist members to complete the National Minimum Data Set (Social Care) The data that is collected is stored confidentially and it is an invaluable source of information for lobbying purposes. I know that many of you have already completed NMDS-SC but anyone that hasn't is welcome to contact us at the office and we will be pleased to assist.
There are advantages to you in completing the NMDS-SC:
1. With your consent CSCI can access the data held for your establishment and that saves you from having to complete the staffing section of the AQAA
2. Accessing some of the TSI funding is dependent on having completed NMDS-SC
I was very disappointed last week to see articles in The Times about care homes. In one of the articles the Minister had been interviewed and he was quoted as saying that he intended to raise standards in care homes but the sector could not expect any "new money"
The following is the letter that we submitted to The Times but it was not published:
Dear Sir,
Your leader and articles yesterday ('Who Cares?')
addresses a crucial problem we raised at our National Care Association annual conference late last year. Time and time again our conference speakers pointed out that Government and care homes regulators must take some of the responsibility in those instances where the provision of care fails.In your articles today the Minister is saying that he will raise standards of care but he cannot offer more money to fund the raised standards. Almost 70 percent of people in receipt of care in care homes are funded by the State. So if there is to be no more money but the standards are to be raised how is that to be paid for within the financial climate businesses are operating at the current time? This is not a new question. For many years the fee increases awarded by local authorities have so often failed to keep up with inflation and in some instances last year there was no increase at all and I know that many of our members fear the same this year. This is a shortfall borne by independent care home owners. Nationally the majority of providers are rated excellent or good by the regulator. There must also be a question around the competence of the regulator who receives millions of pounds a year in fees from care providers to monitor their responsibility to the frail and vulnerable. It is of course extremely disappointing for the responsible providers we represent to hear reports of poor provision when they work so hard within tight financial constraints to provide the best possible care for the frail and vulnerable. We would urge the Government, the Regulator and Commissioners to make sure that they are fulfilling their side of the contract to the old and frail as well as the people they so freely criticise. Until this mismatch is remedied the viability of the Independent Care Sector is under threat.
Nadra Ahmed
Chairman
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Consultations
3 November 2008
There are three important documents on my desk this morning two of which are consultations:
· Ministry of Justice
Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act 2005: forms, supervision and fees
This consultation is specifically looking at Lasting Powers of Attorney forms, Supervision by the Public Guardian and the Office of the Public Guardian and Court of Protection fees.
You can access the consultation documents at www.publicguardian.gov.uk/
The consultation ends on 15 January 2009.
· Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Enforcement policy and guidance for trusts on registering in relation to Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI)
This is a consultation exercise for the NHS and private hospitals but it is well worth us looking at it to form a view of the position of the Care Quality Commission on enforcement.
www.cqc.org.uk
The consultation ends on 16 January 2009.
· Commission for Social Care Inspection
CSCI have issued a review of the eligibility criteria for social care called “Cutting the Cake Fairly”. A document worth reading I think.
www.csci.org.uk
Any feedback that you wish to give to us can be emailed to info@nca.gb.com.
There are three important documents on my desk this morning two of which are consultations:
· Ministry of Justice
Reviewing the Mental Capacity Act 2005: forms, supervision and fees
This consultation is specifically looking at Lasting Powers of Attorney forms, Supervision by the Public Guardian and the Office of the Public Guardian and Court of Protection fees.
You can access the consultation documents at www.publicguardian.gov.uk/
The consultation ends on 15 January 2009.
· Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Enforcement policy and guidance for trusts on registering in relation to Healthcare Associated Infection (HCAI)
This is a consultation exercise for the NHS and private hospitals but it is well worth us looking at it to form a view of the position of the Care Quality Commission on enforcement.
www.cqc.org.uk
The consultation ends on 16 January 2009.
· Commission for Social Care Inspection
CSCI have issued a review of the eligibility criteria for social care called “Cutting the Cake Fairly”. A document worth reading I think.
www.csci.org.uk
Any feedback that you wish to give to us can be emailed to info@nca.gb.com.
National Care Associations Annual Conference and Exhibition
3 November 2008
Here at the office we are just back from our annual conference. We really enjoyed the conference and we hope that everyone who attended did too.
We had 27 exhibitors including our sponsors (check out our sponsors page http://www.nca.gb.com/sponsors.asp). Our exhibitors included Barclays Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Boots, Hextalls and 3663. For a full list visit our website http://www.nca.gb.com/.
The highlights of the conference included a visit by the new Minister of State Phil Hope MP. I was very interested to hear what he had to say and I certainly got the impression that he wants to hear our point of view. I am delighted to say that he agreed to meet a delegation of our Learning Disability service provider members. If you wish to know how to become part of our delegation please send an email to us at info@nca.gb.com.
We were also pleased to welcome to Conference Baroness Barbara Young the Chairmen of the Care Quality Commission. She gave an outline of what she is hoping CQC can achieve and we certainly enjoyed meeting her. For more information on the CQC visit http://www.cqc.org.uk/.
A very welcome speaker was Peter Hay, the Director of Adult Social Services for Birmingham and the Treasurer of the Association of Adult Social Services. We certainly appreciated his style and look forward to meeting him again in the near future.
There was so much going on at Conference and you can check out some of the speeches by going to our website http://www.nca.gb.com/. These can be found in our features section.
We also held two social functions, the first at the eve of conference event, where we were raising money for the Marie Curie Hospice in memory of a long serving member of staff. With the help of our amazing sponsors, exhibitors and delegates we raised a whopping £500.
On the following evening we held a fantastic dinner dance and due to the number of prizes donated for the charity fundraiser we had a second raffle and we raised an additional £1100. Thank you again sponsors, exhibitors and delegates alike for all of your contributions and congratulations to all the winners. A list of all the prizes and winners can be found on our website http://www.nca.gb.com/.
On the first morning of conference our Chairman Nadra Ahmed launched our new logo which you can see on the home page of the web site. We look forward to welcoming you to National Care Association’s new website. We have redesigned the website to make it easier for users to find their way around. The web address is still the same but the content just a little different. Check it out at http://www.nca.gb.com/.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
My presentation at Childford Hall Vineyard on 17th September 2008
Following on from my presentation at Chilford Hall Vineyard on 17th September 2008, the following link is for the speaking notes that I used as requested by members of the audience.
http://www.nca.gb.com/ See NEWS FLASH.
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on info@nca.gb.com.
Sheila
http://www.nca.gb.com/ See NEWS FLASH.
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on info@nca.gb.com.
Sheila
Friday, July 11, 2008
June 2008 Update
· On the 2nd of June I attended the launch of National Care Homes week organised by Caring Business. The launch was held at the Marriott Hotel in Central London. There were many familiar faces at the launch and a panel of speakers including Ivan Lewis MP, Stephen O’Brien MP, Norman Lamb MP and Dame Denise Platt.
I know that many members of NCA held events during the week and raised awareness of the excellent care provided in care homes.
· On the 3rd of June I met with Yoonoos Jeetoo who is a member of the Board of Directors of NCA. Yoonoos provides care for younger adults with a learning disability and he and I met to discuss the number of issues that many providers of services for younger adults are currently facing. Many of these issues of course relate to funding. We also hear from members providing these specialist services about the pressures being placed on them to deregister as a provider of care in a home and become a provider of supported living services.
Yoonoos and I agreed to organise a seminar in September aimed at bringing together a group of 50 providers of services to younger adults to discuss the challenges that are being faced by providers, whether this could lead to a detrimental impact for service users and if necessary to agree an action plan to raise public awareness of the impact of public policy on care for service users with a learning disability.
If you are interested in attending the seminar please contact NCA on 02078317090.
· On 5 June I attended and spoke at the conference of the Kent Care Homes Association held in Ashford. I have been invited to speak at this conference every year for the last 5 or 6 years and it is a date that I very much enjoy especially as I meet old friends as well as meeting people I have never met before. As always this year’s conference was excellent and well attended with an audience of people keen to learn about the latest developments from a wide variety of speakers.
· On 6 June I attended the first meeting of the CSCI National Quality Board. This Board which I was pleased to be invited to be a member of reviews the outcomes of the quality ratings system launched by CSCI this year. Part of the remit of the Board is to look at statistics relating to star ratings and to review the outcomes of appeals etc. I enjoyed the first meeting at which the majority of attendees were from CSCI. I robustly put forward the view that there may be concerns for smaller providers about complaining or appealing a decision of CSCI due to concerns about what might happen next.
We did agree to consider this at a future meeting so I would be very interested to hear member’s views about (in confidence of course).
· On 9 June I was invited to lunch by Jeremy Huband of the Royal Bank of Scotland at their corporate dining room at Childs Bank in the Strand. Banks are renowned for their hospitality but on this occasion I had to be restrained as I was recording an interview with BBC Radio a little later. The programme was File on 4 and was about the use of drugs in care of people with dementia and was broadcast on a Sunday morning. I have been amazed at the number of people who heard the programme.
My position on this subject is quite clear, care homes handle medication but it is Doctors that prescribe medication and the ongoing criticism of care homes in relation to drugs and dementia care is I believe unfair. It is Doctors that should be questioned about prescribing practices.
· On 11 June NCA held its last regional seminar of the tear in Northampton. Although it was a relatively small gathering I know that we all really enjoyed the day working with a group of well informed home owners and managers.
· On 12 June I attended the 40th anniversary reception of RNHA. I was really pleased to have been invited and to have the chance to meet so many old friends. Congratulations to RNHA!
· On 18 June I had a meeting with Darren Lockley and his colleague from Electrolux. As I am sure you know one of the Conditions of Registration within the new Health and Social Care Bill will relate to the prevention of infection and Darren and I had a first exploratory meeting to discuss how we and other colleagues can work together to help our members to meet this condition of registration. I will keep you informed of the progress we make.
· On 22 and 23 June I visited with representatives of the NCA affiliated Association in Bolton and on the 23rd spoke at a conference organised by the local authority about Dignity in Care. Providers, service user representatives, the Council and the PCT have joined together to do a great deal of work to ensure dignity fro service users in receipt of both health and social care.
I know that many members of NCA held events during the week and raised awareness of the excellent care provided in care homes.
· On the 3rd of June I met with Yoonoos Jeetoo who is a member of the Board of Directors of NCA. Yoonoos provides care for younger adults with a learning disability and he and I met to discuss the number of issues that many providers of services for younger adults are currently facing. Many of these issues of course relate to funding. We also hear from members providing these specialist services about the pressures being placed on them to deregister as a provider of care in a home and become a provider of supported living services.
Yoonoos and I agreed to organise a seminar in September aimed at bringing together a group of 50 providers of services to younger adults to discuss the challenges that are being faced by providers, whether this could lead to a detrimental impact for service users and if necessary to agree an action plan to raise public awareness of the impact of public policy on care for service users with a learning disability.
If you are interested in attending the seminar please contact NCA on 02078317090.
· On 5 June I attended and spoke at the conference of the Kent Care Homes Association held in Ashford. I have been invited to speak at this conference every year for the last 5 or 6 years and it is a date that I very much enjoy especially as I meet old friends as well as meeting people I have never met before. As always this year’s conference was excellent and well attended with an audience of people keen to learn about the latest developments from a wide variety of speakers.
· On 6 June I attended the first meeting of the CSCI National Quality Board. This Board which I was pleased to be invited to be a member of reviews the outcomes of the quality ratings system launched by CSCI this year. Part of the remit of the Board is to look at statistics relating to star ratings and to review the outcomes of appeals etc. I enjoyed the first meeting at which the majority of attendees were from CSCI. I robustly put forward the view that there may be concerns for smaller providers about complaining or appealing a decision of CSCI due to concerns about what might happen next.
We did agree to consider this at a future meeting so I would be very interested to hear member’s views about (in confidence of course).
· On 9 June I was invited to lunch by Jeremy Huband of the Royal Bank of Scotland at their corporate dining room at Childs Bank in the Strand. Banks are renowned for their hospitality but on this occasion I had to be restrained as I was recording an interview with BBC Radio a little later. The programme was File on 4 and was about the use of drugs in care of people with dementia and was broadcast on a Sunday morning. I have been amazed at the number of people who heard the programme.
My position on this subject is quite clear, care homes handle medication but it is Doctors that prescribe medication and the ongoing criticism of care homes in relation to drugs and dementia care is I believe unfair. It is Doctors that should be questioned about prescribing practices.
· On 11 June NCA held its last regional seminar of the tear in Northampton. Although it was a relatively small gathering I know that we all really enjoyed the day working with a group of well informed home owners and managers.
· On 12 June I attended the 40th anniversary reception of RNHA. I was really pleased to have been invited and to have the chance to meet so many old friends. Congratulations to RNHA!
· On 18 June I had a meeting with Darren Lockley and his colleague from Electrolux. As I am sure you know one of the Conditions of Registration within the new Health and Social Care Bill will relate to the prevention of infection and Darren and I had a first exploratory meeting to discuss how we and other colleagues can work together to help our members to meet this condition of registration. I will keep you informed of the progress we make.
· On 22 and 23 June I visited with representatives of the NCA affiliated Association in Bolton and on the 23rd spoke at a conference organised by the local authority about Dignity in Care. Providers, service user representatives, the Council and the PCT have joined together to do a great deal of work to ensure dignity fro service users in receipt of both health and social care.
May 2008 Update
A lot of our time lately has been taken up with organising National Care Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition which is being held at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton on 29 and 30 October. Everything feels very right about this venue which is on the sea front and the hotel facilities are very good including the pool!
Cheryl, Claire and I have had to go back to the hotel more than once to identify more exhibition space due to the high level of interest in the event from commercial organisations.
We have just heard that the Minister for Social Care, Ivan Lewis MP has agreed to speak at Conference for the third successive year. We are of course delighted because, with so much going on particularly with the new Care Quality Commission due to become operational in 2009, we want to hear his latest thinking.
I returned on 15 May from a week’s holiday in Spain. I went with a friend to practice our newly learnt golfing skills but it rained most of the time we were away while the UK basked in a heat wave so it’s good to be back!
Today Nadra, Peter Grose our solicitor and I went to meet with the Chairman of the Houses of Parliament Joint Human Rights Committee, Andrew Dismore MP. This was not an easy meeting and certainly Mr Dismore and ourselves whilst wanting the best for people in receipt of social care are a very long way apart on how that can be achieved.
On 20 May 2008 I flew to Vienna with Nadra and Christine Ferrier to attend the second European Conference of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA). NCA is a member of IAHSA and as always all three of us really enjoyed the conference but it is the contact with people from other Countries that is the real success of such Conferences.
Nadra and I had attended the first European Conference in 2006 and this year it was notable that there were many more delegates from the Eastern European Countries. Learning of the many challenges that they face certainly puts into perspective developments here in the UK.
A Date for Your Diary. The next international conference of IAHSA will be in London on 19 - 22 July 2009. Both Nadra and I are part of the organising committee and it is going to be a huge event with more than 1000 delegates expected.
Cheryl, Claire and I have had to go back to the hotel more than once to identify more exhibition space due to the high level of interest in the event from commercial organisations.
We have just heard that the Minister for Social Care, Ivan Lewis MP has agreed to speak at Conference for the third successive year. We are of course delighted because, with so much going on particularly with the new Care Quality Commission due to become operational in 2009, we want to hear his latest thinking.
I returned on 15 May from a week’s holiday in Spain. I went with a friend to practice our newly learnt golfing skills but it rained most of the time we were away while the UK basked in a heat wave so it’s good to be back!
Today Nadra, Peter Grose our solicitor and I went to meet with the Chairman of the Houses of Parliament Joint Human Rights Committee, Andrew Dismore MP. This was not an easy meeting and certainly Mr Dismore and ourselves whilst wanting the best for people in receipt of social care are a very long way apart on how that can be achieved.
On 20 May 2008 I flew to Vienna with Nadra and Christine Ferrier to attend the second European Conference of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA). NCA is a member of IAHSA and as always all three of us really enjoyed the conference but it is the contact with people from other Countries that is the real success of such Conferences.
Nadra and I had attended the first European Conference in 2006 and this year it was notable that there were many more delegates from the Eastern European Countries. Learning of the many challenges that they face certainly puts into perspective developments here in the UK.
A Date for Your Diary. The next international conference of IAHSA will be in London on 19 - 22 July 2009. Both Nadra and I are part of the organising committee and it is going to be a huge event with more than 1000 delegates expected.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
