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.
National Care Association Logo
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
April Update
On 15 April we held a seminar at the Dagenham and Redbridge football club.
We had an excellent turn out at the seminar and were able to continue our consultation with providers about the star rating system. We have collected a huge amount of comment now and I will begin work on a report at the beginning of July. Needless to say the lack of consistency between inspectors is one of the headline stories.
We were delighted at the end of the day when we were asked to return at an early opportunity.
On 17 April we held a meeting between our Board of Directors and Alan Buckle from our new PR company. This was a very fruitful meeting with a strategy identified for the coming year.
On 22 April I had a day of real contrasts. During the day a Board meeting took place here in the London Office and then at 5pm I had been invited to a seminar at the BMA. The seminar was looking at the role of carers (all carers paid and unpaid). The seminar was chaired by the Princess Royal and attendees included Ivan Lewis MP (the Minister), Fiona Phillips and many other major players in care. I was challenged by the discussion that took place particularly how family carers can be trained to deal with the many challenges that they face in caring for a family member. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has any ideas about this particular challenge.
The next day I spoke at a seminar in Eastbourne organised by Barclays Bank. This was a very well attended event with a high level of interests in all the latest developments.
I had been invited to attend this event by Care Asset Management who NCA has worked closely with for many years. Advisers at care fee funding specialist, Care Asset Management are among the first to be awarded the new for their skills in advising older people.
The new accreditation aims to recognise advisers with the necessary qualifications and empathetic skills to understand the needs of older clients and the specific financial issues which affect them.
We had an excellent turn out at the seminar and were able to continue our consultation with providers about the star rating system. We have collected a huge amount of comment now and I will begin work on a report at the beginning of July. Needless to say the lack of consistency between inspectors is one of the headline stories.
We were delighted at the end of the day when we were asked to return at an early opportunity.
On 17 April we held a meeting between our Board of Directors and Alan Buckle from our new PR company. This was a very fruitful meeting with a strategy identified for the coming year.
On 22 April I had a day of real contrasts. During the day a Board meeting took place here in the London Office and then at 5pm I had been invited to a seminar at the BMA. The seminar was looking at the role of carers (all carers paid and unpaid). The seminar was chaired by the Princess Royal and attendees included Ivan Lewis MP (the Minister), Fiona Phillips and many other major players in care. I was challenged by the discussion that took place particularly how family carers can be trained to deal with the many challenges that they face in caring for a family member. I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has any ideas about this particular challenge.
The next day I spoke at a seminar in Eastbourne organised by Barclays Bank. This was a very well attended event with a high level of interests in all the latest developments.
I had been invited to attend this event by Care Asset Management who NCA has worked closely with for many years. Advisers at care fee funding specialist, Care Asset Management are among the first to be awarded the new for their skills in advising older people.
The new accreditation aims to recognise advisers with the necessary qualifications and empathetic skills to understand the needs of older clients and the specific financial issues which affect them.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Continuing Care and the Annual Conference
On 7 April I attended a meeting at the Department of Health with David Behan the Director General of Social Care. The Chief Officers of the other three national associations were also present.
This was a robust meeting with strong feelings expressed on all sides much to my surprise. Continuing Care was one of the important issues raised and I had the opportunity to raise NCA’s concerns about what is happening in the Learning Disabilities sector around contracts.
Wherever we have gone this year we have encountered care home owners caring for people with learning disabilities who are extremely anxious about changes that are being made to contracts without the degree of consultation that they or NCA believe to be acceptable.
I am currently looking at arranging a national conference for this care group to give them a platform for a clear understanding to be gained of exactly what is going on around the Country in the learning disability field. It would also helpful I think to arrange for someone to come from the Department of Health so that we can hear their message and perhaps more importantly so that they can hear our message.
More news about this within 14 days.
On Monday morning I received a letter from the Minister Ivan Lewis’s office telling us that he had accepted our invitation to speak at Conference in Brighton in October. I am absolutely delighted. There is so much going on in social care at the moment particularly around the new Inspectorate and with another Green Paper due to be published in early summer.
On 10 April I met with Dr Keri Thomas from the Gold Standards Framework which seeks to enable a “gold standard” of care for all people nearing the end of their lives.
This was an extremely constructive meeting where we discussed the work that has been achieved so far and how care homes can become involved. Up till now the work has been undertaken primarily with GPs and nursing homes.
I invited Dr Thomas to speak at our Conference in Brighton at the end of October when we hope she will be able to bring us up to date with her framework and all care homes.
This was a robust meeting with strong feelings expressed on all sides much to my surprise. Continuing Care was one of the important issues raised and I had the opportunity to raise NCA’s concerns about what is happening in the Learning Disabilities sector around contracts.
Wherever we have gone this year we have encountered care home owners caring for people with learning disabilities who are extremely anxious about changes that are being made to contracts without the degree of consultation that they or NCA believe to be acceptable.
I am currently looking at arranging a national conference for this care group to give them a platform for a clear understanding to be gained of exactly what is going on around the Country in the learning disability field. It would also helpful I think to arrange for someone to come from the Department of Health so that we can hear their message and perhaps more importantly so that they can hear our message.
More news about this within 14 days.
On Monday morning I received a letter from the Minister Ivan Lewis’s office telling us that he had accepted our invitation to speak at Conference in Brighton in October. I am absolutely delighted. There is so much going on in social care at the moment particularly around the new Inspectorate and with another Green Paper due to be published in early summer.
On 10 April I met with Dr Keri Thomas from the Gold Standards Framework which seeks to enable a “gold standard” of care for all people nearing the end of their lives.
This was an extremely constructive meeting where we discussed the work that has been achieved so far and how care homes can become involved. Up till now the work has been undertaken primarily with GPs and nursing homes.
I invited Dr Thomas to speak at our Conference in Brighton at the end of October when we hope she will be able to bring us up to date with her framework and all care homes.
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