In her conversations with employers around the country, Sharon Allen, Skills for Care's Chief Executive, has been encouraged by their understanding of what it means to sign up to the Social Care Commitment and how it can help them focus on improving services.
That sense of optimism is now backed up by an evaluation of providers, who have signed up during its first nine months, which revealed that 85 percent of people who have made the commitment have seen, or expect to see, a positive impact on quality of care.
Isn’t that the real point of the Social Care Commitment? Organisations publicly committed to improving the quality of care and support in every community in this country.
The Social Care Commitment is a sector led initiative that focuses on improving workforce quality, instilling shared values and driving high quality standards of care across adult social care, and it’s great to see evidence from the evaluation that employers are already starting to see these aspirations being realised within their workplaces.
The commitment is made by signing up to seven 'I will…' statements and their supporting tasks. The tasks are specifically designed to help employers and workers make the commitment a reality.
Critically once the commitment has been made, access is opened to a range of online resources to support employers and workers to focus on core issues such as upholding dignity, recruitment and safeguarding.
The system is also set up to create personal and organisation development plans which will help people identify any learning and development gaps. Encouragingly the evaluation tells us that 83 percent of people said that making the commitment has led or, will lead to, improvements in how staff are trained and developed.
It is critical we get every employer to sign up because the commitment can also have a positive impact on public confidence about our sector. By simply making the commitment, employers and employees are making a declaration to the public saying you can trust that the services they provide are underpinned by core values like dignity, respect, compassion and a commitment to person centred care.
The public can now see for themselves which Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers have made the commitment by simply visiting NHS Choices, or see all employers who have signed up by using the public search on the Social Care Commitment website.
This is the sort of information people need when they are making often stressful - and always tough - decisions about which care providers they want to use.
I am in no doubt how important this initiative is for our sector. That’s why I, my colleagues and partners across the sector are working hard to spread the word and we need your help.
It was great to see our Minister for Care and Support Norman Lamb reiterate his strong support as he encouraged ‘every employee and every employer working in social care to go online and make the commitment’.
As one employer said in the evaluation: ‘it’s a brilliant thing to be a part of ‘, and I couldn’t agree more.
To make the commitment and make a difference sign up today at and spread the word, let’s get as many great employers as possible signed up.
2 comments
Comment by Heather Osborne posted on
Hi the link to the social care commitment on this blog is not working, just so you know. regards
Comment by Mark Osterloh posted on
Gremlins at work - thanks for the spot - all fixed now!
M