Social care bodies across England have joined together to announce a Social Care Day of Remembrance and Reflection. It will take place, next year, on 22 March and be a day to honour the work of the adult social care workforce and remember those we lost. Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, Deborah Sturdy, explains the background...
"As part of the record 36 billion investment to reform the NHS and social care, the Prime Minister’s announcement of at least £500 million funding for the care workforce across three years is very welcome", says Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care in her new blog marking the Prime Minister's recent announcement on social care reform.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for many colleagues working in the social care sector, making retention and recruitment more important than ever. Vida Healthcare's Bernadette Mossman explains how she and her colleagues have been encouraging vaccination among their staff.
When you have a ‘week’ or ‘month’ concentrating on a theme or a campaign, it can really focus minds. But there’s also the danger that, once the week or month has passed, the issue gets sidelined. Co-production Week, which the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) ran in early July, got a good conversation going. Gerard Crofton-Martin, Head of Research, Practice Improvement and Co-production wants to make the most of this awareness raising...
Barchester Healthcare has been working tirelessly, in difficult circumstances, to protect and reassure its colleagues, residents and their relatives about COVID-19 and vaccinations throughout the course of the pandemic. Chief Executive Dr Peter Calveley explains how he and his team worked hard to keep staff updated on the vaccination roll out and allay their concerns about having the jab.
COVID-19 vaccination has to be comprehensive to be truly effective as protection – particularly for those most vulnerable to infection. While the SAGE recommended levels of at least 80% of care home staff and 90% of residents have been reached and exceeded in many parts of England, regional variation persists.
Deborah Sturdy, our Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care, explains why the Government, following wide consultation with the care sector, has taken the difficult decision to make vaccination a mandatory condition of deployment in care homes.
After what can only be described as an uncertain and difficult 18 months, Care Home Open Week was a fantastic opportunity to focus on the positives and have some fun.
Many of the people supported at Precious Homes have found the pandemic hard. Changes to routine can be a challenge for autistic people, and isolation from friends, family and support systems add to an already confusing situation. Precious Homes staff made sure Care Home Week was enjoyed by everyone.
COVID-19 has led to many changes in the way residential care is provided and the way care colleagues work together. One thing that hasn’t changed is the sense of family and community within Priscilla Wakefield House, a teaching care home in Haringey, north London.
Despite the outside world being turned up-side-down, care staff have succeeded in keeping a sense of normality, and making sure residents continue to enjoy laughter and fun.
Andrew Reece, head of the integrated learning disability service for Camden Council, has always struggled with how the social care sector measures ‘what good looks like’, particularly in the context of supporting people with learning disabilities to make and sustain friendships. In this blog for DHSC's Social Care site, he proposes an alternative approach to help everyone get it right.
If you’ve not come across DHSC's Regional Assurance team, its members act as two-way information sharers between the Department and local areas.
They use their experience of the adult social care sector to provide informed assessments to the Department and the Minister for Social Care. They also provide opportunities for the sector to influence and inform DHSC about the way current policies are working in the regions.