Hospital admissions from care homes

Hospital admissions from care homes.

Some strong words and sobering facts in this article from the British Geriatric Society blog.

Residents of care homes have complex healthcare needs, reflecting multiple long-term conditions, significant disability and advanced frailty. Care provided to this complex cohort of people is often fragmented. Day to day care services are delivered to a variable standard often with high staff turnover and limited support from the wider health system.

I would like to know about the figures for admission compared to the general population. I think they need unpicking more to allow for the possible increased vigilance and potential risk aversion of care home staff. Both of which could contribute to the higher rates of admission.

CQC State of Care report Video!

Sorry for those reading offline, but I will be covering this in print next week.

For now though here’s the video from CQC.

A busy month for bad care stories

I’m sorry to have to report that it’s been a busy month for bad care stories.

The levels of poor care, abuse and neglect in homes across the country are worrying.

Fortunately I’m not alone in highlighting the issues, and sooner or later people will have to take action.

The most upsetting aspect for me is how avoidable most of the poor care is. Common themes emerge, and if good practice was shared and encouraged, things would be better all round. Sadly in our mostly privately run, for profit, elderly care system, sharing of good practice is seen as giving away trade secrets.

So if you are looking for good quality care always get help and advice.

www.scotting.org

and to read the bad care stories- https://ksccltd.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/the-bad/

CQC to publish guidance on using CCTV in care homes

There has been a lot of noise about this issue in the press for some time, and last week it blew up again with CQC announcing the possibility of publishing of guidelines on the use of CCTV in care homes.

Here’s the headline from The Daily Mail 6th October:

Families given official green light to spy on care home staff if they fear their elderly relatives are being abused

I think the CQC position is more nuanced than that, but in effect will sanction families and employers using cameras to spot abuse.

I have made my thoughts on this clear several times since it was first mooted. In a nutshell they are-

1-CCTV will not prevent abuse.
2- CCTV is useful in gaining convictions where abuse is suspected.
3-Better recruitment, retention, training and pay will reduce abuse.

My views are echoed elsewhere, The Guardian on the 8th October ran a piece with the title

CCTV in care homes: secret cameras are not the way to improve care

Rather than allow covert filming, the Care Quality Commission should focus on driving up standards

The main thrust of the article is about the underlying causes of bad care, and I would agree, these need to be addressed as opposed to using CCTV to spot the symptoms.

The full article can be found here-

http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2014/oct/08/cctv-care-homes-secret-cameras-improve-care

The CQC statement can be found at-

http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/statement-about-use-cameras-monitor-care

Research in to pressure sores in North Staffs homes

It’s good to see a CCG taking responsibility for oversight of quality in local nursing homes. There are many reasons why people develop pressure sores and ulcers which are not necessarily down to quality of care. However one can see from the comparison with the NHS trust that the numbers of people in nursing homes developing complications are out of proportion.

It will be interesting to see the results of this piece of work. My money is that it will find that there aren’t enough staff in homes to meet people’s needs, and those staff aren’t trained and competent.

Watch this space—-

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/Inquiry-launched-bedsores-care-home-residents/story-21146032-detail/story.html

A New Service- The Care Service Report

Hi all

I am very close to launching a new service-Care Service Report.

This will be a short report on the key quality indicators of a care service.

Any care service-Home care, Nursing care, Residential care, Childrens’ Care and so on.

It will be available both online and offline, for the small cost of £25! yes just £25!

And if you decide to use one of my other paid for services after taking a Care Service Report, I will take £30 off the price.

Sounds good?

have a look at my website for a preview-

www.scotting.org/CSR.html