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Month: June 2017

Mountain climbers

The biggest problem with training, and what you can do about it

We've all been on a training course of some form or another. It might be something compliance based - like health and safety - or something that really impacts on how we perform in our role. The problem, however, is that it often isn't built around the learner.

The reason why is clear: training and education has traditionally been a process of passing knowledge from one person to another or to several others. Consider the typical set-up of a classroom: the teacher stands and speaks, authoritatively, the children sit and listen as subjects. The teacher is focused on passing on the knowledge, not on addressing its meaning and application to the learner. 

It is well established, though, that people who discover their own learning are better for it. Carl Rogers, one of the founding thinkers of 'student-centred learning', stated that "the only learning which significantly influences behaviour is self discovered". If you're a tutor a small proportion of any classroom will be able to take in what you say and remember it. A much larger proportion will keep it with them if they have discovered it themselves.

That's why inductive learning, otherwise known as guided discovery, is the big fashion in modern teaching and training. With language, tutors often now provide learners with an example of a phrase or sentence and facilitate learners to work out the rules for themselves. Even in football, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is a well known practitioner of guided discovery, coaching his players to be able to make decisions for themselves on the pitch based on an overall model of play. 

So, when you're building your own training programmes, think about how you can aid learners to discover facts and patterns of behaviour for themselves. For example, you can give them real world scenarios, and ask them how they would react. Rather than explain the Social Model of Disability to them, get them to empathise and see things from the perspective of those for whom they care. If you are able to observe them working afterwards, talk to them at intervals and ask them how they think they could improve based on the training. It's only little details, but they can add up to make a big difference to changing behaviours for the long-term. 

 

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The best health and social care resources

Finding up to date information on health and social care can be hard. If you're in a position where you're responsible for providing training into the sector, it can be time consuming trying to keep track of regulation and best practice changes, as well as keeping your own CPD going.

So, to give you a helping hand, we've assembled some links to online resources that will help you keep on track. Get them bookmarked! 

 

1. Skills for Care/Skills for Health

Granted, they're not the easiest websites to navigate, but they're a must read if you want to keep track of the latest best practice. The best thing to do is to follow the blogs, which should make sure you're capturing everything important.

www.skillsforcare.org.uk

www.skillsforhealth.org.uk

 

2. CQC

When researching regulations, you may as well go straight to the source. The CQC have a number of interesting resources available on their website. They publish the majority of the research and surveys they undertake, allowing you to form your own opinion on the findings. There's also the latest guidance easily accessible for providers across the sector.

www.cqc.org.uk

 

3. SCIE

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) provides a wealth of resources on every topic imaginable in the sector, including explanatory videos on a lot of them. It's all helpfully arranged by region and letter too!

www.scie.org.uk

 

4. CareTalk

CareTalk is an online magazine that covers the care sector. We like it because it's often upbeat and emphasises the good things going on in the sector, which is refreshing when you consider what usually makes it into the mainstream news. Definitely worth following!

www.caretalk.co.uk

 

5. Care Industry News

Exactly what it says on the tin. If you can get past the garish background, there's some really good content that is regularly updated. In fact, if you get our newsletter, you'll see that we link to them a lot.

www.careindustrynews.co.uk

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No stop for health and social care integration efforts

The head of NHS England has signalled that there is no intention of ending plans to more closely link the British health and social care systems.

A report from the National Audit Office earlier this year suggested that health and social care integration was not being carried out effectively enough to deliver the desired results, although where it was done well there were undoubtedly benefits.

Addressing the NHS Confederation in Liverpool, Simon Stevens reiterated that the course had not changed, and said that his priority was to end the “fractured” health and social care system, with nine areas covering 7 million people to be targeted as priority areas for integration.

The integration at a local level will be driven by ‘accountable care systems’ (ACSs), which will bring together local NHS organisations with voluntary groups and care organisations. The intention is to build on those local areas where successes have been made, which has had a particular impact on hospital admissions.

Although many will, without debt, criticise some integration efforts, but the evidence from the NAO’s report does suggest that there are benefits when it is done well. Experimenting across different localities may not always be pretty, but we can all acknowledge that our care system needs a shake-up, and we should welcome any moves that improve welfare whilst alleviating burdens on overstretched public services.

A look at Teeside’s ‘outstanding’ care home

Nunthorpe Care Home in Middlesbrough has just received the highest rating possible from the CQC of ‘outstanding’. How did it do it?

According to its residents and the CQC report, a “homely” feel, stimulating activities, and a passionate workforce.

Take a closer look by clicking here …

New start-up presents new model for care

A new start-up is seeking to let more people with dementia live in their own home by using technology.

Adam and Daniel Pike started SuperCarers in response to their own family’s experience with dementia. Their grandmother suffered with the disease, but preferred to stay in her own home. Lacking the finances to pay for private carers, the family relied on local authority carers until eventually Adam and Daniel’s mother took over. As the condition worsened, however, the family had to turn to residential care. The Pikes’ grandmother, they say, resented the decision, and made their mother feel guilty about it until the day she died. The impact is still with their mother even ten years later.

Recognising that 90% of over-50s who need care would rather stay in their own home, SuperCarers is attempting to reduce the costs by linking carers and families online directly, eliminating the need for agencies and their associated costs and overheads. SuperCarers acts as an introducer, and as such is not regulated by the CQC.

The Pikes argue that this gives more families more cost effective care over which they can exercise more control. Further, since SuperCarers is an introducer and not an agency, carers are self-employed and can set their own rates, meaning they will typically earn more than if they were part of an agency.

This new model has led to calls from some, including the UK Homecare Association, for the government to introduce new regulations to take account of changes in the health and social care market. This does not seem to be on the horizon, though. Further, SuperCarers seems to be taking its role seriously, with its team of advisers including luminaries from the CQC, the National Dignity Council, and even an ex-minister. It’s next step, according to the founders, is to build relationships with the NHS to help speed-up discharges and reduce the 445,000 days a year elderly people to spend in hospital while waiting for in-home care.