Category Archives: Carers

Personalisation is central to social care management standards

March 9, 2012   Carers, disability, Older care
Personalisation should be at the heart of good management in social care
Helen Mooney

Personalisation should be at the heart of good management in social care according to revised management induction standards launched today by Skills for Care.

The refresh of the original 2008 standards sets out core knowledge and skills for managers and is aimed at those new to management as well as those new in post who have previously managed other care services.

The revisions are designed to take account of the personalisation agenda and changes to qualifications.

It says managers are responsible for developing “positive relationships” between staff and service users and families, making the experiences of service users the measure of success and promoting self-determination among clients, as opposed to risk aversion.

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Nurses will be given the chance to learn about Learning Disabilities

March 9, 2012   Carers, hospital, learning difficulties, Uncategorized

Rotation scheme boosts learning disability nurse recruitment

9 March, 2012 | By The Press Association

Newly-qualified nurses have been given the chance to specialise in learning disabilities as part of a new ‘rotation’ scheme in Hertfordshire.

The initiative has been introduced by Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust (HPFT) to tackle a shortage of Learning Disability Nurses (LDNs).

Through links with local higher education institutes, the scheme allows nurses to experience a number of different specialist areas in their first year of employment, before deciding to focus on just one.

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Hospital consultants should consider working weekends

March 9, 2012   Carers, hospital

Hospital doctors told to rethink weekend working

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

 A shortage of senior doctors is said to be at the heart of the problem

Hospital consultants should consider working weekends to cut the spike in deaths, a doctors’ leader says.

Dr Mark Porter, the British Medical Association’s consultants chairman, said the mounting evidence about the problem meant it was time for doctors to put themselves forward if needed.

He said it would not be necessary for every speciality or hospital, but it needed to be looked at case-by-case.

There is a wealth of research into higher mortality rates at weekends.

At the end of last year, the research company Dr Foster found mortality rates rose by 10% at weekends. Other studies have shown similar correlations.

Staffing – and in particular the presence or absence of senior doctors – has been highlighted as a key factor.

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