Dalmuir House - Raising Standards of Care

Mike and Myrna Noorbaccus established their care home business in Limpsfield, near Oxted some twenty years ago. Today they employ 21 staff and own Dalmuir House, a 16 bed home catering for the needs of people with dementia and its sister unit, Alexandra House, which provides residential care for five adults with learning disabilities.

Training

Mike and Myrna began investing in staff training more than ten years ago after becoming qualified NVQ assessors. However, in those days, they found that many employees were less willing to study for qualifications, feeling that on the job experience was sufficient.

Mike explains: “For people keen to qualify, we offered National Vocational Qualifications Levels 2 and 3 in Care. Once other staff saw that those qualifying were eligible for promotion and a pay rise, they became interested in training too.”

The Noorbaccus’ training programme was so successful that by the time the government announced the new National Standards in Care, around 65% of their employees already held NVQ level 2 or higher.

Aiming Higher

Mike welcomed the new national standards as a way of developing his workforce further. He and his wife were among Surrey’s first care home owners and managers to sign up for the one year Registered Managers Award, run by Surrey Joint Care Assessment Centre and funded by Surrey Learning and Skills Council, through the European Social Fund.

Thanks to the Care Sector Development Project (a joint partnership between Surrey Learning & Skills Council and Surrey County Council) and Topss, the Care Sector Skills Council, they have also been able to expand their staff development programme.

Funding has been provided to train more NVQ assessors and verifiers as well as offer more NVQ level 2 and 3 study programmes to other employees.

Mike says: “One of the requirements of the new regulations is that new employees undertake an induction programme and a six month foundation course.

All other staff must receive at least three days continuous training a year. With the backing of the Care Sector Development Project and Topps, we have been able to deliver this level of training quickly and effectively. As our managers are now qualified trainers, we manage most of our training in-house and this allows us to gear staff learning to the special needs of our residents.”

Results

By 2004, virtually every member of staff working at Dalmuir House and Alexandra House was qualified to national standards. Those holding NVQ level 2 qualifications are working to level 3 and others are about set to study for NVQ level 4. Any new employees who do not hold care qualifications are asked to commit to study leading to NVQ qualification.

Thanks to the funding provided, Mike and Myrna have doubled their number of NVQ assessors from two to four and a fifth member of staff is en route to qualify.

Mike says: “Training is very much at the heart of our homes and takes place every single day – whether formally or informally.”
However Mike can also point to a wide range of other benefits that the two homes now enjoy since stepping up investment in training. He says: “We are more organised and from a financial perspective, have been able to raise our fees to the going market rate for the private care home sector.

“Our employees have grown in confidence and we enjoy high levels of staff retention. A member of staff who started at Dalmuir House several years ago, took her first NVQ qualifications with us, progressed and has since moved on to manage another home. I find that especially gratifying.”

If evidence of the high quality of care offered by Dalmuir House and Alexandra House is required, then Mike Noorbaccus can provide it. Not only have both homes run with no client vacancies for more than a year, but also receive constant requests for placements. Mike’s office also contains dozens of letters of thanks from families of residents who praise the knowledge, understanding and sensitivity shown by his staff while caring for their loved-ones.

In search of a further seal of approval for its investment in staff development, Dalmuir House and Alexandra House embarked on Investors in People and succeeded in gaining full accreditation within three months.

The Future

Mike Noorbaccus says: “We plan to maintain a highly qualified workforce by continuously moving our employees up the NVQ levels. It is important to remember that if you want to create a good home you need to invest money in developing people. It costs just 1-2% of a home’s income to train staff to deliver the highest standards of care and in my opinion, that is a sound investment.”