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Newsletter February 08
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Surrey Care
www.surreycare.org.uk Newsletter Issue 12 February 2008
Supporting Social Care Providers in Surrey
Contact Details
Erica Lockhart Chief Executive Tel/Fax: 01372 360593 Mobile: 07738 227362 Email: Erica.Lockhart@surreycare.org.uk
Lisa Mack SCA Administration Mobile: 07779 584397 Fax: 01252 782938 Email: Lisa.Mack@surreycare.org.uk
Surrey Care Association Ltd, PO Box 320, Leatherhead, KT22 2BG
Developing the workforce of the future
The SCA stand at this year’s Surrey Skills Festival, which ran over three days at the end of January, was seen by 8,500 year 9 school children and over 2,000 evening visitors. The Festival enabled us to show the huge variety of careers available in social care, from care worker right through to management level. This year we were also aiming to interest as many young people as possible in the new 14-19 Diploma in Society, Health & Development, of which social care is a key element. The theme of our exhibit was simulating the effects of disability. To achieve this, visitors experienced
Steve, Judith, Karen and Lali meet Leatherhead based wildlife expert Simon Cowell MBE and 22 year old tame barn owl Fleur at the Surrey Skills Festival.
being lifted in a hoist and attempted to eat breakfast wearing a blindfold. We are particularly grateful to Weycare Ltd for the loan of a light box and fluid, used to reveal to visitors the presence of germs on their hands. New for 2008 was the compilation of job vacancies targeted at the adult evening visitors. This proved popular and we have posted it on our website under Employment. We will continue compile
SCA's Steve Carroll helps one young student experience how the visually impaired cope with everyday tasks.
Lisa Mack on the template available under “downloads”. Our special thanks go to all those who gave up their time to staff the Skills Festival stand: Karen Raggett and Lali Nqentsu from Rodwell Farm Nursing Home; James Chilton (Care Ambassador), Janka Chrobakova, Zoe Measures, Yvette Barrett from TACT South; Judith Walker and Gillian Nicholls from The Grange Centre; Mick McKeever from Clarendon Home Care and of course Steve Carroll and Lisa Mack from Surrey Care Association.
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this list fortnightly on a trial basis, so please continue to send vacancies to
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See Inside:
NMDS latest
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Train to Gain
NTSG update
National Social Care Recruitment Campaign
The Department of Health is aiming to have another TV, press and radio social care recruitment campaign in early March 2008. A key objective for the campaign, and measure of its success, is bridging the gap between national advertising and "local" employers who have the vacancies. To this end the department are planning to link the campaign to vacancies at local Jobcentre Plus centres in Surrey. If your organisation would like to take part in case studies and other activities promoting careers in social care, please contact Erica Lockhart.
National Minimum Data Set (NMDS) – February Update –
As the number of care organisations completing NMDS Questionnaires grows, invaluable data about the sector and its workforce is being gathered and analysed. You can view the latest NMDS-SC data analysis report for the South East on the Skills for Care Website at www.nmds-SC.org.uk/news.asp Skills for Care is aiming to provide a detailed data analysis for all the sub regions, including Surrey, later this month. As well as detailed analyses of the data to assist the social care sector with resources, employers will also be able to download a profile of their organisation compared alongside others in their area. (The comparison will not allow any competitor organisation to be identified). An example of a current report can be found through the web link below and similar developments will provide you with easily accessible information. http://www.nmds-sc.org.uk/ viewNMDS.asp?section=13 In Surrey, more than 40% care providers have now completed their NMDS-SC Organisation questionnaire and received their NMDS reference number, required to claim Skills for Care TSI funding for completed NVQ units (£75 per unit). If you haven’t completed your NMDSOrganisation questionnaire, you can go on line to do so at www.nmds-sc-online.org.uk SCA has funding from Skills for Care to assist organisations to complete their on-line questionnaire. If you do it yourself then please let us know or if you think you need some help, please contact Lisa Mack on 07779 584397, email lisa.mack@surreycare.org.uk We are aiming to have 100% of CSCI registered organisations having completed Surrey Care Association (SCA) has contracted with The Learning Hub to assist care providers in Surrey who have completed the Organisation Questionnaire, to complete individual employee questionnaires on-line for all of their staff. Chris Blake, NMDS Project Co-ordinator at The Learning Hub will be offering assistance to employers to help them through the process. You can contact Chris on 0208 795 5821, email cblake@thelearninghub.co.uk this questionnaire as it provides invaluable data to support bids for funding. Please help us to help you in the future.
NMDS-SC Employee Questionnaires
If you have completed your NMDS-SC Organisation Questionnaire and received your NMDS reference number/s and log-in details from Skills for Care you can go into the NMDS on-line system to complete employee questionnaires for your staff.
Surrey Safeguarding Awareness Week
The Surrey Safeguarding Awareness week will run from 16th to 20th June this year. The week will start with a formal launch and, with the help of a small amount of sponsorship money, SCC is hoping to hold a variety of events across the county. The programme of events will be advertised as widely as possible, giving both professionals and the general public opportunities to get involved. The success of this Surrey Safeguarding Awareness week will depend on your contribution - raising awareness about the abuse of vulnerable adults remains a key priority in Surrey so, if you have an idea for an event within your local community or organisation please let Jan Chapman know. Contact Jan Chapman or Linda Stewart Safeguarding Adults Team 01372 833520 http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/ safeguardingadults
News
From April, employers will be able to download a CSCI AQAA report from the web based NMDS-SC Online. This will collate all relevant information from the NMDS-SC data and allow the employers to attach this report to their AQAA return. CSCI are currently in the IT run stage of their AQAA Online and work continues so that SfC and CSCI will be able to exchange all relevant data electronically in the future. If you have already completed your NMDS Organisation or Employee questionnaires on-line, or plan to do so, please inform Lisa Mack immediately so that SCA can draw down funding to support other employers who need assistance and we do not keep approaching you.
SmartCare – New kids on the block
Alex van Oortmersen, Managing Director of new start Domiciliary Care company SmartCare has written an article for the CSA magazine and was kind enough to give Surrey Care Association a glowing testimonial - Thank you Alex! Here is an extract from his article.
Autumn Conference a success
Our Autumn conference in November was attended by 93 delegates. Key speakers included Beverley Castleton consultant physician at Surrey PCT, Nigel Walker from Department of Health and Andrew Webster from SCC. We also heard excellent presentations from CareAware, the Home Office Immigration Agency and CSCI.
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Cutting a long story short we were accredited by CSCI just before Christmas and were recruiting and advertising for clients from the beginning of January. The SCA has been a major factor in us staying the course and have given us information, help, contacts and a lot of encouragement all the way and have certainly smoothed the way and given us a much better understanding of what is required and more importantly highlighting the challenges that face our industry in these turbulent times ahead.
They have also offered practical help in putting those members together that wanted to combine on the tender for the Surrey County Council. They have also made it clear that they see one of their roles as a catalyst for changing and improving the standards of care in Surrey and for that alone we would join. We are proud to be associated with Erica, Lisa and her dedicated team and feel a lot more professional and focussed being members of such a forward thinking and dynamic association.
Full house at the Autumn Conference
Many delegates responded on our evaluation form, this feedback has given us valuable pointers towards the hot topics to be included in future conferences.
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Trainer Network meeting
The Trainers Network meeting on 23rd January held at Whiteley Village covered updates on SECAS and NMDS findings as well as introducing NMDS on line.
Anne Mayhew, Care Manager at SmartCare Weybridge off to see another client
The event also saw the launch of Leadership and Management programmes (see our website) and the mandatory trainers guidance leaflet.
You can read the article “The SmartCare Legend” in full on our website under Downloads.
SCA – your views count!
We are about to review Surrey Care Association’s business planning and would be grateful for feedback from you - “our customers”. This is invaluable for helping us assess the services we provide and allows us to keep SCC, who provide grant funding to support our work, informed of our progress. Please take a little time fill in the form enclosed with this newsletter and help us ensure our service really does respond to the needs of the sector. At the same time Skills for Care have asked SCA to review their future plans for Employer Engagement and how they can continue to work closely with Skills for Care e.g. in future projects like ESF, SECAS and Train to Gain.
£1.4 million on
Train to Gain!
Train to Gain continues and we are keen to support providers with their NVQ requirements. If your employees fail to qualify under Train to Gain as they have already got a Level 2 then the new pilot offer for Level 3 for those already with a level 2, 3 or even 4 or a degree will be of interest to you. Also available for level 4 “jumpers”. To learn more check out Funding on the website or speak to Erica Lockhart. You may also get calls from two new advisors supporting Erica on this work. We have £1.4 million to spend in Surrey for Care providers so we are keen to help you! Note: providers are telling us they are receiving other calls from non SCA Consortium training providers, many from outside Surrey offering the same service. Whilst we do not want to limit your choice of Training Provider please do help us to achieve our targets which have been set aside for Surrey providers through our Care consortium. The achievement of these targets is one factor in why this year we gained a £1.4 million contract for Care providers in Surrey. If we do not deliver then we could lose it in the future. So before you sign up outside the Consortium please do speak to us to see if we can help you locally. Many of these providers will not be known to employers in Surrey so it is very important you ensure they can supply other employer references to ensure they will meet your requirements flexibly.
Business Leaders
- Limited availability to March 2008
Note the latest information on eligibility criteria from Business Link:
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STOP PRESS
Train to Gain eligibility has been extended to include volunteers. The main points in relation to volunteers are:
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Business Leaders 4 can only be offered to the Proprietor or Care Home Manager (strategic decision makers). It is not an option for the Owner / MD / Decision Maker to nominate other individuals within the care home to receive the funding, for example those undertaking the RMA.
Volunteers are eligible where they are working in any organisation (within any sector including the third/voluntary) that is making use of the Train to Gain service. There is no minimum limit to the number of hours worked by the volunteer, and there is no requirement for there to be a written agreement between the organisation and the volunteer relating to their voluntary work. Unpaid volunteers will participate on the same basis as the organisation’s paid staff, subject to the organisation confirming that the individual is working as an unpaid volunteer and satisfies the normal Train to Gain learner eligibility rules. Employers will be encouraged to support Train to Gain delivery for volunteers but there may be situations where this will not be practicable or appropriate. In these circumstances, the volunteer should be referred for additional IAG support, to explore other learning opportunities that may be available to them. Training delivery for volunteers will be on the same basis as for paid workers however the timing of training delivery will need to be negotiated to accommodate employer needs, particularly where training is scheduled during the individual’s agreed volunteer hours. As there is no contract of employment, volunteers will have the option to attend training sessions scheduled outside of their normal volunteer hours. Since volunteers are unpaid, the Train to Gain wage compensation arrangements will not apply.
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Business Leaders 4 cannot be utilised for the purpose of IiP Assessment. Funding can only be offered for training & development. The Owner / MD / Decision Maker must be the sole recipient or part of the management team receiving training.
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For more information contact Train to Gain on 0845 751 2288.
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Self Directed Support
– Changing the way the Council funded services are delivered
Over the coming months, you are likely to hear a lot of people in Surrey talking about “self directed support”, “personalisation” and “individual budgets” - these are terms for a new way of thinking about how people (including disabled people of working age and older people) who require assistance, are provided with that support. Individual budgets are a method by which the approach can be delivered to people who are eligible for state funding. Individual budgets can come in several forms including direct payments and commissioned care directed by an individual “support plan”. The programme is now moving forward with the intention of rolling out the self directed support approach in Surrey from 2009. Surrey County Council’s presentation for social care providers later this month aims to provide a clear overview of what self directed support is, what it will mean for the provider sector, and how you as The Council is also getting advice and feedback from a group with representation from external organisations including Surrey Coalition of Disabled People, Action for Carers Surrey, Surrey Community Action and Surrey Care Association, as well as senior managers from the Council. You will also have a chance to have your say on this at all SCA’s forthcoming network meetings and the overall results will be shared with us at the next SCA conference scheduled for April. See ‘Dates for your Diary’ for details. The presentation takes place Thursday 21 February 2008, 9.00am to 3.30pm at the Council Chamber Elmbridge Borough Council. Call Sharon at SCC on 01483 518444. providers can develop services that are fit for the future. Presentations by Peter Kinsella, Managing Director of Paradigm and James Chilton, Service User and Champion for people with disability.
NEW Leadership and Management Directory
Skills for Care funding has supported the development of a Directory of Leadership and Management training available in Surrey. This is intended to be a quick, practical guide for Care providers in Surrey and includes sections on:
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Training providers Short courses – non-accredited Development programmes – non-accredited Accredited courses and qualifications Links to other resources
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The Directory will be accompanied by a short commentary about Leadership and Management guidance and tools available to employers via SfC’s Leadership and Management Strategy. The commentary will also highlight areas of innovation in Leadership and Management training in Surrey. The Directory is now complete and is available on the SCA website.
New Network for Care Homes Older People
This new network will be launched on Monday 25th February at Leatherhead Golf Club. This first SCA Network meeting for Proprietors and Managers will include updates from SCC re their commissioning plans. This network replaces the previous sub group of the Provider Network which allowed only selected care home proprietors to attend. With this new network we are broadening consultation and gaining an opportunity to find out about the impact of self directed support on purchasing services. The agenda is yours. Please join us for this launch. Lunch and refreshments included. Register with Lisa Mack.
Good use of DoH grant funding
Erica Lockhart Chief Executive of SCA accompanied Anne Butler Service Manager Older People from SCC on follow up visits to care homes who had been awarded a Dept of Health grant to improve the environment for older people. The priority was for those with a high percentage of residents funded by Surrey County Council. In the home in the photograph, 90% of residents are SCC funded. The grant provided an opportunity for refurbishment of lounge and bedroom areas which had made a great impact on residents’ lives.
Are you taking advantage of our supply partners Spectrum Care?
During 2007 Spectrum’s membership grew substantially. Now with over 10,500 beds, SCA providers have added to this growth, providing Spectrum increased negotiating power with their suppliers. Spectrum has once again successfully reduced costs on key services such as – Food, Uniforms, Clinical & General Waste, Equipment and Consumables. In many cases SCA providers have benefited from reduced prices from their current suppliers. We are all looking to reduce costs, and now you can easily check if you can save by contacting Spectrum to compare your prices. Prospect Housing and Support Services became members of Spectrum Care Ltd in November 2007, transferring existing suppliers over to Spectrum terms and conditions. “Our saving on food services is good in that we were paying retail prices and now pay trade prices for the same goods. On clinical waste removal we no longer pay 17.5% Contribution towards Landfill & Disposal Charges and bin charges are half what we used to pay.” Manager Jenny Partridge says: “It’s easy; all it requires is a phone call to the supplier. Prospect is already benefiting from reduced cost on food services and clinical waste removal. As other contacts come up for renewal we have asked Spectrum Suppliers to quote and look to make even more savings.
SPECTRUM
Your buying partners
You too can benefit by calling Jackie at Spectrum on 020 8605 0546 or email jackie@spectrumcareltd.co.uk
NCPA Seminar Date:
National Care Providers Association, the training arm of Spectrum will be holding their next seminar on 12th March 2007 – covering ‘Marketing Your Home’ & ‘Employment Law – Grievance/ Discipline Procedure Do’s & Don’ts’. For more information, please contact Spectrum or see the SCA website – What’s on. Special discounted ticket price for SCA providers.
The challenges for Learning Disability providers
SCA with SCC has hosted two joint workshops in recent months where the picture for future services for people with a learning disability has started to unfold. There are major changes ahead and for some they are already here as providers report bed vacancies and no new referrals from care managers. When you listen to the revised commissioning plans and read the proposed housing strategy you start to understand why. But the message is not getting through to everyone – in recent weeks we have heard of new homes opening and no residents to fill the beds. SCA has agreed to work with SCC closely on supporting our care providers in this transformation agenda – i.e. helping providers consider their future options. To this end we are discussing with ARC what help they can offer and we have commissioned some work nationally to identify some options so we can provide a source of information locally. With some extra financial help from On March 17th we have our next joint event with SCC where we hope to have some of the findings to guide SCC to support this plan we are keen for as many providers as possible to come to our next network meeting on 26th February so we can consult about our plan.
To register contact Lisa Mack. See LD Network flyer with this newsletter.
providers. DO NOT MISS these meetings! they are important for your future business plans.
news in brief…
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SCA TSI funding
Claims for induction and units at £75 unit can still be claimed. Forms are available on the website under Skills for Care or by post or email from Tracey Lord on 07900 285435 or tlord@sky.com Units for Train to Gain fully funded candidates can be claimed if the employer confirms that some expenditure has been incurred e.g. for backfill, payment of wages etc and wage compensation has not been claimed.
indemnity insurance update; What does the mental capacity act mean to your care home? See Flyer with this newsletter for details.
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Change at Godalming College
Sheila Vinson, Director of the Business Services at Godalming College, retired before Christmas and Daniel Power has been appointed. His background is in Further Education and running a training business specialising in social care so he is well placed to
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New to our team
Steve Carroll formerly Operations Director at South London Nursing Homes is working on projects as part of our SCA and Skills for Care team. Steve can be contacted on 078816 58759 and by email steve.carroll1@virgin.net
continue the work of the CoVE.
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Showcase update
This years’ Showcase theme is Service Development: What it means for you, your workforce, your business and people who use your services.
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Skills for Care update
Work has now been contracted and is underway for the following:
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English and cultural diversity training for migrant workers – contact Margaret Harris at the Learning Hub on 0870 760 6714
Last year's showcase attracted over 700 visitors to the free training and seminar event
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Management modules at Godalming College Care Ambassadors through Steve Carroll at SCA via Lisa Mack
Put this date in your diary now for this not to be missed event for you and your staff. Wednesday 7th May at the Copthorne Effingham Park Hotel near Gatwick.
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Guide to induction and refresher training through Pam Hine contact Lisa Mack
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For more information about Skills for Care in Surrey contact Erica Lockhart, Steve Carroll or Lisa Mack.
Learning and Skills Awards 2008 – enter now
The South East Learning and Skills Awards will take place at Ascot Racecourse on May 22nd 2008. The awards are open to providers, colleges, businesses and individuals in categories ranging from Apprenticeships through to Train to Gain learner and employer awards. For more information visit
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RCN Conference
Essential conference for nurses in the independent sector on March 8 at RCN Headquarters in London. Topics include: Care and treatment of people with mental disorders; Preferred priorities for care: providing choice at the end of life; Employment law and
www.learningandskillsawards.co.uk
The closing date for nominations is February 29th.
Update on NTSG programme
Before Christmas all Surrey care providers should have received a mailing which included the first programme of free training and information on the grants available for 2007/08. If you didn’t receive this you can find it on the website under Downloads – Training. In this mailing you will find the second programme of free training through to July 2008. We are currently planning a further programme of activity around Leadership and Management training, IiP workshops, Knowledge Sets, Recruitment and Retention practices, a project to support recruitment of older workers and cultural awareness for Managers, Supervisory training for Nurse Senior Care and Managers plus training for nurses working in care settings. Contact Lisa Mack for any programme or grant information. Direct Payments. Over £608k was allocated directly to Surrey care providers, funding a total of 26,133 training sessions. This compares to 16,127 sessions in 2005/2006 – an increase of 61%. The three most popular courses were Fire Safety, Moving & Handling and Health and Safety. Feedback from recipients of the Direct Grant showed that 92% said that the grant had made a significant amount of difference to the training of their workforce and 86% reported that the grant had made a significant difference to the service users.
National Training Strategy Grant Report 2006/2007
A report evaluating NTSG spend in 2006/7 has been published recently. The report also outlines recommendations and key priorities for 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. Highlights of the report include increased take up of the NTSG
A copy of the report is available on our website under Downloads.
more news in brief…
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Expressions of interest
…are shortly to be invited to support a new Extra Care Development in Woking. Watch out on SCA web site stop press and on surreycc.gov.uk website. Register for alerts on home page so you do not miss important announcements.
Training Providers in Surrey
SCA provides information about Training Providers based in Surrey or where Surrey Care providers recommend those on our boundaries. Thanks to funding from Skills for Care we are developing quality standards for providers – we are thinking of a Surrey “kitemark” so that employers can feel confident when trying new providers for their training. We are always interested to hear of training providers who provide a good quality service and are flexible and responsive to employer needs so please do let us know. Equally we would like to hear of providers who have not been so helpful. This is particularly important as we understand many national and regional providers are likely to have contracts that mean they may be offering services in Surrey, so intelligence would be useful as SCA are often asked for guidance. Always asking for references is a useful way to check out training providers not known to you. If you would like to be involved in developing our Surrey kite mark then do let Erica Lockhart know. We will be consulting through the Trainers Network in due course.
Dates for your Diary
Event Older Peoples Care Homes Network Launch Learning Disability Network Date & Time Monday 25 February 2008 11.00am – 4.00pm Tuesday 26 February 2008 9.30am – 2.00pm Monday 10 March 2008 10.00am – 4.00pm Wednesday 16 April 2008 TBC Wednesday 23 April 2008 TBC Wednesday 7 May 2008 10.00am – 4.00pm Venue Leatherhead Golf Club Ramada East Horsley TBC
Domiciliary Care Network
SCA Spring Conference
Leatherhead Leisure Centre TBC
Trainers Network
Care Showcase
Effingham Park Copthorne Hotel
Please contact Lisa Mack for all the above events to register a place via email: lisa.mack@surreycare.org.uk
Surrey Care Association
Surrey Care Association Limited
PO Box 320 ■ Leatherhead ■ Surrey Telephone: 01372 360593 Website: www.surreycare.org.uk
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KT22 2BG
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