No matter where you are located in the UK, the regulators of both Adult and Children's services acknowledge that even the best operators can have areas to improve. A positive way of demonstrating that you know your business is that you know what you are doing well and understand what you could do better.
A service improvement plan is an excellent way of demonstrating what is planned to address issues to inspectors. We often find providers, even those with action plans, who do not want the inspector to see it. They feel they are giving the inspectors evidence of what needs improving, which will mark them down on their inspection ratings. That could not be further from the truth! The most significant source of frustration for an inspector is when a service uses the inspection as an audit that the provider then acknowledges and acts upon the findings but do not look further until the next inspection.
To genuinely stay ahead of the game, it is good to know what needs to be done and demonstrate action to address the issues, even if this cannot be achieved straight away. We recommend that you compile an action plan and use it as a working document to update it regularly, clearly showing the progress made. With this in mind, the Swift action plans identify the issues and provide a road map for completion within an agreed time frame. We also identify how progress will be monitored, what the measure of success will look like and what evidence is required to demonstrate compliance. As a one-off exercise for clients to maintain, we provide a written action plan. For long term clients, we do this via our online system to assist them every step of the way. Our online system allows you to update progress, embed evidence, and remind you when things are due.
Our action plans can incorporate all the information you need in one place to actualise what you have done to address the findings both the provider and our consultants identify and agree upon ahead of your next regulatory inspection.
Training and Implementation Strategies.
A well-trained workforce improves outcomes for clients. Training needs vary from person to person and are not as simple as complying with Mandatory Training or having the right staff with the correct qualifications. If you are a learning organisation, it is essential to identify training needs through your governance systems.
When an incident occurs, often it identifies a training need. No staff member working in health or social care wants to make a mistake. Therefore as a learning organisation, it is essential to identify individual and team learning needs, levels of competencies and the evidence that staff understand the training they receive and can put it into practice. It is not enough to show people attended the training.
The Swift team aims to support providers who want to become learning organisations, embed learning, and improve outcomes.
Retained Services
Many customers appreciate that improving ratings will take time; it is not a sprint but a marathon. They retain our services to enable us to work with the team for a sustained period, usually no less than 12 months. To find out more about our retained service visit: Retained Consultancy Services - Swift Management Services