A. No our interim managers are able to take on any length of contract as required by the client.
Q. What is the process to start an Interim Manager?
A. Following a discussion to understand exactly what type of person you are looking for, we supply the operator with a selection of CV’s for the most appropriate consultants for the assignment. We can then arrange either virtual or face to face interviews at a location of choosing. All our consultants have fully transferable DBS checks at enhanced level and we hold references on file. Once the operator has selected the right consultant for them, we can usually arrange their start date within 2 or 3 days, less in an emergency.
Q. What is the costs of a interim manager?
A. The majority of our interim managers work on a daily rate basis, that said for longer term contracts some are able to work on a pro rata salary. However please consider when negotiating a pro rata salary, there are allowances for annual leave and pension contributions as well as administration fees to take into account.
Q. Are there additional costs associated with employing a interim manager?
A. The team work through our payroll and as such the only additional costs to a daily rate assignment is travel expenses and accommodation costs (if required) we will discuss this on a case -by-case basis.
Q. When could I consider using an Interim Manager?
A. The use of interim managers can be varied, from filling gaps during sustained periods of sickness/absence or maternity leave. Many of our clients use interim managers to fill the void between a manager leaving and the new manager starting. This can really help the transition from one manager to another.
Q. We need to improve standards within our care home and our manager has resigned, can an interim manager start the improvement process for us until we can recruit a manager?
A. Yes all our consultants are able to put into place comprehensive action plan and commence improvement programmes, these will always be with the agreement of the operator and access to the improvement plan along with progress notes are available from our server to enable the operator to stay completely up to date.
Q. How do you bill for Interim Management?
A. At the end of week our consultants submit a timesheet to us, we then send it electronically to the client, they authorise the timesheet electronically and an invoice is raised. This is then based on 15 day terms. Payments can be made by Bank Transfer or Direct Debit, we also are able to accept all major credit and debit card payments.
Q. What are engagement surveys?
A. Engagement Surveys are survey’s undertaken to establish the views of people using the service, they can be specific to staff, clients or other professionals who come into contact with the business.
Q. Why are surveys useful?
A. Every business owner, believes they know their business well, but often the staff or clients may have a opinion or suggestion that can make the business even better. Sometime those ideas and suggestions can be missed or overlooked or simply not passed on to the person who needs to know.
Q. How are the surveys sent out?
A. The format we use to send out surveys depend on the client entirely, we are able to use web-based surveys, intranet-based surveys using local company systems or we can send paper versions. Many of our clients choose a mixture depending on who they are surveying. For example: you may use a web-based survey for resident’s families, a intranet based survey for staff and a paper survey for residents in a care home.
Q. Why should we use an independent survey could we not send our a survey ourselves to find out the same information?
A. You are able to create a survey yourself, but we find our clients do not always get a objective response as people are sceptical about anonymity and where staff surveys are concerned some staff feel they cannot be objective. Using an external survey also adds validity and a higher level of anonymity as the reports provided never attribute comments to people.
Q. How can I use the survey to demonstrate the standards we provide to regulators?
A. The survey reports we provide show trends and opinions graphically so they are easily read and understood. They compare the responses received from one business to industry standards, which means you and the regulators can see how your business compares to other businesses in your sector.
Q. Are the surveys pre set or can we add additional questions to measure specific information that is important to our business?
A. We are able to provide standard question sets to assist in the process but we are always happy to measure specific items to. If these questions are very specific to an individual service then we may not be able to measure these against other companies simply because the data has not been measured.
Q. One I have received your report what do I do with the information?
A. One of the most effective use of a survey is to show that you are listening and willing to take action. This helps improve survey take-up next time. We always advise our clients to read the reports and decide what action is required, what is possible to achieve quickly and what can be reviewed over time. Then write a response action plan or a “you said – we did” summary. Publish this alongside the survey results so that your participants can see the information provided has been listened to and reacted to.
Q. Our last inspection report was not as good as we would have wanted and that is having an impact on referrals. The survey we undertook shows a different picture can we use the survey in any way to counter balance our inspection report?
A. Yes, once you have had your inspection report published it is a matter for public record. You are required by law to publish your grade and link on your website to the inspection report, but many people also publish our easy to read survey reports and actions taken alongside this. It is also possible to send out or display printed versions with other literature as part of your marketing pack.
Q. How long will a survey take?
A. Once the survey goes live, we would expect it to take at most six weeks from that point to receive the responses and produce the report. The time really is dependent upon you and how long you want to give people to respond. We monitor response uptake and sometimes advise clients to run the survey for a longer than anticipated period encouraging participants to get involved.
Q. What is a mock inspection?
A. All regulated health and social care establishments are registered to provide specific categories of care. A mock inspection examines the standards used by regulators throughout the UK and measures a service against the same criteria as a regulatory inspection providing an insight into how a business is performing. This provides an opportunity to put anything which may be amiss before the real inspection.
Q. Having a mock inspection sounds like a good idea, but our regulatory inspections are unannounced so how will a mock inspection assist if we have not had time to put thing right before the real inspection takes place?
A. Every Regulatory inspection understands that every company will be on a journey of constant improvement and they also appreciate things go wrong. They want to know you know what needs to be improved and what action you are taking. Therefore having a mock inspection and a living service improvement plan can be a real advantage.
Q. Do we get to choose when a mock inspection takes place?
A. That is the clients choice, some providers elect to make the inspection as realistic as possible and therefore arrange a time shot of a few weeks and we arrive unannounced within that timeframe, or we can set a date whichever you prefer.
Q. Given regulatory inspections do not always look at all aspects of the regulation, how do we know that we are prepared for the inspection if the mock inspection has looked at different aspects?
A. When we undertake a mock inspection we look at the entire sent of standards to which that specific service is measured. That is why our inspections can take longer but cover you can be confident that everything is covered.
Q. Once we have the mock inspection report how do we create the service improvement plan?
A. The inspection report you receive from Swift Management Services, will provide a series of recommendations which you can use as a basis for your plan, alternatively we can take it further and write the plan for you.
Q. Sometimes it is our staff that let us down at an inspection, will a mock inspection help them the staff respond to inspectors better?
A. Yes, during our mock inspections, our consultants take more time with staff than would be the case in a routine inspection. If the response they get from staff is not what they would expect they spend time to coach the staff member. We find most members of staff are keen to respond correctly and do have the knowledge, but when approached they are fearful of getting the answer wrong. The mock inspection is a real opportunity to practice and grow in confidence.
Q. Can we use a Mock inspection report to challenge a regulatory inspection if the findings are very different?
A. When a provider receives a regulatory inspection draft report, if they wish to challenge it they need to do this via a factual accuracy challenge. A mock inspection report cannot be directly used to do this, however what it can do is assist in the process. All our mock inspection reports detail the evidence we have used and where it can be located. This means during the factual accuracy challenge you will be able to refer to the evidence we used to make our assessment.
Q. How quickly can a mock inspection be arranged?
A. It is dependent upon size and location of the service, but usually we can arrange a mock inspection within a few days if required urgently.
Q. What is Crisis Management?
A. Crisis can mean different things to different people. But usually we provide our services to clients who find themselves in extreme difficulty with regulators or local authorities, they usually are facing enforcement action or embargo. It can be anything that places the company or service at risk of reputational or financial damage.
Q. I have received a “notice of proposal” from the regulators is it too late to use your services?
A. It is absolutely not to late to use our service, but we need to act quickly. We would advise that you contact us as soon as you get the notice served. This gives us the most available time to get things in place and get a representation written.
Q. Some solicitors offer similar services to care consultants in terms of representations what is the difference?
A. The services we offer can be independent of legal representation however we would always recommend that we work in conjunction with a legal representative. We have the expertise in care and regulation and offer the evidence and support the improvements whilst the solicitors write the representation. This offers you the best possible levels of support. Our team then work with the company to make the improvements or changes required. Working hand in hand with solicitors, together we can have a real impact on outcomes.
Q. How quickly can we get a consultant to help?
A. We appreciate that any form of crisis management is extremely urgent, we can usually start work on cases within a few hours and can usually have a consultant with you within 24 hours.
Q. How long will it take to resolve my issues?
A. The time it will take to resolve issues will depend on what the problems are, whoever we aim to work as quickly as possible. In some extreme instances we have provided ongoing support for up to a year and in other less serious cases we have only been involved for a relatively short space of time.
Q. We have been given an embargo by the local authority can you assist?
A. Yes, we are able to work with you, to resolve issues with local authorities who have placed an embargo on your service. We do this by way of completing a detailed action plan to resolve issues and monitor progress, with the permission of the client we liaise directly with the local authority and demonstrate the improvements. When they are satisfied the level of risk the service poses has been reduced they are usually very happy to remove the embargo. Because we are very accustomed to working with providers and local authorities we are able to move things along at a quicker pace.
Q. What will a Crisis Management Service Cost?
A. This is very dependant upon what is required and how much of the improvement plan the provider wishes to undertake themselves. What can provide an individual estimate for each event and discuss package prices if required along with payment plans to spread the cost if required. We do however request some upfront funding as this work can be very time consuming given as the output are timebound.
Q. What is retained consultancy?
A. We provide smaller operators with the same support services as larger companies would provide to support their registered managers this includes regular support visits, managers supervision, 24 hour advice and access to our servers which contains a wealth of information.
Q. How long is the contract for?
A. Our retained service is provided on a twelve month contract basis.
Q. Why is this service only available when paid for by Direct Debit?
A. We aim to keep the cost of our retained service as low as possible, the use of direct debit means there is less time spend on administration which helps us keeps the costs lower.
Q. We operate 5 small care homes, if we take a retained contract for all of them are there any costs savings?
A. Yes in most cases homes in one group work in the same way, therefore some of the services will be shared and as such we can apply a cost and volume reduction. This is considered on a case by case basis.
Q. How long will it take to set up a retained service for my business?
A. We can commence a retained service as soon as you wish, however we require a signed service level agreement and a direct debit mandate to be completed. We will send both documents out within 24 hours and then it is dependent upon receipt. You will receive your first support visit within a week of the agreement commencing.
Q. Will there be a regular consultant visiting or will they be different every visit?
A. As a retained client you will have a consultant allocated to your service. Our consultants may recommended that a colleague attend for a visit, where a specific area of expertise is required. We aim for consistency and you will have the contact details for that specific consultant. The 24 hour on-call service is provided on a rota basis. All our consultant on call have access to your records whist on call to ensure the advice that is given is appropriate to your service.
Q. Do you provide a complete set of policies that we can customise ourselves?
A. No we do not provide off the shelf policy sets, but we can recommend companies that do.
Q. What is meant be bespoke policies and procedures and why would I choose them over standard procedures?
A. Not all services within the health and social care sectors are covered by off the shelf policy sets and making policies fit from one service type to another is not always easy. Not every company works the same as another and therefore having bespoke policies makes the document more meaningful.
Q. We have a specialist care home, we use a policy suite from a company, but the policies do not cover everything we do can we just get this small number of policies from Swift Management?
A. Yes, we are able to provide one policy to a complete policy set depending on your requirements.
Q. We run a small group of care homes, which we have purchased through acquisition and they all have their own policies. Is it advisable to move to a single set of policies?
A. Yes- More and more often we are seeing regulators checking for good governance processes being in place, and an operator, trying to ensure each home is working within the policy guidance when every home is working differently is problematic for any provider.
Q. Are you able to assist us align our policies so we have on system whilst allowing our homes to be individual?
A. Yes through workshops and discussion with the relevant groups we are able to install and adapt policies and procedures that allow homes to be individual whilst working to a common set of policies.
Q. What are the advantages of a registered manager support package?
A. Research has shown that career progression and personal development are key aspects for the retention of staff within a business. Good registered managers are hard to find so retaining them in the business is vital.
Q. Why do you offer this service it is up to the company to support their employees directly?
A. Some small providers do not have the resources to provide their own support network and development opportunities in house, outsourcing this support can allow the owners the opportunity to provide support without taking on a regular commitment themselves.
Q. If we take on a Registered Manager Support Package how long is the contract for?
A. Usually to provide consistency and ensure that the registered managers get the most out of this service the minimum contract length is twelve months.
Q. What if my manager is negative about the company, will I get to know about the comments they make?
A. The service we provide is confidential and whatever is said between the manager and the consultant will not be directly divulged, however if something is raised which we professionally have no alternative but to raise, we will inform the manager of that and seek their consent.
Q. What is Regulatory Support?
A. We offer support to our clients, when they are finding it difficult to meet regulation or when they are looking to work to improve their ratings.
Q. We have an issue with registering a new service are you able to assist?
A. We can undertake a review of your registration and the issues you are having and provide a review of the issues, provide advice on meeting the standards and how this may be achieved. Sometimes it is better to withdraw an application to register and start fresh.
Q. I want to own a care home, but I am concerned about the registration process, it seems very complex. Are you able to assist?
A. We offer a registration package, which assists new entrants in the sector achieve registration. That said we cannot do it for you completely, and support with this may include training and development for your team.
Q. I have a draft inspection report that I do not agree with. I do not feel it is a balanced view of our service. Can I insist it is changed?
A. You cannot insist it is changed, however you can challenge the reports accuracy and we can help with the process. The key to this is providing reasons why you disagree and providing the evidence to support your statements. Our team of consultants are able to assist in this challenge. Once a factual accuracy has been submitted you also have the opportunity to appeal against the decision and we can recommend a solicitor if required to assist with any legal challenge at either stage if required.
Q. I own several care homes, based across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each has different regulations which makes things complicated do your services cover all 4 regulators. Can you still support me?
A. We have consultants who have specialist knowledge across regulation in England, Scotland and Wales, we do not provide services in Northern Ireland at the current time.
Q. I have been meaning to respond to my draft inspection report but time has not been on my side, I have a week left to respond can you help?
A. Usually we are able to provide prompt assistance, but the more time we have the more detail we can support you with. When time is short we ensure we meet the deadline once we have agreed to take the case on. If there is not sufficient time for us to assist we will tell you during the initial enquiry stage. To date we have always been able to meet the deadlines.
Q. I have been told to submit an action plan to the regulators, but I haven’t done it yet and it needs to be in tomorrow can you do it for me?
A. We can write you a basic response using the inspection report and a telephone conversation and in some instances requesting information from you. This response will not be complete as we do not know the service, however it will form a good basis of a response. We can then send a consultant to visit and expand on the plan. Most inspectors will accept a preliminary plan if they know a more detailed plan is on the way. It is however best to give us as much notice as possible in the first instance.
Q. Why dose governance play such an important part of the inspection process?
A. As part of the Well led and safe categories, it is important to be able to prove there is good dialogue between the registered manager and the senior management team, to show that the issues in the services are known and understood at the right level in the organisation, and the registered manager has the resources to make any changes required.
Q. I own a single care home and I have a really good manager who I trust what more do I need to do?
A. Document discussions and meetings, formally record your visits, if not every visit but try to hold one formal visit a month. Ensure your manager keeps you updated and if this is done by an email you can evidence this. Have a service improvement plan and demonstrate it is regularly reviewed.
In short your processes should be robust enough that there are no surprises that come out after the event.
Q. What sort of thing constitutes good governance?
A. Analysing trends, for example analysing the number of resident falls, is there a patten to them around time of day location etc. If there is a patten, is there something you can do to prevent them occurring in the future. Do you need to review staff deployment or purchase falls detection equipment. When you have done the review document you have done it and what your finding were.
Q. When we get a complaint we log it and apologise but our inspector said that is not adequate, what should we be doing?
A. When a complaint is received they should be logged. An investigation should be undertaken and a response formulated. Within that response the complaint should be substantiated or not substantiated. The outcome should also be logged and where the complaint is substantiated the action taken to prevent a reoccurrence should also be implemented and recorded. A strong paper trail really is vital dealing with a complaint. Remember your complaints policy and stick to the timeframes within it.
Q. How can I achieve a good level of governance?
A. Your policies and procedures are key, measure outcomes against your policies and where required update your policies to reflect the service. In many instances when an issue occurs the actual action will be measured against what the policy says, and difficulties start when they are not aligned.
Q. How can you assist with good governance?
A. We are able to carry out a variety of audits and evaluations which we can provide to boards of directors or providers. This will ensure that shortfalls are identified and known by the board, this may be regular governance visits or a one off mock inspection.