In the current climate of scrutiny of care homes, we are all familiar with the increased focus on the availability of PPE, infection control, staff training, the availability of staff, frequent changes of advice, strategy, and direction. It is quite frankly, not easy being registered care service, and our care providers should be celebrated for generally delivering excellent care under immense pressure.
Whilst we are all hopeful that the current wave of Covid-19 is on the wane in most areas of the country, there are pockets where the infection rate has remained higher than anticipated, and the impact of this is going to be felt for some time to come as providers continue to protect people in their care, through maintenance of exemplary hygiene standards, testing (when available) organizing alternative means of contact with relatives and loved ones. We have seen some truly outstanding examples of innovation, from drive-through visits, socially distanced café, Perspex® room dividers with intercoms, cuddle shower curtains, inside/outside parties to name a few.
Over the next few weeks, many providers will need to take stock of what has happened, what worked, what needed to improve, and how things might have been done differently. Maintaining contemporaneous files about what guidance was received, what actions you took based upon the guidance, how this was communicated to residents, staff and visitors are vital as regrettably, somebody will not be content that everything possible was done.
At Swift Management Services we are highly experienced in undertaking comprehensive service reviews to enable providers to have the assurance that they are compliant with all aspects of the Health and Social Care Act. The current pandemic and the level of response has highlighted that some providers of health and social care struggled to source PPE, maintain staffing levels, deal with outbreaks etc. By reviewing your systems, updating information and resources and testing your Business Continuity Plans together with your Pandemic Preparedness Plans, we can help you ensure that you are in the best possible position to minimise risk in the event of a further wave of Covid-19, and help your business to be fighting fit for the future.
The financial burden to providers during a pandemic is considerable, ranging from the increased cost of PPE, additional staffing, waste disposal costs to provision of Covid secure facilities that ordinarily may not be required. We are also seeing a collateral effect on food costs. With so many providers facing extreme financial pressure, it is important for service review in the context of fees received from local authorities, which is acknowledged and has failed to keep pace with the true cost of care. At Swift Management Services we have an experienced team of consultants with wide-ranging skill sets from nurses, registered managers, and board level executives all of whom can assist in a comprehensive strategic review.
This will enable you to have the necessary information to approach commissioners to secure realistic fees or redesign your service together with registration changes to best suit the local market.
We are currently offering providers a free no-obligation discussion about how we can assist you.
