Here at Team Enable we are passionate about care. For the third consecutive year we are delighted to be sponsoring the ‘Care Professional of the Year Awards.’   

Since 2018 we have been honoured to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to 2 very deserving individuals and are once again looking forward to congratulating the 2020 winner. As you can imagine it is a fantastic category to award, but a very difficult one to judge! There are so many admirable nominees all of which deserve credit for their unique contributions to the social care sector or the impact they have had with their families by caring for their loved ones.

As an organisation we are so proud to be involved in such a fantastic celebratory event and shine a light on a sector that has done so much in an exceptionally difficult year. We would like to personally thank everyone who has gone the extra mile to make a difference in people’s lives.

Ash & Tracy, Directors, Enable Inclusive Support

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6735219941168955392

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has revised its “Registering the right support” guidance to make it clearer for providers who support autistic people and/or people with a learning disability. 

Following feedback from people who use services CQC has updated its guidance so it has a stronger focus on outcomes for people including the quality of life people are able to experience and the care they receive.

Now called Right support, right care, right culture, the guidance published today, outlines three key factors that CQC expects providers to consider if they are, or want to care for autistic people and/or people with a learning disability:

Right support: 
The model of care and setting should maximise people’s choice, control and independence

Right care:
Care should be person-centred and promote people’s dignity, privacy and human rights

Right culture:
The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff should ensure people using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

Kate Terroni, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care said, “Autistic people and people with a learning disability are as entitled to live an ordinary life as any other citizen. We expect health and social care providers to  ensure autistic people and people with a learning disability have the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that many people take for granted.

“Our revised guidance makes clear that safeguarding people’s human rights must be at the heart of all care provided for autistic people and/or people with a learning disability. 

“We will only register and give a positive rating, to those services that  can demonstrate high quality, person-centred care.”

CQC will be using this guidance in their assessments and judgements and providers are encouraged to directly discuss their proposals or development ideas before submitting an application or making changes to services. This can help providers make an informed decision about whether plans are likely to comply with this guidance.  

This guidance has always been set alongside other standards in health and social care – this includes NICE guidance (CG142) on the definition of ‘small’’ services for autistic people with mental health conditions and/or behaviour that challenges. This states that residential care “should usually be provided in small, local community-based units (of no more than six people and with well-supported single person accommodation)”. 

While CQC use NICE guidance in describing what ‘small’ means for how they apply their approach, this is not the same as having an absolute upper limit for the size of services. CQC have never applied a six-bed limit in their registration or inspection assessments and will continue to register based on care that is person-centred, and promotes choice, inclusion, control and independence.

CQC’s review into restraint, prolonged seclusion and segregation for people with a mental health problem, learning disability or autistic people supports this and, for people currently in the hospital system, this is likely to require commissioners and providers to develop bespoke services

Credit: https://www.cqc.org.uk/news/releases/cqc-updates-guidance-regulation-services-autistic-people-andor-people-learning

This survey was sent out to 27 members of staff on 21st September and ran until 29th September. The staff team is compiled of 16 contracted staff members and 11 casual staff members. The questions within the survey were all optional and the recipients all remain anonymous.

The area the staff member worked in was collected to be able to determine if there were any specific areas which needed to be targeted at particular services. There were a total number of 12 individuals who completed the survey, with 11 responses which were valid to use (1 individual completed the survey but did not provide a response to the questions). This equates to 41% of the team providing feedback.

The overall responses reflect positively on a staff members experience working for Enable and the support systems in place i.e. Information around Covid-19, the difference operating systems used for sharing communication. As Enable had begun to use a new Care Management App, it was important to understand that the team were using this effectively and this was reflected within the answers of this question. We acknowledge that for some individuals, a move to a digital record keeping system is not second nature and ongoing support will always be available for those staff members.

The communication methods that are used across Enable are spread across 4 systems. The decision for this was made due to operating systems having gaps in their overall package that can be offered, therefore it was a requirement to source multiple platforms to be able to achieve the desired results.

Further work needs to be focused on ensuring that the different systems and their purposes are clear to the staff team so they are accessed correctly. This will be achieved through adding an agenda item to the staff supervision form and including information in any upcoming staff meetings. Additional to the point above, feedback around accessing daily notes has been circulated within the team it applied to as soon as the comment was made. All of us at Enable are pleased with the feedback collated from the surveys and will continue to strive to provide an enjoyable, safe and skilled workplace.

Discounts For Carers is a discount service for individuals working or volunteering in the care industry, and for those caring for a family member, friend, or anyone else.

About the offer: Discounts for Carers offers a range of online (and in-store) discounts across retailers in several sectors (e.g. food, utilities, finance, motoring). It also offers a cashback card that allows members to save up to 12% across 50 popular retailers.

Sign up is simple, and all you need to provide is your name and email address. You will then be able to access discounts and deals by category or search, with new offers circulated regularly.

It is up to individual companies to request additional information to qualify for certain offers. Some do not request any, while others may ask for further identification at checkout such as a staff ID, payslip, or appropriate membership card.

You can register at https://www.discountsforcarers.com/

COVID-19 has brought into sharp relief the challenges facing adult social care, many of which existed long before the pandemic. But it has also powerfully underlined the essential value of social care in helping people to live the lives they want to lead. The public, political and media spotlight that now shines on social care provides an important opportunity; a moment to grasp as we collectively seek to shape the future of care and support.

We believe the future reform of social care and support should be guided, and underpinned, by seven key principles. Taken together, these principles and their accompanying asks of Government chart a way forward for ensuring the very best local care and support in the future, so that people can live their very best life.

1. People first and the value of social care

Whatever emerges post-COVID-19 should be rooted in, and guided by, what works for people, not what works for systems or structures. It must help support the realisation of the Think Local Act Personal ‘Making it Real’ framework that articulates what quality, personalised and community-based support looks like from the perspective of people, and also reflect the real and wide value of social care in its own right, both to people and to communities. In this way, social care must be considered as an important way in which we improve social justice and inclusion, and support people’s freedoms and human rights. COVID-19 has helped raise awareness of this and that must be built on for the future.

Ask: To work with all parts of social care, particularly those with lived experience including unpaid carers, on a way forward for the long-term future of care that is informed by the many valuable lessons from the pandemic on the role and value of social care in all our lives.

2. The importance of ‘local’

Social care plays a key role in making connections in our local communities between a wide range of public, private, voluntary and community organisations that all work together in supporting people to be well, safe and independent. Links with housing are particularly important so as to support people to remain independent at home and in their community. Councils’ democratic accountability and leadership supports effective partnership working at the local level and the Government should follow this lead by working with local government and its many partners as equals in helping to build resilient communities that are geared towards prevention, wellbeing and public health.

Ask: In its work on the future of care and support, the Government should actively promote the ‘principle of subsidiarity’ as a necessary underpinning feature of effective health, care and wellbeing and consider how that can most powerfully be brought to life.

3. Funding

Any additional funding that is made available to social care, whether in the short- or medium-term, should not simply be used for ‘more of the same’ and the pre-COVID-19 status quo. Rather, it should be used to help us move to a more person-centred and preventative model of social care that is rooted in supporting people’s wellbeing in line with the Care Act and building resilience in our local public services and communities.

Ask: Government must provide funding that is sufficient to meet additional demands arising from COVID-19, plus pre-existing pressures. This should be made available with as few a set of conditions as possible. At the point of such funding being made available, the Government should indicate how it is intended to protect and enhance social care for the benefit of people who use services and to enable them to live the lives they want to lead in the future.

4. Workforce

The future requirements of and for the social care workforce should be a far more prominent consideration for Government, both as a standalone priority and in respect of its links with NHS workforce planning.

Ask: The Government should commit to a new deal for the care workforce, comprising action on pay, training and development, career progression and professionalisation, and recognition.

5. Providers and commissioning

Traditional services (such as residential care, domiciliary care and day centres) will continue to have a role to play in the future. But they need to be part of a much broader local offer including smaller, more bespoke providers, micro-enterprises and wider community assets such as community-owned care, mutual aid and shared lives, that have all played a part in responding to the current pandemic. These help bolster community resilience and their potential to help secure a more preventative approach to wellbeing that supports people to live safely and well at home must be harnessed.

Ask: The Government should work with people with lived experience including unpaid carers, councils and providers to consider the incentives and barriers to creating more person-centred services that help prevent, delay or reduce the need for more formal care services.

6. Health and integration

Health and social care are equally important and decisions and prioritisations about the future of each should reflect that. The needs of one should not be addressed to the detriment of the other and both should unite around embedding a far more preventative approach to wellbeing that works closely with public health and housing.

Ask: To signal and secure greater parity of esteem, the Government should create a ‘duty to cooperate’ requiring STPs and ICSs to engage with health and wellbeing boards as part of developing local plans to reshape and integrate health and care services that are genuinely locally agreed.

7. Care and support reform

Protecting a person from having to sell their home to pay for care is certainly one element of the ‘fairness debate’ at the heart of the question about long-term reform. But it is not the only one. The scope of and ambition for social care reform must be far greater, support adults of all ages including unpaid carers, and have at its heart a commitment to the Care Act wellbeing principle and improving people’s choice and control of the care and support they use to live their best life. Progress must be made quickly.

Ask: The Government should work with all social care partners, including people with lived experience including unpaid carers, and on a cross-party basis, to agree the scope of social care reform before it embarks on its own detailed work. As a minimum, the Government should publish its timetable for reform before Parliament returns from Summer Recess.

Caring can be as rewarding as it is challenging. Right now, many unpaid carers are dealing with even greater challenges as the coronavirus outbreak continues to affect all our lives. This year’s Carers Week: Make Caring Visible, throws that fact into sharp relief.

There are around 6.5 million people caring for relatives, friends and loved ones who may be disabled, ill or elderly. Most people don’t expect to become carers. However, there is a 50:50 chance any one of us could find ourselves playing such roles by the time we’re 50.

Caring can impact on all aspects of normal life, from relationships and health, to finances and work, to education and training. Inevitably, the pandemic makes these and other circumstances more difficult to navigate.

Now, more than ever, carers must be recognised for the difficulties they face, respected for their commitment and energy, and provided with information, support and understanding to keep themselves safe, well and happy.

But there is a problem with this aspiration – a lack of awareness in wider society of the incredible service they give so willingly and unconditionally. That’s why I want to use Carers Week to shine a spotlight on their amazing kindness, dedication and selflessness and Make Caring Visible to many more friends, families and employers.

Whilst many feel that caring is one of the most important, rewarding and positive things they can do, doing so without the right information and support makes day to day tasks much tougher.

That is why I want to mention some major pieces of work my team and I have been involved in through our work on the Carers Action Plan, an update on which is due to be published soon.

These projects include supporting young, parent and ageing carers. The outputs from these projects will help carers now and in the longer term as they – and the rest of us – look forward to a time beyond the pandemic.

Written by: Anita Wadhawan

A common myth we hear in schools and at careers events is that social care is ‘a job not a career’ and that social care ‘isn’t a place for ambitious people’. We are here to debunk these myths, and our interview series is designed to do just that.
This week Lauren chatted to Ash Omar and Tracy Males-Bundhoo from Enable Inclusive Support Ltd about their journey from support workers to social care business owners. This clip is part of a few that we will be sharing over the coming weeks. But, for now, here is Tracy and Ash sharing their career stories so far…

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/inspired-to-care_socialcare-care-inspiredtocare-activity-6686245870696042496-r2MV

Did you know that this week is Learning Disability Awareness Week? Learning Disability Awareness week is a time to specifically shine a spot light on issues impacting on people with learning disabilities and their families, however it’s reach rarely breaks through the bubble of organisations that operate within the social care sector into the wider population.

At a time when significant attention is being given to social injustice, racism, diversity and equality  (and rightly so), we need to do more to understand how having a learning disability can add another dimension of prejudice that is all too often overlooked.

Do we consider how it feels to be BAME with a learning disability, Female with a learning disability, LGBTQ with a learning disability, or any other additional need with a learning disability? What preconceived ideas do we have regarding conditions that we may not understand or that we can’t identify with? Do we see the label before we see the person, or do we just see the label and go with our own prejudices that come with it?

How often do we consider a person’s abilities before we make a judgement about someone’s disability? Take a moment to pause and try to recall how you’ve felt or reacted to someone whose needs or struggle you may not understand… I’m not trying to draw comparisons with movements such as Black Lives Matter, however there are many similarities that impact on people with a learning disability.

How many of you have taken the time to get to know someone with a learning disability?

How many of you have colleagues that have a learning disability (a learning disability is not the same as a learning difficulty. A learning disability is a lifelong condition that impacts on a person’s intellect meaning that they are likely to take longer to learn)?

In every aspect of daily life, people with a learning disability are denied access and opportunities that so many of us take for granted. I have worked in the Social Care sector for over 20 years, I do not consider myself to be an expert as I continue to learn every day. Over the past 20 years I have seen little improvement in respect of opportunities for people with learning disabilities in mainstream life. There have been significant strides within the sector but this doesn’t necessarily extend to the broader community. As a collective community we need to do more to proactively advocate for some of the more vulnerable members of it.

As a starting point, let’s consider the disadvantages that people with a learning Disability may face; throughout the course of my adult life, I have been able to privately rent accommodation with relative ease. It has taken me three months to find accommodation for a young man with a learning disability, this gave me insight into the well-known phrase “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish.” It was almost as if with every set back I was hearing the phrase ‘people with a learning disability need not apply.’

As Learning Disability Awareness Week draws to a close, why not make a commitment to personally advocate for people with a learning disability and take steps to make our communities truly inclusive for everyone.

Ash Omar – Enable Inclusive Support

There has been a lot of discussion prompted by the manner of the death of George Floyd and the strength of feeling in the UK has opened up the debate about racism, prejudice and bias, in our communities and in our places of work.

We recognise that these issues exist within our society, we will continue to actively promote equality and diversity and will challenge racism in all forms within our staff teams, professional and community partners and our customers.

We are proud of our diverse workforce and would love to see reflections of our diverse community in other places of work.

4.9/5 Staff satisfaction rating, our target is 5/5 for next time!

We pride ourselves of service user and staff satisfaction and want to be the #1 choice for adults with additional needs, wanting a community based service and for support workers seeking a rewarding career in adult socia; care.

See the full results of our staff satisfaction survey;

https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-787M5W8D/

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