From Welfare to Wellbeing

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An introduction to the concepts around wellbeing in residential care, and how these differ from the traditional welfare approach. How the 5Cs framework can be used as the basis for a more personalised approach in the context of growing resource constraints.

The revelations of a regime of abuse and humiliation from the Winterbourne View scandal, together with the long awaited Francis Report on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, have brought the spotlight back onto the worst excesses of institutional care. Undoubtedly there will be a far reaching impact on the care sector, though quite what form this will take remains to be seen.

One of the central ideas underpinning changes in social care provision in the last five years has been ‘personalisation’. This moves us away from the idea that ‘care’ is provided because someone needs looking after, which is the traditional welfare approach. With ‘personalised’ services, there’s a shift in focus to the holistic needs of a person.

 “At its simplest, personalisation, in the context of care homes, is putting the person who uses the service first in order to ensure that they can exercise choice and control over the way that services are provided. This is not a new concept for the best care homes. However, there is an expectation that health and social care services need to change to respond to the principles of personalisation as expressed in Putting People First.”[1]

So for example with a welfare approach, a person’s needs will be considered in terms of whether they need practical help with bathing, or getting up, or eating, or going to the toilet. Whereas a personalised approach will also be concerned with what’s important for the wellbeing of that person. What interests do they have? What about learning and development needs?  What kind of social life do they have, or want? And perhaps most significant of all, how would they like their practical needs to be met? Being able to exercise some choice and control is of great importance to our sense of wellbeing, and applies just as much to those dependent on others for activities we usually take for granted.

Full article available in The Modern Registered Manager, March/April 2013

[1] SCIE 2009, Personalisation Briefing: Implications for residential care homes http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/ataglance17.asp

The Basics of Successful Project Management

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The management of change is an increasingly vital part of any successful social care business. 

The changes may not always be what you choose, but you can certainly choose how to implement them in ways which benefit rather than undermine your services.   So whether you’re introducing a new service or new policies and procedures, moving premises, organising an event or a marketing campaign, these are situations where project planning and project management skills come to the fore to make a real difference in practice.

What is project management? 

Traditionally associated with industries such as construction and engineering, space exploration, or defence, project management methodologies have been applied to developing IT software, publishing and marketing campaigns (Reiss, 2007).

Over the last 15 years, the UK government has developed an internationally recognised project management framework known as PRINCE 2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments).  This framework is now widely applied in the public sector in the complex contract management culture required to implement new service development initiatives (Office of Government Commerce, 2007).

What defines a project? 

Put simply, a project is a human activity that seeks to achieve a clear objective against a timescale.  Common characteristics of a project are:

  • One clear objective
  • A fixed timescale
  • A team of people
  • No practice or rehearsal
  • Change

(Reiss, G., (2007) Project Management Demystified, Routledge)

How can project management skills help managers in social care services?

Any activity with the goal of bringing about change and development of your services within an agreed timescale is relevant. For example:

  • developing a staff training and development audit
  • preparing for a quality mark such as Investors in People
  • implementing systems which promote service user involvement
  • introducing a new way of working 

Like most things that often seem complicated, the basic concepts are very simple and make a lot of sense. And many of the classic principles and tools used in project management can be applied in dealing with other everyday management situations.

The essential ingredients to get you started

The tools and techniques of project management are essentially about getting something done in the most effective and efficient way, given your particular circumstances.  So at the risk of sounding obvious, first you must spot what needs to be done, or look at your current position and decide you want to improve it. Then secondly you need to spend some time clarifying the aim of your project so that it’s clear and sharp in your mind.

These are some questions to ask yourself about your aim:

  • What do I want the future to be?
  • What benefit do I want for service users?
  • What returns do I seek?
  • What standards am I aiming at?
  • What values do I, and my organisation, believe in?

Once you’ve clarified your aim (and written it down ideally in one sentence) you should know where you are now and what you want to achieve. The next thing is to work out how to do it.  At this stage you need to be creative – generate and explore as many options as possible.  There are a wide range of tools and techniques to help you. 

What Makes a Successful Team?

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“The word ‘team’ can be traced back to the Indo-European word deuk (to pull); it has always included a meaning of ‘pulling together’. We define ‘teams’ as any group of people who need each other to accomplish a result.”

Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

One of the most critical issues for managers at all levels is how to make sure your team is working at its best.  More often than not, what we notice is how a team or staff group is not working well.  There may be poor communication or outright conflict between team members; there may be low morale particularly in times of organisational change; there may be scapegoating of individual staff, even bullying at times. Continue reading →

Knowledge Management in Social Care

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The internet revolution has transformed the way in which research and professional knowledge can be accessed and used to enhance social work practice and social care services.

But how far has this changed the experiences and perceptions of front-line adult social care staff in relation to research mindedness and professional development in its broadest sense? What are the aspirations of social care staff, and how can employers and managers encourage and support the development of a learning culture within their organisations? Continue reading →

Focus on solutions

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“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler” Albert Einstein

When someone has a problem, our most natural response is to talk about it.

Our assumption is that the more we understand about the problem, or better still find the cause, the more likely we are to begin to find a solution.

Strangely though, the more we talk about problems, the bigger and more difficult they become. Continue reading →