According to a report, less than 1% of care homes in the UK have been rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). While approximately 62% have been rated good, the remaining 37% require improvement. You must be wondering what makes a care home outstanding?
Here we discuss some key attributes of an outstanding care home:
- Efficient care home managers: Good management is key to excellence in care homes. Recruiting a manager who is confident and competent to lead a team of caregiving staff is essential. An efficient care home manager who is supported and valued by the management and has all the necessary resources at his or her disposal to deliver the high-quality, person-centred care that their residents need.
- Person-centred care: An outstanding care home should follow the principles of person-centred care. Caregivers at outstanding care homes recognise the needs of residents and respect their right to make health decisions and choices. They focus on individuals and their abilities, interests, preferences and needs. Every resident is valued and respected at an outstanding care home.
- Strong values and ethos: When the values and ethos of a care home are clear to all the staff members involved in the care of residents, whether directly or indirectly, it ensures that all the team members are working towards the same goal. In order to pass the CQC inspection with flying colours, they must ensure they are safe, effective, caring and responsive to residents’ needs. With an effective care home manager in place, they are well-led.
- Sufficient resources: For any care home to offer the best quality care possible, it is essential that they have a strong pool of resources. For a care home manager to do his or her job, it is important he or she has adequate resources at disposal.
- Skilled and kind caregiving staff: Caregiving staff are the backbone of care homes. Outstanding care homes ensure that their caregiving staff are respected, supported, well-trained, treated well and valued. Their emotional well-being is recognised and understood. As caregiving is a challenging profession, efforts should be made to ensure that the caregivers are not overwhelmed with work. They are provided with enough knowledge and skills that they need to carry out their duties with ease. For this, engaging and relevant training should be provided to them.
When you have all these elements in place, you have the fundamentals in place to become an outstanding care home. There are many things that can be done to improve care homes and investing in electronic medication administration systems could be a positive start. Care homes are at particular risk of medication errors. Implementing electronic MARs can help care homes streamline the process of medication administration,thus ensuring medication is administered reliably. It not just improves resident safety but also saves staff’s time by streamlining medication rounds, stock management and auditing. Book an eMAR demo today. All demos can be done remotely at a time that suits you.
