http://www.villagehomecare.co.uk

Is caring a vocational career?

nicola — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:59:04 +0000

I’ve recently been privileged enough to see some of our carers in action with the clients and the families who use our services. I say a privilege because that was how it felt, it felt a real privilege as a manager to see with my own eyes the wonderful relationships that our carers have with our customers and the real difference that they make everyday.

The dictionary defines vocation as a fitness for a particular career, a dedication, and I think that sums up our carers. They have all the skills and knowledge needed to do their job but alongside that they have a dedication to meet the needs of our customers, they go above and beyond to make sure they really make a difference.

So yes, caring is a vocation, it’s more than just a job.

Our Website

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:52:07 +0000

There is no doubt that the internet is an effective marketing machine and the potential to reach new customers and to keep in contact with existing customers is huge. We know that we get more enquiries about our services through the internet than from any other source.

So getting our website right is important to us and we would like to know if we have managed this successfully?

Outcome Focussed Care – Revolution or Evolution?

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:23:04 +0000

Back in May 2007 we took the decision as a Company to change the way that we deliver our services to our customers. We decided to become outcome focussed, but was this a revolution or simply evolution?

This way of working changed the way we look at things with all of our customers, and it changed the way we deliver our services to them. Instead of just agreeing the tasks that we need to provide, like personal care, shopping, preparing meals etcetera, we also agree how these tasks will help the customer achieve certain outcomes that will enable them to maintain their independence. These outcomes are things like physical and emotional well-being, economic well-being, being safe and secure in their own homes, being able to use local community services and keeping in contact with friends and family.

We are limited though, because although we have this model in place we are still restricted by the task based contracts we have with our Local Authorities. So for now we can’t bank time, which means our customers can’t use the time they have been allocated when they most need it. We can’t react to customers needs as quickly as we would want to because we have to go back to our Local Authorities to get Care Plans changed before we do anything new, and we can’t always get approval to do the things our customers tell us they want us to do for them because they are out of the ordinary. For things to really change we need our partners in the Public Sector to also move forward and give us outcome based contracts.

In Swansea they are trying to find this way forward and we are part of the All Together Now project in the Mumbles looking at how outcome based contracts for domiciliary care can work for the public, for the provider and for the Local Authority. It’s a small pilot, 10 clients for 3 months but it is already showing us the challenges and the opportunities this way of working produces.

So was it revolution or evolution? As revolutionaries we would be guilty of trying to replace one system with another, as evolutionists we are guilty of trying to develop an existing system into a more efficient and effective system.