PAGE 22 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 16
Government Adviser Dismisses PM’s Claim Care Homes To Blame For Coronavirus Deaths Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty has rebutted Boris Johnson’s comments blaming care homes for coronavirus deaths saying his “enthusiasm for blaming people for anything is zero”. The prime minister caused consternation within the sector when he said during a recent visit to Yorkshire “we discovered too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have”, Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, called his comments a “slap across the face of social care” and said the prime minister needed to apologise and retract his statement. Appearing at the Health and Social Care Committee, Professor Whitty said that main risks in social care settings were not considered early on in the pandemic, including staff working in various residences and those not paid sick leave. In a sometimes heated exchange with the committee chair and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, professor Whitty stated that it was evident the UK and other countries around the world had “not handled this
well” in relation to issues in social care settings. During the committee session, Professor Whitty was pushed on comments from prime minister, appearing to blame care homes for failing to follow proper procedures. Asked whether care home deaths were caused by them not following procedure, he said: “First of all my enthusiasm for blaming people for anything is zero. That is absolutely not the way you deal with any kind of situation in health care or social care – that’s across the board. That would be my starting point.” He continued: “I think it is clear that every country that has a care sector has not handled this well. The UK is one country that has not handled this well in terms of issues in social care, but the same is true, as previous speakers said, the numbers are very similar, or even higher, in terms of proportions of deaths in almost every country you look at this.” Professor Whitty added: “This across the board this has been a major problem. Some of this I think comes from the fact we had not recognised what are in retrospect obvious but were not obvious points early on. “For example, the fact that people working in multiple homes, people who were not paid sick leave – that is a clear risk. These were major risks in social care settings. There are a lot of things we have learnt that we can now do a lot better in social care and I don’t think any of us will look back at what happened in social care and say the ideal advice was given and this was the fault of anyone.” In June Professor John Edmunds, a member of SAGE, said that not going into lockdown sooner had cost “a lot of lives” while his former colleague Prof Neil Ferguson claimed Covid deaths could have been halved.
New Resources for Care Workers With restrictions on visiting care homes only just beginning to ease a new range of booklets has been published to equip care staff to offer emotional and spiritual care. Care workers are not only on the front line in the fight against Covid-19 but often the only people there to provide spiritual care and support to those they care for. So, to support carers and to enable churches to minister to care homes despite the visiting bans, BRF (The Bible Reading Fellowship) has published five booklets, drawing on the expertise of Anna Chaplains to Older People across the country. www.annachaplaincy.org.uk Pioneer and founder of Anna Chaplaincy, the former broadcaster Debbie Thrower, explains: ‘It was the idea of Anna Chaplaincy Lead for Wales, the Revd Sally Rees. She leads teams of pastoral workers visiting and worshipping with residents in and around Crickhowell. So concerned was she for the welfare of staff and residents her teams were no longer able to reach that she suggested BRF put together practical guides specifically for care staff.’ ‘I thought it was a great idea and offered to write one on spiritual care for those nearing the end of life. We enlisted the help of one of
our Anna Chaplaincy network in Birmingham, Catriona Foster, who is the Pastor for Older People in Harborne, to write a guide to worshipping with a group of residents, and Sally wrote the other three titles.’ The aim of the new guides is to give carers the confidence and skills to enable those in their care not only to cope emotionally and spiritually but even to thrive, despite challenging circumstances. The five titles are: – How to take care of yourself in stressful times – How to help someone spiritually towards the end of life – How to worship with a group of residents – How to worship with individuals in your care – How to have a memorial service at home when you are unable to attend the funeral Each one explains spiritual care in simple terms for staff in residential homes (plus those working for domiciliary agencies and providing social care more widely). They have been road tested by an Anna Chaplain who was a care home manager to ensure the tone and information is just right, and that they remain relevant beyond the health crisis. Sample pages are available to browse (see attached). Some churches are buying them in bulk and giving them as gifts to key workers. Each copy is £2.50, or they come in a pack of five copies of each title (or five copies of a single title) at the discounted price of £10. To find out more visit https://www.brfonline.org.uk/collections/anna-chaplaincy-carers-guides email enquiries@brf.org.uk or call 01865 319700. Anna Chaplaincy is growing fast as a way of supporting men and women in their later years, and their carers. Chaplains draw alongside people of strong, little or no faith. Some are in multi-faith settings. The
chaplains (lay and ordained) come from many different denominations. Each is authorised by and accountable to their own church or group of Churches Together. Anna Chaplaincy is a trademarked name and every new - DBSchecked - recruit is subject to a Head Licence agreement with BRF. ‘There are now almost 150 members of the network, men as well as women,’ said Debbie, ‘and people are contacting us all the time either to explore their own vocation to this work with older people in the community or to try and get Anna Chaplaincy established where they live. We had more than 30 commissioned in one day in the North-East of England earlier this year!’ Debbie’s blog posts www.annachaplaincy.org.uk/blog are attracting a wide audience as she provides ideas for people wanting to know how to continue ministry to those most isolated as a result of the pandemic. Zoom conference calls on resources are attracting up to 100 people. A recent report from the Allchurches Trust, ‘Hope Beyond’, shows what most worries churches in the wake of the pandemic is loneliness, social isolation and adult mental health and well-being. ‘Anna Chaplaincy speaks into these most pressing topical concerns,’ says Debbie, ‘and we can prove we’re delivering on the ground, with our network reaching about 25,000 people a month before lockdown. Yet there’s so much more still to do.’
183 Years of Birthday Celebrations at Cheshire Care Home Two Residents at Primrose House care home in Haslington share the same birthday, so staff planned something special to celebrate. This year, residents Hilda Farrington and Peggy Dickinson have accrued a total of 183 years between them. Incredibly, these two wonderful ladies have both lived through World War 2, the Queen’s coronation, as well as England winning the World Cup. Due to many people in care homes unable to celebrate special events properly with their families and friends because of government restrictions, residents and staff all got together on 23rd July to celebrate Hilda’s 87th birthday and Peggy’s 96th birthday. Hilda’s family came to the home for a window
visit and watched as she opened all her presents. Peggy’s family also arrived for a window visit and had deliveries of flowers and chocolate throughout the day. In the afternoon, the home had a sing-a-long with other residents which ended with a ‘Happy Birthday’ song for both ladies; topped with blowing out the candles on the cake. Hilda commented that she enjoyed her birthday and had a big smile on her face all day. Peggy spoke about seeing her family and how lovely it was to be able to have a window visit. Home Manager, Alison Brown, remarked, “It was so lovely to see all of the Residents joining in with the birthday celebrations, we had a wonderful day!”
Covid19: Accelerating the Use of Digital Technology in Healthcare As this crisis impacts every part of the health sector, significant vulnerabilities are being exposed. The NHS ‘digital revolution’ has long been touted as the key to futureproofing both Social Care and our health service in the face of increasing patient demand. That demand has now reached unprecedented levels and seems unlikely ever to revert to previous trends; against that background; there is an urgent requirement to move quickly to realise the opportunities which are available from digital technology. It is no longer an interesting speculation; it is an essential requirement to support staff and save lives. (Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell)
USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY Poor efficiencies in many areas of the sector are caused by the lack of investment in technology.
Technology will improve the way your staff carry out tasks by either speed up existing processes or allowing new, more flexible and accurate ways of carrying out a job or process which will in turn enables live real time management information. Would you expect to check out of a hotel with an invoice and extras raised in Word or Excel so why do many operators still use this method when invoic-
ing? How many industries with shift workers rely on manual payroll processing outside the care sector? Repeatable systems should harness the power of technology to cut back the massive waste of man hours spent processing and checking manual tasks. In order to work out the best technology for your needs, you should assess your current systems against your requirements. Think about what inefficiencies exist in your homes and how you could: 1. Capture relevant information, such as resident/staff details, in a simple, time-efficient way. 2. Manage your documents to ensure that information is dealt with logically. 3. Avoid duplication at all costs; completing handwritten timesheets which then need to be manually inputted into payroll is a massive, unnecessary waste of time & manpower. 4. Address technological obstacles. The perception that your staffs are not IT literate is out of date; most people own a smart phone so yes they are! See www.fusion4care.com for details or see the advert on page 23.