SUPPORT IN PRACTICE
HCA LEADING THE WAY TO
COURSES & RESOURCES
A hospital ward run by healthcare assistants? Some might be sceptical, but not patients at Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey who are about to be discharged from the military into civvy street. For them, the HCA-led ward is a welcome change from the traditional medically intense nurse-led units. Mallard House ward is home to 32 patients out of a total 102 patients being cared for at Headley Court. It is the brainchild of HCA Sergeant Letso Rapoo, who has won the Nursing Standard healthcare practitioner award this year At a time of high patient turnover and low nurse staffing levels, more streamlined processes and more efficient resource allocation were urgently needed. Sgt Rapoo saw that a
MARK HAKANSSON
New ward leadership was the bright idea of Letso Rapoo, winner of the health practitioner award
Charismatic leader: Winning healthcare assistant Letso Rapoo
special kind of ward could be run by HCAs for the benefit of patients and staff. For the patients, he foresaw that greater independence and less supervision would give them confidence to take responsibility for themselves. Likewise, the HCA staff, seeing that the patients could benefit from a less interventionist approach, would be empowered to practise more autonomously. Wing Commander Fionnuala Bradley from the nursing
Roles directory Skills for Health (SfH) has launched an online roles directory to promote jobs in the health sector. It is the first interactive library of more than 170 roles and can be used for the development of new and redesigned roles. The directory allows users to create a job description based on the scope of the directory role, its career framework level, the competences required and the learning needed for the role. www.skillsforhealth.org.uk Free course Healthcare assistants interested in studying at university or college need to be able to write using academic English. Futurelearn has developed a five-week online course on grammar, vocabulary and writing skills. The course offers a brief introduction to academic writing using a mix of video, on-screen
68 may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014
division at Headley Court nominated Sgt Rapoo for the award. She says: ‘Sgt Rapoo is a naturally charismatic leader who has passion and drive, is not shy of a challenge, is always prepared to take responsibility for the common good and engenders respect and credibility. ‘Sgt Rapoo was keenly aware that others might regard this as a risky project. Once he had decided that HCAs could take on the project, Sgt Rapoo devised his business
examples, discussions and quizzes. Students will learn to write a basic academic essay by studying for about three hours a week. The course starts on October 6 and is run by the University of Reading. tinyurl.com/FLEfStudy Worker of the year Workwear company Dickies is looking for Britain’s top workers. UK Worker of the Year is free to enter and open to anyone aged over 17 working in the UK. The competition is sponsored by car manufacturer Suzuki and the winner will be announced at the final round of the British Superbike meeting at Brands Hatch on October 18. Runners up will receive holiday vouchers worth thousands of pounds. For details, go to www.ukworkeroftheyear.com
NURSING STANDARD
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CHANGE plan together with a change management plan and a communications strategy.’ Sgt Rapoo explains: ‘I identified the admission criteria for the ward and then presented these to the key people who would be involved in the project. I felt this was necessary because I needed to educate people about my plan and also reassure them that we have the correct risk management systems in place.’
Efficiency
The ward could be seen as an example of ‘leaner being fitter’. Wg Cdr Bradley says: ‘Ironically, the more intelligent resourcing of Mallard House ward during stringent times has led to better use of resources, optimal staffing levels and a reduced reliance on agency staff. ‘This has reduced our costs and improved the patients’ rehabilitation, because admission to the unit means that their needs and capabilities are considered well in advance of their eventual discharge.’ Mallard House ward is now one of the most efficiently run units at Headley Court, as measured by patient satisfaction and increased staff confidence.
NEWS UPDATE Runner up: Janet Thomas Support and time recovery worker Janet Thomas from 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in north west England changed the perception of mental illness as a condition of the mind to one involving mind and body. Through a health promotion campaign among her colleagues, Ms Thomas has been visiting GP practices to discuss patients on their lists and to help them recognise that unmet mental health needs often lead to physical health problems. ‘I hope I have managed to show that good physical health is a major factor in recovery from poor mental health,’ Ms Thomas says. ‘The patients say that they have greater autonomy, while having clear boundaries about what is expected of them before their discharge – for example, they make their own beds and collect their own medication,’ says Sgt Rapoo. Such is the excellent reputation of the unit that patients often specifically ask to be admitted there NS To see a video of Sgt Rapoo, go to youtu.be/ISYfA0si6IM
Older people’s care The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a review exploring how lessons from the delivery of care in residential services for children and young people, those with learning disabilities and hospices can be applied in care homes for older people. The report presents evidence of how residential care homes in other sectors have created positive organisational cultures and increased relationshipbased care. Go to tinyurl.com/JRFcare-homes Preventing falls Healthcare Conferences will hold a conference in Manchester on July 2 on reducing falls and harm from falls in the over-65s. The conference features an update from the National Falls and Fractures Alliance on meeting the health improvement objective relating to falls in the NHS Outcomes Framework 2013-16. Practical tools and management ideas for local practices and organisations will also be offered. tinyurl.com/CCCFalls
NURSING STANDARD
Health Education England (HEE), the organisation responsible for commissioning education and training for the NHS workforce, is considering increasing the money spent on staff at bands 1-4 by 1 per cent over the next five years. The aim is to address the growing numbers of nurses reaching retirement age by improving career progression in bands 1-4. Suggestions include increasing the number of apprenticeships and creating a skills escalator for healthcare assistants. HEE, with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, recently started examining education and training for nurses and HCAs in The Shape of Caring review. tinyurl.com/ReviewSoC From March 2015, new care workers including healthcare assistants will have to earn a care certificate within 12 weeks of starting a job. Training will include infection control, communication, dementia care and patient dignity. The certificate is intended to ensure HCAs have the required values, behaviours and skills to provide high quality, compassionate care. Responsibility for providing the training and certifying HCAs will rest with employers. A report by Baroness Denise Kingsmill on working conditions in the care sector says that exploitation of care workers is leaving older people at risk. The report found that many staff in the residential and care home sector are paid below the minimum wage, 20 per cent of adult social care workers are on zero hours contracts, and a fifth of health and social care apprentices receive no training at all. These findings make it difficult to recruit staff in a sector with high turnover. The report calls for a ban on zero hours contracts and 15-minute care slots. Healthcare assistant Jamie Goldswain has been named as the Nightingale award winner 2014 at South Tees NHS Foundation Trust. Each year, the nurse and midwife consultants at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ask for nominations from staff and patients for nursing and midwifery staff who have delivered exceptional care. Mr Goldswain, pictured, who is a healthcare assistant at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, was also awarded healthcare assistant of the year, making him the first man and first non-registered staff member to collect the prize. may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014 69
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HCA LEADING THE WAY TO
COURSES & RESOURCES
A hospital ward run by healthcare assistants? Some might be sceptical, but not patients at Headley Court Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey who are about to be discharged from the military into civvy street. For them, the HCA-led ward is a welcome change from the traditional medically intense nurse-led units. Mallard House ward is home to 32 patients out of a total 102 patients being cared for at Headley Court. It is the brainchild of HCA Sergeant Letso Rapoo, who has won the Nursing Standard healthcare practitioner award this year At a time of high patient turnover and low nurse staffing levels, more streamlined processes and more efficient resource allocation were urgently needed. Sgt Rapoo saw that a
MARK HAKANSSON
New ward leadership was the bright idea of Letso Rapoo, winner of the health practitioner award
Charismatic leader: Winning healthcare assistant Letso Rapoo
special kind of ward could be run by HCAs for the benefit of patients and staff. For the patients, he foresaw that greater independence and less supervision would give them confidence to take responsibility for themselves. Likewise, the HCA staff, seeing that the patients could benefit from a less interventionist approach, would be empowered to practise more autonomously. Wing Commander Fionnuala Bradley from the nursing
Roles directory Skills for Health (SfH) has launched an online roles directory to promote jobs in the health sector. It is the first interactive library of more than 170 roles and can be used for the development of new and redesigned roles. The directory allows users to create a job description based on the scope of the directory role, its career framework level, the competences required and the learning needed for the role. www.skillsforhealth.org.uk Free course Healthcare assistants interested in studying at university or college need to be able to write using academic English. Futurelearn has developed a five-week online course on grammar, vocabulary and writing skills. The course offers a brief introduction to academic writing using a mix of video, on-screen
68 may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014
division at Headley Court nominated Sgt Rapoo for the award. She says: ‘Sgt Rapoo is a naturally charismatic leader who has passion and drive, is not shy of a challenge, is always prepared to take responsibility for the common good and engenders respect and credibility. ‘Sgt Rapoo was keenly aware that others might regard this as a risky project. Once he had decided that HCAs could take on the project, Sgt Rapoo devised his business
examples, discussions and quizzes. Students will learn to write a basic academic essay by studying for about three hours a week. The course starts on October 6 and is run by the University of Reading. tinyurl.com/FLEfStudy Worker of the year Workwear company Dickies is looking for Britain’s top workers. UK Worker of the Year is free to enter and open to anyone aged over 17 working in the UK. The competition is sponsored by car manufacturer Suzuki and the winner will be announced at the final round of the British Superbike meeting at Brands Hatch on October 18. Runners up will receive holiday vouchers worth thousands of pounds. For details, go to www.ukworkeroftheyear.com
NURSING STANDARD
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Feb 01, 2016. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2016 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
CHANGE plan together with a change management plan and a communications strategy.’ Sgt Rapoo explains: ‘I identified the admission criteria for the ward and then presented these to the key people who would be involved in the project. I felt this was necessary because I needed to educate people about my plan and also reassure them that we have the correct risk management systems in place.’
Efficiency
The ward could be seen as an example of ‘leaner being fitter’. Wg Cdr Bradley says: ‘Ironically, the more intelligent resourcing of Mallard House ward during stringent times has led to better use of resources, optimal staffing levels and a reduced reliance on agency staff. ‘This has reduced our costs and improved the patients’ rehabilitation, because admission to the unit means that their needs and capabilities are considered well in advance of their eventual discharge.’ Mallard House ward is now one of the most efficiently run units at Headley Court, as measured by patient satisfaction and increased staff confidence.
NEWS UPDATE Runner up: Janet Thomas Support and time recovery worker Janet Thomas from 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in north west England changed the perception of mental illness as a condition of the mind to one involving mind and body. Through a health promotion campaign among her colleagues, Ms Thomas has been visiting GP practices to discuss patients on their lists and to help them recognise that unmet mental health needs often lead to physical health problems. ‘I hope I have managed to show that good physical health is a major factor in recovery from poor mental health,’ Ms Thomas says. ‘The patients say that they have greater autonomy, while having clear boundaries about what is expected of them before their discharge – for example, they make their own beds and collect their own medication,’ says Sgt Rapoo. Such is the excellent reputation of the unit that patients often specifically ask to be admitted there NS To see a video of Sgt Rapoo, go to youtu.be/ISYfA0si6IM
Older people’s care The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a review exploring how lessons from the delivery of care in residential services for children and young people, those with learning disabilities and hospices can be applied in care homes for older people. The report presents evidence of how residential care homes in other sectors have created positive organisational cultures and increased relationshipbased care. Go to tinyurl.com/JRFcare-homes Preventing falls Healthcare Conferences will hold a conference in Manchester on July 2 on reducing falls and harm from falls in the over-65s. The conference features an update from the National Falls and Fractures Alliance on meeting the health improvement objective relating to falls in the NHS Outcomes Framework 2013-16. Practical tools and management ideas for local practices and organisations will also be offered. tinyurl.com/CCCFalls
NURSING STANDARD
Health Education England (HEE), the organisation responsible for commissioning education and training for the NHS workforce, is considering increasing the money spent on staff at bands 1-4 by 1 per cent over the next five years. The aim is to address the growing numbers of nurses reaching retirement age by improving career progression in bands 1-4. Suggestions include increasing the number of apprenticeships and creating a skills escalator for healthcare assistants. HEE, with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, recently started examining education and training for nurses and HCAs in The Shape of Caring review. tinyurl.com/ReviewSoC From March 2015, new care workers including healthcare assistants will have to earn a care certificate within 12 weeks of starting a job. Training will include infection control, communication, dementia care and patient dignity. The certificate is intended to ensure HCAs have the required values, behaviours and skills to provide high quality, compassionate care. Responsibility for providing the training and certifying HCAs will rest with employers. A report by Baroness Denise Kingsmill on working conditions in the care sector says that exploitation of care workers is leaving older people at risk. The report found that many staff in the residential and care home sector are paid below the minimum wage, 20 per cent of adult social care workers are on zero hours contracts, and a fifth of health and social care apprentices receive no training at all. These findings make it difficult to recruit staff in a sector with high turnover. The report calls for a ban on zero hours contracts and 15-minute care slots. Healthcare assistant Jamie Goldswain has been named as the Nightingale award winner 2014 at South Tees NHS Foundation Trust. Each year, the nurse and midwife consultants at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ask for nominations from staff and patients for nursing and midwifery staff who have delivered exceptional care. Mr Goldswain, pictured, who is a healthcare assistant at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, was also awarded healthcare assistant of the year, making him the first man and first non-registered staff member to collect the prize. may 28 :: vol 28 no 39 :: 2014 69
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