Data protection in health and social care is concerned with safeguarding intimate details of vulnerable people. Health and social care providers have a duty of care to secure the personal data of the people they support and protect their dignity, well-being and safety.
Due to the sensitive nature of the information being handled, workers in health and social care must hold themselves to a higher standard than workers in other sectors. For example, the fact that someone with autism is scared of the colour green could be used to intimidate them if this information was leaked.
The health and social care sector faces many challenges to achieving cyber security. Digital literacy of staff across the sector is low, with workers having only a basic understanding of IT and a low awareness of data security issues. When allocating spending, providers prioritise improving the day-to-day welfare of people over enhancing their cyber security infrastructure.
In this article we will explore the current issues around cyber security and data protection in health and social care. We will break down what you need to know about the latest Data Protection Act in health and social care, then offer practical solutions that you can adopt to improve your data protection policies and procedures.
Prevention and early intervention in health and social care is undoubtedly crucial to ensure we delay future care needs, reduce hospital admissions and readmissions, and reduce the pressure on the NHS, and clinicians, and social care providers.
But, you are probably aware there has been a shift towards implementing more proactive care to catch illnesses and conditions earlier to reduce hospitalisations, discharge delays and have a better and bigger positive impact on people’s lives so no care need is left unmet.
The shift towards proactive care is important as it is driven by the desire to improve outcomes, enhance quality of life, and create a more sustainable and efficient health and social care system.
With more than 10% of patients being on waiting lists for treatments for up to a year, making the shift from reactive care to preventative and proactive care is essential to delay and reduce the need for further care and support in the future. Digital telecare is a great way to achieve by offering the opportunity to increase independence and decrease the dependency on social care providers and the NHS.
But what exactly is the difference, and why is the shift important, how will being more proactive help local authorities, hospitals, and most importantly the individual?
At the Access Group we are aware of how important the shift to proactive care is and want to make this shift as easy as possible to minimise disruption.
This article will review the difference between reactive, preventative and proactive care to highlight the importance of being more proactive to address every unmet need and ensure no one is left without the high quality care they need, as well as what the challenges are when making the shift to proactive care and how best to overcome them.
Home care marketing is key to a successful home care service as it increases people’s awareness of your business and helps you gain more clients. With an ageing population, the demand for domiciliary care continues to rise and the need for personalised care in the comfort of your own home is becoming more popular. With so much competition, marketing home care services can seem like a daunting task, especially if it’s something you haven’t done before.
Fortunately, we at The Access Group are here to help. With over 30 years of experience working with care services of all different sizes, we have the knowledge and tips you need to succeed. To help you get started, here are some home care marketing ideas you can carry out to ensure your care home care advertising is up to scratch, so your service stands out from the rest.
Food and drink regulations in care homes play a vital role in keeping residents healthy and happy. Dehydration and malnutrition can severely worsen a range of conditions, including ulcers, bedsores, dementia and stroke risk. So adequate nutrition and hydration in health and social care are fundamental components to maintaining the health, well-being and quality of life of elderly people.
Care providers who expose people to the risk of avoidable harm by breaching regulations in this area can face hefty fines from the UK’s care inspectorates and even criminal prosecution. So, what can you do to ensure good hydration and nutrition for the people you provide care to?
At The Access Group, we have been digitising care services across the world for over 30 years. We have worked closely with people in the care sector and understand the struggles they may face with regulating food and drink in care homes. So, using our years of experience, we have put together this article that dives into the importance of nutrition and hydration, how to improve it and regulations surrounding food and fluid intake. After reading it you should have a much better idea of how to maintain nutrition and hydration in care homes and the guidelines in this area.
Have you been thinking about implementing care home software into your care service? But you’ve delayed the transition due to concerns? Fortunately, with the right research and knowledge, there are simple and effective ways to avoid most of the common problems associated with choosing care home software and implementing it.
While new care home management software can drastically improve many areas within your care service, it does come with its challenges. Managers will need to prepare themselves and pay a lot of attention to satisfy all framework conditions and to ensure everyone understands and accepts this new way of life.
Have you been looking into implementing care home software into your care business? If so, you might be wondering what you need to do so. Finding the right software is the first step to digitisation, but the right implementation makes all the difference when it comes to getting the most out of your new system and getting your care staff enthusiastic about training, learning and the change itself.
The government is pushing for all social care providers to have electronic records by December 2023.
This means that many care providers within the care sector are moving away from traditional paper-based methods and are looking into digitisation.
There are many advantages of using digital software for care homes, such as a more efficient, well-organised work environment and care team and happier, well-looked-after service users. It helps care providers boost their rating and reputation, and in the long run, care home software can save time and money while reducing errors and mistakes.
My Learning Cloud, Care Tutor and The Access Group's Learning for Care (formerly eLearning for You or eLFY), are the UK's top elearning solutions for care providers.
Online learning offers a flexible and efficient learning environment that’s affordable, engaging and designed to suit a variety of learning styles. It’s a great way to keep your staff up-to-date with the latest rules and regulations, and refresh information that they have already learned.
While there are many advantages to investing in an eLearning platform, choosing the right system for your care services is not a no-brainer. There are many factors to consider, and with so many different online training sites and systems out there, you may feel overwhelmed with choices and unsure about which one is best for your care team.
What is the CQC (Care Quality Commission)? What does CQC stand for and what does the CQC mean?
Put simply the CQC is the regulator of all health and care services in England. Not the United Kingdom, but England only. With some very fringe exceptions all providers of health and care services (from care homes and hospitals to dentists and educational establishments that also care for children) must register with the CQC, who then regulate, inspect, rate and if necessary take action to improve or close services down that are not meeting standards, regulations and legislation.
Due to the nature of services being provided, and who those services are provided to, social care is heavily regulated, with different regulators for the different nations in the UK. Regulators for standards in health and social care are key to a sector such as social care and are responsible for formulating and enforcing the regulations and rating criteria that protect the safety of people using care services. Setting basic quality standards and helping define what counts as good and exceptional care help keep service-users safe and drive up quality in the sector.
Care home recruitment and getting this process right is key to setting up and running a successful care service, no matter how big or small. However, this doesn’t mean that care recruitment is an easy task. There are a lot of criteria that need to be met when finding the perfect candidate. This can consist of skills, attitude, experience, care qualifications and behaviour, to name a few.
With approximately 440,000 care workers leaving their job every year and around 122,000 vacancies at any one time, the shortage of qualified and dedicated care workers can prove to be a serious problem and have a significant impact on the quality of care provided to vulnerable people. Especially as the demand for quality care services continues to rise.
The Access Group has over 30 years of experience working with and digitising care services of all sizes across the world. We know what it takes to succeed as a business and an individual. We have put together this in-depth article that explores various strategies and recruitment ideas for care services, including the option of overseas recruitment.
Staff retention in social care is extremely important when it comes to ensuring consistent high-quality care and maintaining the well-being of both caregivers and service users. Caring for vulnerable people is an enormously demanding job that can lead to staff burnout and high turnover rates if care staff aren’t receiving a sufficient amount of support in their role. Losing members of the team can have a detrimental effect on the overall performance of a care service and the comfort of their service users.
By investing in the wellbeing of your workforce, your care service will be best placed to deliver continuous exceptional care which will boost the overall success and rating of the business. We at The Access Group have been working with care services for over 30 years, helping them adapt to a digital way of life, and have seen how different care services are able to better retain staff than others. This article explores the effective strategies to retain care staff, why it’s important to do so and how digitisation can help.
