Contacts
Contact:
Chris Banks
End of Life Care Practice Facilitator (East Sussex)
Organisation:
Hastings & Rother PCT / East Sussex Downs & Weald PCT
B Ward Bexhill Hospital Holliers Hill Bexhill E Sussex TN40 2DZ United Kingdom
Tel:
07879 415 724
Email:
Case study:
11 May 2010
End of life care staff development in East Sussex care homes
Key points
- A group of care homes in East Sussex has used the end of life care competences and principles to identify staff training needs and support appraisals
- Staff have responded positively to the extra support and knowledge about end of life care.
A multi-agency group working across health, social care and independent care homes in East Sussex has used the end of life care core principles and competences to help identify the skills needs of its staff.
Hastings & Rother PCT and East Sussex Downs & Weald PCT in partnership with Bupa Care Homes used the principles and competences, developed by Skills for Care and Skills for Health, to support appraisals and identify training needs across clinical and non-clinical care home staff.
Managers reviewed the job descriptions and roles of all team members, including maintenance, kitchen and administrative staff.They then mapped this expected level of knowledge and skills to the core principles and competences. At the same time staff assessed their own competence through a knowledge and skills questionnaire. Managers then used this information to identify which areas of understanding and knowledge needed improvement and support.
As a result staff have a clearer understanding of what is expected. There is also a well-defined appraisal process, clear feedback from staff on their competence assessment and mapped competences can be used as part of job descriptions.
Another benefit has been the positive staff response. Chris Banks, End of Life Care Practice Facilitator (East Sussex) for the Trusts, described how a member of kitchen staff felt more confident about communicating with people as a result of being given extra support and knowledge around end of life care. ‘Staff also felt really pleased that they were seen as an important part of the team providing excellent care to residents.’
Managers have now decided to use the end of life care tools to help identify suitable education and learning programmes. The evaluation of knowledge and skills will also enable them to use staff with high levels of understanding as role models and/or in-house trainers.
They will also be using the resources to feed into job descriptions, so in future newly recruited staff will have a clear understanding of the expectations around end of life care.
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