Time for change

With the New Year almost upon us I have been reflecting on quality of service delivery within the Social Care sector. As with most occupational areas there will always be a spectrum from excellent to poor. The question is how do we raise standards, improve professionalism and thus raise the quality of service delivery within Social Care?

In my view it is not through Local Authority inspectors or the 'wonderful CQC' real improvements have to come from the grassroots of the sector, what does this mean. I believe it means training, developing and nurturing a more professional approach those who work at the sharp end, Carers, Cleaners, Shift\Team Leaders and Registered Managers.

Yes we need to see much more funding going into Social Care, but we also need to take the above approach and finally begin to value and recognise Social Care work as a Profession, then we will see sustainable improvement in Social Care where it is needed.

Don't forget Staff in Social Care

With all the talk about funding Social Care adequately and indeed it needs to be by Government, let us not forget about valuing and recognising the people working within Social Care as the Professionals that the majority are.

A recent tweet suggested that the Care Quality Commission were thinking of using telephone calls to check on the quality of GP's. Clearly this is a different environment from Social Care businesses e.g. Residential or Domiciliary care, however it is a more general worry that the body responsible for quality of care is thinking of simply telephoning someone to establish if good quality is being delivered.

Our view at the Association of Social Care professionals is that improved quality needs to come from those working at the 'sharp end' in Social Care, this means achieving a couple of things;

Firstly overall professionalization of the Social Care sector.

Secondly individuals at all levels, Care worker, Team Leader\Supervisor Registered Manager need to both operate at a professional level but as important are trained and developed as professionals. This then needs regular follow-up Continuous Professional Development.

Finally the Social Care sector and those working therein need to be recognised and valued as professionals.

As far as we are concerned this should happen, the responsibility placed upon all concerned in Social Care in itself is reason enough to call it a Profession.

For more information about how we are supporting Social Care as a Profession visit: www.tasdcp.org