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Confident2care
- Authors:
- HENDERSON Mary, comp.
- Publisher:
- Dargan Publications; Care2Share NI
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Place of publication:
- Newtownabbey
This booklet provides information and resources to help carers build their confidence and skills. It has four main sections. These cover the Caring role, including; Dealing with Change, which highlights the importance of self-care, assertiveness, managing stress and good communication; Managing financial and legal issues; and Future Caring Options. It is one of a series of three booklets developed specifically for carers of friends or relatives and those working in the caring profession. The series aims to help meet the challenges of caring, whilst also balancing these responsibilities with a carers own wellbeing.
Battle on the home care front: perceptions of home care workers of factors influencing staff retention in Northern Ireland
- Authors:
- FLEMING Geraldine, TAYLOR Brian J.
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 15(1), January 2007, pp.67-76.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The provision of home care services is a key component in avoiding inappropriate admission of older people to institutional care and preventing delayed discharge from hospital. However, there is a growing problem of retention of home care workers (HCWs), creating problems for delivering this increasingly essential service. The present study was based in a health and social services trust in Northern Ireland, and was designed to explore the growing problem of retention of HCWs from their own perspective. The cross-sectional survey design used a convenience sample and questionnaires were completed by 45 HCWs (response rate = 45 of 147, 31%). Responses to most questions were on five-point ordinal scales. Focus groups in which 12 HCWs participated were used to explore emerging themes. The variables studied were HCWs' perspectives on: (1) reasons for considering leaving; (2) working hours; (3) supervision and support, and qualifications and training; (4) workload pressures; (5) client attitudes; (6) pay; and (7) job satisfaction. The main reasons given by HCWs for dissatisfaction and considering leaving were (in rank order): (1) irregular and antisocial hours; (2) lack of management support; and (3) workload pressures. Commitment to caring seemed to be the reason why pay did not feature more highly for those who did not leave. Home care workers are being required to provide care for people with evermore-complex health and social care needs, and in an environment increasingly regulated in terms of quality and risk. This makes it an increasingly demanding job, which does not seem to be recognised in the training and working conditions of HCWs. The most significant factors identified give scope for service managers to improve the retention of HCWs.
Pain in care home residents with dementia: an exploration of frequency, prescribing and relatives' perspectives
- Authors:
- BARRY Heather E., et al
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 30(1), 2015, pp.55-63.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Objectives: This study aims to determine pain frequency amongst care home residents with dementia, to investigate variables associated with pain, to explore analgesic use among residents and to seek residents' relatives' views on provision of care and management of pain by the care home. Methods: Structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with residents, nursing staff and relatives from nine dementia care homes in Northern Ireland, between May 2010 and March 2012. Demographic information was collected from participants, neuropsychiatric tests were used to assess residents' cognitive functioning, medication use was determined from care home records and residents' pain was assessed using a verbal descriptor scale. Relatives' views were sought on care provision and management of pain. Results: Forty-two residents, 16 nurses/care assistants and 35 relatives participated; the participation rate of residents was low (27.6%). Most residents were suffering moderate–severe dementia, and some residents (26.2%) were unable to provide a self-report of pain. A significantly higher proportion of relatives (57.1%) deemed residents to be experiencing pain at the time of the interview, compared with residents (23.8%, p = 0.005) and nurses/care assistants (42.9%, p = 0.035). Most residents (88.1%) were prescribed with analgesia; non-opioid analgesics were most commonly prescribed. High proportions of residents were prescribed with psychoactive medications. Antipsychotic drug use was associated with presence of pain (p = 0.046). Conclusions: This study has reinforced the challenge of assessing and managing pain in this resident population and highlighted issues to be addressed by long-term care providers and clinicians. Participation of people with dementia, and their families, in healthcare research needs to be improved. (Publisher abstract)
The homecare deficit: a report on the funding of older people's homecare across the United Kingdom
- Author:
- UNITED KINGDOM HOMECARE ASSOCIATION
- Publisher:
- United Kingdom Homecare Association
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 56
- Place of publication:
- Wallington
Using data obtained under freedom of information legislation, this report provides a snapshot of the prices paid for older people's homecare by councils in Great Britain and the Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland during a sample week in September 2014. Visual and numerical data are included to make comparisons at a national, regional and local authority level. The report provides information on the average price councils paid for homecare for older people; the numbers of councils paying their local providers sufficient to comply with the National Minimum wage (including careworkers' travel time); and those paying a UK or London Living Wage. It also highlights the risks associated with under-funded care such as poorer terms and conditions, insufficient training for the workforce, resulting in problems in retaining good quality care workers. (Edited publisher abstract)
Domiciliary care in Northern Ireland: a report of the Commissioner's summit
- Author:
- COMMISSIONER FOR OLDER PEOPLE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
- Publisher:
- Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland
- Publication year:
- 2015
- Pagination:
- 46
- Place of publication:
- Belfast
Report providing advice for those involved in the commissioning, regulation and inspection and delivery of domiciliary care for older people. The report presents the findings of a domiciliary care Summit convened by the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland which brought together a range of stakeholders, including older people in receipt of home care, to discuss what good quality and well-resourced domiciliary care should look like. Key themes of the report cover: the need for a regional regulatory domiciliary care framework; regional commissioning; workforce issues, including salary, training and compulsory registration of domiciliary care workers; and a review of regulatory standards and inspection methodology to involve a greater focus on the user experience of care. The report also details a list of actions that must be implemented to ensure that the good practice currently in place is strengthened and supported, and that any poor practice or system failure is avoided. Annexes to the report include a synopsis of presentations from the Commissioner's Summit and a list of contributors. (Edited publisher abstract)