Care Homes Staffing Project

Some of you may be aware of the work being carried out by the Care Homes Staffing Project, a joint venture between the Scottish Executive, the Care Commission and the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), with support from the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland. This Scotland-wide research project is designed to explore the link between the care needs of residents in care homes for older people and the mix of staff most likely to meet those needs, and to use the information to help inform decisions about staffing in such care homes.

What has been done so far?

The early stages of the project involved consulting with people who use care services and their families, the private and voluntary sector, Scottish Care, and local authorities. Representatives from these groups have formed a reference group which has contributed to the project. An initial study and pilot have been completed in a small number of care homes. The project has reached an exciting milestone in its progress and is now being extended to gather information from a larger sample of homes throughout Scotland.

What is the next step?

Over 100 care homes for older people are now being asked to participate in the next stage of the project. The homes were selected using a process, which was agreed by the reference group, to provide a representative sample throughout Scotland. Letters have been sent to these homes, along with information leaflets for staff, residents, families and visitors. With the agreement and co-operation of these care homes, members of the project team will visit between September 2006 and January 2007 to collect information from staff working in the home.

What information will be collected?

Information will be collected on the numbers and needs of the residents living in the home, how the home is staffed, the layout and location of the home and the facilities provided. The questionnaire

used to collect information about the needs of residents is based on a tool called the Single Shared Assessment - Indicator of Relative Need (SSA - IoRN) which is already in use in the community. The tool has been adapted to take into account the needs of older people living in care homes.

How will the information be used?

A lot of work was done at an early stage to identify an appropriate method of analysing the information collected, and a computerised statistical model called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was selected as the most suitable. Whilst the statistics involved are complex, the model will make it possible to compare each home with other similar homes in the sample. It is not intended that the model will define a staffing schedule for a particular home. It will remain the responsibility of the provider of the care home to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of staff, with the right skills and experience, to meet the needs of people using the service, and the Care Commission will continue to regulate this. However it is hoped that the model will provide useful information to help inform decisions about staffing numbers and skill mix.

The Care Commission is currently developing a quality assessment framework which will provide information on the quality of care services. As information on quality will be essential to make the most effective use of the DEA model it is hoped that information from the quality assessment pilot will be available for some of the homes taking part in this project. It will then be possible to put the information on quality into the DEA statistical model so that this aspect of the care service is fully incorporated.

Please also view our draft report on the Care Homes Staffing Project and the associated  Care Homes Glossary.

 

If you have any questions about this project please email:

katie.wood@carecommission.com  or   lesley.toner@carecommission.com