Page last updated: 24-FEB-2009

Care Homes Staffing Project

Statistical Publication Notice

24 February 2009

Care Home Staffing Project Report (Stakeholder's Report and Technical Report)

INTRODUCTION

In order to provide good quality services to older people in care homes, it is essential the correct level of care staff are available to meet their needs. The Care Commission agree minimum staffing levels at the point of registration however there is currently no standardised method for informing staffing levels in care homes.
The Care Home Staffing Project (CHSP) was established to investigate whether the dependency characteristics of older people in care homes can be used in conjunction with other information, to help inform decisions on staffing levels in care homes across Scotland.
The main objective of the study was to explore whether the Indicator of Relative Need (IoRN) could be used to help improve the criteria for helping to inform staffing levels. The Indicator of Relative Need (IoRN) enables clients receiving services in the community to be classified into groups according to similar level of relative need. Data collection is designed to be carried out directly by practitioners.

The pilot phase of the project found that the existing IoRN was not suitable to be applied in the care home setting and a modified IoRN was developed which provided better discrimination amongst residents.
The Care Home Staffing Project has been developed as a partnership initiative between ISD, the Scottish Government Joint Future Unit, the Care Commission and COSLA with involvement from key stakeholders.

KEY POINTS

  • There is currently no standard method in Scotland for informing decisions on staffing levels in care homes.
  • The CHSP has developed a model using the dependency characterstics of residents to help inform staffing levels.
  • The project further developed an existing tool, the Indicator of Relative Need, to measure dependency characteristics.
  • The dependency value for the care home is used to calculate average care hours required, as well as lower and upper levels.

INTERPRETATION

The model does not take into account the quality of the care home, nor does it take into account the mix of staff providing care.
One of the critera for the selection of the homes participating in the study was that they had less than 70 beds. The application of the model to larger care homes requires to be interpreted with caution.

DETAILED FINDINGS

Using data collected on residents in participating homes a modified version of the IoRN was developed. The modified IoRN allocates residents to one of eight discrete groups.
Each group has a weight attached to it and the weights for individual residents are aggregated to provide an overall dependency score for the care home. The dependency value is then applied to the current care staff hours. This is compared to an ?average? care hours estimate which is produced using a statistical regression line.
Upper and lower tolerance margins were also developed. The tolerance margins were set such that two thirds of homes will fall between the lower and upper margin of tolerance. The area between the two margins has been called the ?Conformance Zone?.
Further development of the model needs to be considered if it is to be used extensively throughout Scotland. This includes its validity in larger care homes (the study was based on homes with a maximum of 70 residents). Further validation of the modified IoRN is also required.

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MAIN CONTACT:

Pete Knight,
Strategic Lead for Information Development
Partnership Improvement and Outcomes Division
Primary and Community Care Directorate
Scottish Government
Peter.Knight@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
0131 244 3610

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GLOSSARY:

Indicator of Relative Need (IoRN) - The Indicator of Relative Need (IoRN) enables clients receiving services in the community to be classified into groups according to similar level of relative need. Data collection is designed to be carried out directly by practitioners.

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PRE-RELEASE ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICATION WAS GIVEN TO:

Scottish Government Health Department
Ron Culley (COSLA)
Marion Mullan (Care Commission)
Head of Local Authority Social Work Departments
NHS Board Chief Executives
NHS Board Communication Leads
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HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:

One-off publication.


Main contact: Email Peter Knight