NCF Partner project: Medication safety
Safety of Medicines Care Home
A comprehensive resource pack has been developed to enable care service providers to improve medicines management, help residents to understand their rights, and to develop safer working practices so that medicines are administered more safely and drug errors are reduced.
Improving medication management in care homes is a system-wide issue, which needs to be tackled by many different groups working together. A partnership was formed to try and address some of the issues raised by the Care Homes’ Use of Medicines Study (CHUMS) and ongoing concerns about safety and standards related to medication prescribing, administration and management in care homes.
The partnership, led by the National Care Forum (on behalf of the Care Provider Alliance) involved: the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Royal College of Nursing, the Health Foundation and Age UK.
Representatives from a range of professional bodies, plus a number of health and social care professionals working in and with care homes (a full list of members involved in the group is provided at the back of the final summary report pooled their knowledge and expertise to develop a range of practical solutions and tools which would help residents and care home staff as well as doctors and pharmacists to reduce the incidence of medication errors and near misses in care homes.
From March 2012 through to February 2013, over 160 homes participated in the testing of prototype resources and enabled the development of a comprehensive pack of materials to support improvements across the sector, improving the quality and safety of care for all care home residents.
The National Care Forum works to promote best practice in the delivery of quality care and support services.
An integrated programme led by the National Care Forum, funded by the Department of Health, working as part of a wider cross-sector partnership.
These organisations are all working together to find practical solutions to reduce the risk of harm associated with medications in care homes:
Squashed Frog series
We commissioned four reports to make up our Squashed Frog series:
Survive or Thrive: securing financial sustainability in social care – the provider perspective
The paper has been prepared for NCF by David Walden CBE and summarises a recent roundtable discussion. It launches a programme of activity in which the issue of sustainability in social care (and health care) services becomes a primary focus for discussion with our members and others.
Click here to download the report.
Committed to Quality in adult social care & support
As the leading voice for not-for-profit care providers in the UK, the NCF aims first and foremost to promote quality care for people receiving not-for-profit care and support services. It works with its members, the wider social care sector, government and other national bodies to develop constructive solutions that can improve social care provision and enhance the quality of life, choice, control and well-being of people who use services.
NCF reflects the diversity of the care sector. The wide range of services provided by our member organisations to adults of all ages include: home care, day care, housing, extra-care, outreach, intermediate care, residential and nursing care and specialist provision. NCF is recognised as a national authority and contributor to social care policy development.
Click here to download the report.
Influencing social care commissioning & procurement: Resource guide for NCF members
This is the third in a series of short papers published by the National Care Forum (NCF) that focus on sustainability in social care (and health care) services, a major area of concern for NCF members and other care service providers.
As with previous publications the background to this paper is the Government’s unchanging programme of deficit reduction and significant cuts to some departmental budgets, which means that services are now set for a decade long funding squeeze.
Click here to download the report.
Quality Collaboration Resilience: Creating the conditions for a sustainable future for social care
This paper continues the discussion started in ‘Survive or Thrive? Securing financial sustainability in social care – the provider perspective,’ and presents some alternative perspectives on the challenges facing care service providers.
The source for these ideas are the new duties on councils under the Care Act and the government’s aspiration that local authorities should facilitate sustainable local care markets.
Click here to download the document.
LGBT resources and reports
Foundations for the future: Dementia care for LGBT communities (March 2017)
This publication is the final report in a series of papers produced as part of a three-year project developed to explore how care professionals can provide more appropriate support to LGBT communities.
Our work is part of a wider strategic partnership involving the National Care Forum (NCF)5 and the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG)6, which both represent UK not-for-profit health and social care providers, the National LGB&T Partnership, a group of leading organisations across England supporting LGBT people.
This report complements our existing publications issued since 2014, including The dementia challenge for LGBT communities and Dementia care and LGBT communities: a good practice paper.
Our work aims to raise awareness of this overlooked population, promote a better understanding of people’s support needs and recommend approaches that offer better, high-quality provision
Read the report: Foundations for the Future
Dementia care and LGBT communities: A good practice paper (April 2016)
This is the second piece of work from our partnership that explores specific support for LGBT people with dementia.
This report is published by the National Care Forum (NCF) and the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), working with the National LGB&T Partnership, as part of the Department of Health’s Strategic Partnership Programme.
Our work focuses on the needs of the LGBT communities, exploring how care professionals can provide more appropriate support. This report can be seen to complement our other recent publication, Dementia: equity and rights, which includes themes for individuals, carers, commissioners and service providers in relation to equity issues in dementia.
Read the report: Dementia care and LGBT communities
The dementia challenge for LGBT communities: a paper based on a round table discussion (December 2014)
There is no specific reference to LGBT issues in the National Dementia Strategy, despite the fact that LGBT communities may also have other protected characteristics (the grounds on which discrimination is unlawful) that demand distinct social care support.
This paper looks at the needs of LGBT people with dementia and how the social care workforce could provide more appropriate support.
Read the report: The dementia challenge for LGBT communities
NCF members: creative homes survey
The National Care Forum, worked with the National Association of Activity Providers for Older People (NAPA) and The Baring Foundation to publish:
Creative Homes: how the arts can contribute to quality of life in residential care
This good practice guide includes case studies as well as resource information on arts organisations committed to working with older people.
Creative Homes celebrates existing good practice in the use of the arts in residential care. We know that a great deal of activity is already taking place amongst the best providers.
This publication is also intended to demonstrate the value of art to improving the quality of life for people in care settings.
We hope that the practical style of the guide will inspire managers and practitioners to develop and extend arts activity for the benefit of residents, their families and staff.
Download Creative Care Homes
