New website will help raise standards of care homes
01/08/2007
A new website has been launched, designed especially to help care home professionals - from assistants to inspectors - to improve standards of care.
Launched by Help the Aged, with funding from Bupa Giving, Myhomelife.org.uk (linked below) is the first website of its kind. Connecting care homes across the UK, it will allow care home professionals to share best practice on key topics such as creating a sense of community within care homes and staff training.
Care homes will be profiled and care workers can exchange and look up top tips on promoting best practice in their care homes.
Last year, in a report entitled 'My Home Life: Quality of Life in Care Homes', Help the Aged revealed how care home staff are all too often undervalued and overworked in what has become a ‘forgotten sector.’ The Charity called on health and social care professionals to join a ‘movement’ in what Help the Aged hopes will result in better recognition of the value that care homes can bring to the lives of older people.
Since the publication of the report, over 500 care homes across the UK have joined the Help the Aged ‘My Home Life’ network.
Julienne Meyer, My Home Life programme director, said: 'Too often care homes come under hostile scrutiny, with only bad practice making the limelight. Very little emphasis is placed on care homes as part of the solution to the long term care crisis we’re currently witnessing.
'This new website is about celebrating the care home sector and appreciating the workforce who make quality of life for older residents their priority. But not only this, it’s about building upon the good practice that already exists in care homes and valuing a sector that has untapped and unrecognised potential to promote real quality of care for older people.'
Key features of the website include:
- evidence-based briefings on a range of issues, from managing the transition into care homes to creating opportunities for meaningful activities to end of life care;
- shared space to connect with other care homes, allowing for the exchange of top tips and peer support; and
- educational resources to help with staff development and training.
Julienne Meyer adds: 'For many older people living in care homes, retaining their sense of individual identity is paramount. However we also need to consider how we involve relatives and support staff to cope with the challenging work that they face day-in, day-out.'
My Home Life is led by Help the Aged, the National Care Forum and City University. It is a collaborative programme bringing together organisations which reflect the interests of care home providers, commissioners, regulators and older people themselves.