There are many standards in the workplace that must be adhered to, as there are policies within companies such as dress code, training and whistleblowing. I started working in care in and worked my way from support worker, through senior care roles, team leader, project manager to finally where I am now; Home Manager. When I first came to the UK in , I wanted to certify my physiotherapy qualifications from Poland and continue my career in the profession. In the meantime, I became a support worker for people with learning disabilities. I worked in the community enabling people to live as fulfilled life as possible.
This model of community support, and the progress we made with our clients made me change my mind and pursue a different career path. I was a registered nurse working with a very large company, deputising in a Nursing Home. The manager at the time decided to leave, so I applied for the post and was successful.
I feel my wealth of experience having owned and managed my own business for many years, coupled with my experience of that given home, secured me the job. I entered the private Nursing Home sector because I became disillusioned working in the hospitals. Knowledge is essential to high quality of care.
The people we care for are always complex with a range of needs and abilities. Knowledge enables us to develop effective care, approaches, and strategies, where the right skills are used to promote independence, build confidence, and maintain good quality of life. It is important that all staff are adequately trained and updated to fulfil their roles safely and effectively, whilst always displaying best practice.
They must adhere to care standards as set out by the employer and the regulatory bodies. This allows staff to be competent in the delivery of care they provide. The manager must also be current in their knowledge, and be aware of changes to inform the staff. I believe a well-informed manager usually has well-informed staff.
My line managers are open and willing to support me whenever I need them. There are many opportunities to progress or enhance your career in the care sector. One can choose a career in management, or perhaps development in specialist fields such as brain injuries, dementia, autism and mental health.
You can teach and coach; the opportunities seem endless. The biggest downfall of the care sector is the lack of financial reward, especially at the beginning of your career. This depends on the individual manager. Many tend to work well on their own without much support, whereas some may need a little more help. It can also depend on what type of employer you work for, as the infrastructure of various companies varies immensely. There is no scope for me to progress due to the company being very small.
What does it take to be a registered care home manager?
This leads to very few opportunities. The legalities for a manager are immense, and the responsibilities numerous. As the registered manager, our responsibilities are to maintain positive relations with care inspectorate, and maintain compliance with guidelines. We are also responsible for safe recruitment, and staying within the remit of employment law. We are also required by law to report any adult protection concerns to social work, and the care inspectorate. If a manager does not have an up to date fire folder, and a fire occurs, we stand to be prosecuted.
Managers must ensure all staff have maintained all their training and remain registered with the relevant bodies. There are a host of areas where a manager has legal responsibility and the above are only a few examples of what is becoming an ever-increasing legal minefield. Setting aside the fact one needs to achieve a certain level of skill, knowledge and experience in the sector prior to applying to become a Home Manager, the process is simple. The candidate undergoes a range of interviews during the initial stage of the recruitment.
References are obtained, Disclosure and Barring Service applications are made, and right to work documentation checked. The successful applicant must then register with the CQC and successfully pass their interview process. The process I took was to work as a nurse in homes and eventually pursued a Deputy Manager post. I interviewed for the post and successfully became the manager of the same home I deputised for.
Overall it had taken me around 3 years. Many managers are then offered training with their employers, for example SVQ4 leadership and management courses. For others, it is their experience that counts as they have been managers for many years. I believe it is possible to successfully transfer to any kind of Care Home.
The question one must ask, is how hard one is prepared to work to learn and adjust quickly. My first 6 months following my first appointment to a Home Manager were spent mostly at work learning new rules, new legislation, and new policies. At home I would read books and browse the internet to learn as much as I could about the new environment I was working in. It becomes easier with time. I believe nurse trained managers can transfer to any kind of care home.
I have worked in both Residential and Nursing Homes however, I feel only nurse qualified managers should be allowed to manage nursing homes because of the nursing aspects to the job. Home management experience is not enough to be able to work in any Care Home. There are many other factors that make a successful Home Manager. Agreeable experience is one of the most important, but the skill, knowledge, attitude and personality also play a very important role. As I mentioned before, some of the Nursing Home Managers require an additional set of qualifications.
This mainly relates to nursing, learning disability, and mental health. In my opinion, regardless of management experience, any manager without nurse training should not manage a nursing specific home. I partake in handovers, supervise staff members, oversee quality of work on the floor, talk to residents and undertake care and domestic tasks if required. It is not unusual for me to assist residents to hospital appointments, take them to a local newsagent, or take part in organised activity.
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I ensure contractors are on schedule with repairs, deliveries are made on time and everyone is on shift on time and ready. In some cases, nurses may take the role of team contact. This will typically happen when the issue being addressed by the team is directly related to the nurse. For example, if a particular nurse is responsible for making sure that all the residents receive baths on a regular basis, then she might ask the CNA teams to develop improved procedures or processes for giving residents baths.
As in the case of management and nurses, the CNAs should be taught what SMWTs are, their purpose, their advantages and costs, and how they will work, including the process of working with management. It is important at this step that the CNAs not be given unrealistic expectations. In some cases in the past, managers have exaggerated the decision-making authority of SMWTs in order to gain team member support. CNA teams typically hold at least one min sit-down meeting a week. The CNAs choose a day and time to meet that they feel is best for them e.
Ideally, all CNAs on duty attend the meeting and, while they are meeting, the nurses assist with the CNA duties such as answering call lights residents' requests for assistance.
K | Management in Health and Social Care
These individuals are responsible for making sure that a the team meets each week, b the team meetings focus on what has to be covered, c everyone on the team has an opportunity to share their views during the meeting, and d notes are taken during the meeting and later shared with the Team Contact. The team may choose to rotate the coordinator position every 3 months or so.
Typically, when it is time to rotate the team coordinator position, the backup coordinator becomes the new team coordinator and a different CNA is selected by the team to be the backup coordinator. In some cases, the CNAs will prefer not to rotate the coordinator position. This typically occurs when the coordinator has been effective in this role and has maintained an equal status as opposed to supervisory status with the other CNAs.
During the CNAs' first meeting, good interpersonal skills should be defined. This includes the importance of listening, the fact that no idea is a bad idea, the importance of not dominating discussion, and the importance of showing respect to all team members. Teams are further informed of their new responsibilities, which may include identifying ways to improve particular work processes and providing clinical staff with weekly reports on resident health and well-being. Training is typically provided by a team facilitator. This should be someone who is nonthreatening to the team and has the knowledge needed for the training.
Experience from our pilot study suggests that interpersonal skills training is best provided as on-the-job training. That is, as the CNAs interact during their meeting, the facilitator may gently note when a lack of interpersonal skills is displayed e. Once the team has received training, the team facilitator should attend team meetings every other week and then slowly reduce visits as the team develops. This allows the teams to begin functioning independently. In our pilot study, we found that when the facilitator attends the CNA meeting every week, the teams can become dependent on the facilitator.
In contrast, if the facilitator does not attend any meetings, the CNAs will not be fully trained and will sometimes lack focus. The goal is for the team facilitator's presence at weekly meetings to be reduced over time, reflecting the team's development and maturity. CNA teams are typically organized by shift and location. This means that they typically work during the same shift and on the same floor s or wing s of the nursing home.
Or they may work on two different shifts but serve the same residents. During a sit-down meeting, the CNAs focus on issues identified by management e. For example, the team may have learned from the nursing home's DON that a number of residents and their family members have complained that when the resident is being fed breakfast the food is cold. The DON has asked the team to develop a more efficient process for passing out trays so that the residents will be fed hot food.
Once a potential solution is selected by a team, it can be presented by one of the team members to the appropriate management person. This is typically the manager who presented the issue to the team or, if the issue originated from the team, the manager who is most directly associated with the issue. The manager s then reviews the team's potential solution and as soon as possible provides feedback to the team.
The manager s may choose to accept the CNA team solution as is, may suggest some changes to it, or may point out serious shortcomings of the solution.
The Benefits and Costs of Nurse Aide SMWTs
In the latter case, the CNA team is typically lacking some crucial information, such as how early food can be delivered or how much the food service staff can be expected to do. When the CNA team is lacking information, the manager s must take responsibility for providing the CNA team members with the information they lack and then allowing the team to reassess its solution with this additional important information in hand. It is crucial that the management person s always be supportive of the team during this catch-ball process.
Even poor choices by the team are likely to have some merits that can be highlighted. Further, it is important that management not have a solution already in mind and force the team to continue reconsidering solutions until the solution matches that of management.
You are viewing information for England. Module details Entry requirements Module registration Study materials. What you will study Following an online learning guide, you will work with a combination of print, online resources and audio-visual materials designed to get you thinking and to build your understanding and skills. The module is structured around key aspects of leading and managing in health and social care, with four main blocks of study: Block 1 Approaching leadership and management You will begin by exploring what it means to be a leader or a manager in health and social care today, examining how the two roles differ yet complement each other, and sometimes overlap.
Block 2 Managing relationships In this block you explore two constants at the heart of any management role — change and human relationships. Block 3 Creating the caring environment In Block 3 you move from focusing on relationships between people, to relationships between people and their surrounding environments. Block 4 Leading for ethical and quality care Having considered the practical context within which managers and leaders operate, in the final block you are encouraged to question the ethical requirements of good leadership and management in care.
To ensure that your learning can be applied to real-life contexts, two key recurring devices are used throughout the module: Vocational relevance This module has been designed for people in health and social care working in frontline, administrative and leadership positions. Outside the UK While the module draws on case studies and examples from the UK, the core ideas and theoretical approaches are relevant to any context.
Teaching and assessment Support from your tutor You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material. Assessment The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box above. Course satisfaction survey See the satisfaction survey results for this course. Entry requirements You are not required to have done any study in this area before, but bear in mind that this is an OU level 3 module.
Study costs There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as a laptop, travel to tutorials, set books and internet access. Pay by instalments — OUSBA calculates your monthly fee and number of instalments based on the cost of the module you are studying.
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