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Issue 6 February 2007 |
Welcome to InForm...
Care UK's regular bulletin containing news and developments. Care UK is a leading independent provider of person-centred care to a broad spectrum of service users throughout the UK. We hope that InForm is of interest to you as we have endeavoured to select only individuals who have a connection with Care UK or the services we provide.
Contents
Receive Care UK News on your RSS reader You can now receive Care UK News via RSS reader – please click on the following links to receive the news feed. To find out more about RSS, please click here.
Care UK's Mental Health Act Manager, Julie Rowlands looks at the impact of the Mental Health Bill. Care UK awarded Luton & Bedfordshire Contract Care UK launched a new urgent care service in Luton and Bedfordshire during October, offering additional services to patients that require a doctor or nurse, when their GP practice is closed, but are not emergencies and do not warrant a trip to the Accident and Emergency department. This new service is provided in two ways. Patients can contact an out-of-hours telephone service via their GP or, alternatively, they can walk into one of the new primary care centres without an appointment. There are three centres, located in Vestry Close, Luton; Basset Road Clinic, Leighton Buzzard; and a newly established Urgent Care Centre at the Luton and Dunstable hospital
To discuss how we may be able to support primary care services in your local area, please contact Mark Featherstone.
PHG to be the first Independent Sector Provider to manage the services at a whole NHS site Care UK’s 50% owned joint venture company, Partnership Health Group (PHG), has been appointed preferred bidder by the Department of Health for a major Independent Sector Treatment Centre (ISTC) project serving patients across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The services to be provided by PHG include approximately 100,000 elective cases across eight specialities offered from facilities at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton and running of all services, including approximately 40,000 elective and non-electives cases across 15 specialities, from the newly constructed Lymington New Forest Hospital. PHG will also provide urgent care services from Lymington including a medical assessment unit, minor injuries unit and diagnostics. The services for this important five-year project are expected to commence in July 2007.
Care UK developing strongly in Scotland Care Solutions, Care UK’s specialist care provider in Scotland, has successfully taken over a Glasgow City Council contract under TUPE transfer. The contract has resulted in the addition of 12 new services for Care Solutions; 30 new service users; and an additional 130 staff within the Glasgow area. The majority of the services are on the west side of Glasgow and the surrounding area. The services are widely varied including service users with complex and challenging behavioural needs. Additionally two new offices have opened in Scotland. The Campbeltown office opened in April 2006, although the service has been running since November 2005. This service provides two 24-hour supported living services for people with learning disabilities who have moved into their own homes. The service users are enjoying individualising their own homes and making the most of their space. The Stirling office opened in August 2006. This service provides similar services to those of our current projects within Oban and Dunoon. This includes working with adults who have mental health issues and associated needs such as substance abuse, family breakdown, social isolation and other issues, as well as supporting a small group of older people who have advanced dementia. Please contact Janice Gow to discuss the services provided in Scotland. Service users happy with learning disabilities service
Praise for Staffordshire learning disabilities Care UK Staffordshire’s learning disabilities service has been highly praised by the University of Keele’s Clinical Education Centre for the quality of its student nurse placements. The Staffordshire branch has taken a number of student nurses on placement in recent years, all of whom have provided excellent feedback regarding their placements with Care UK. One student remarked “Care UK have been really supportive throughout my placement – they have always made me feel like a valued member of the team”. If you are interested in finding out more about Care UK's learning disabilities services, please click here to visit the learning disabilities section of the Care UK website.
New community care acquisition for Care UK Care UK Community Care Services welcomes the addition of Quality Care Limited, a large domiciliary care business in the south east of England that was acquired by Care UK in June 2006. Its main office based in Mytchett, Surrey, currently provides over 4,000 hours of care per week, with 220 employees, and operates in Hampshire, Surrey, and parts of Berkshire, with satellite offices in Bracknell and Guildford. Quality Care provides personal, social, financial and domestic support to a wide range of clients, including:
Quality Care adds both size and scope to Care UK’s southern operations and provides further growth opportunities in Bracknell Forest, Wokingham and Woking, in addition to more specialist services such as learning disability and mental health.
Cutting-edge care for people living in Peterborough Care UK’s Community Care Services has recently opened Friary Court Extracare Scheme in collaboration with Peterborough Primary Care Partnership and Axiom Housing. The scheme comprises 32 self-contained flats, purpose-built for older people, and a further eight flats for intermediate care. HRH The Princess Royal was invited to officially open the new Extracare scheme The care provided is focused on person-centered planning which enables individuals to participate in the decision-making process of their care delivery. Assistive Technology, which includes monitoring of the service, providing qualitative data and ensuring the successful evaluation of service delivery, will support the service. “By keeping an accurate record of the time we spend with service users, we can ‘bank’ time to put towards things that the service user would like to do,” said Shaun Douglas, Project Manager at Friary Court. He continued “Care services are traditionally commissioned by Local Authorities in a time- and task-prescriptive manner – say, half an hour to help with washing and dressing, half an hour to help with lunch, and so on. We soon realized that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not necessarily in the best interest of the service user. It might not take half an hour if we successfully encourage the service user to increasingly become more independent, so by accurately logging the time we spend with each service user, we can use the time left over for activities promoting social inclusion or enable another service user to benefit from the time available. This ensures there is no extra cost to the authority”. For further information about the person-centered services provided at Friary Court, please contact Business Development Director, Philippa Codd.
Care UK leading the way in person-centred planning for older people, achieving an outcome-based care service In addition to Friary Court, Care UK is delivering a number of pilots/contracts with Local Authorities to put person-centred planning into a traditional domiciliary care service. During the next 12 months we are pursuing our strategy of working in partnership with Local Authorities to redesign and enhance service delivery to older people living within our communities. We understand how budgetary restraints will continue to impact social care and have made a commitment to take responsibility for freeing up capacity and resources in the long term. It is our intention to work with the 70+ Local Authorities whom we currently contract with to work harder at motivating and improving independence for the 9,000 service users we care for by moving to outcome-based care delivery and solutions based on Assistive Technology. We believe that in the long term, the proposed cultural change will move people to low-level preventative care or to ceasing receiving care through improvements to their mobility and desire to live as independently as possible. This should free up additional resources to provide care to those with more complex needs or long-term conditions.
Divisional Development Director, Philippa Codd will be providing a series of workshops for Local Authorities to understand how outcome-based services can be delivered practically by the service provider. Care UK will also be facilitating a conference in May where Local Authorities will have the opportunity to work together and share knowledge with each other. This goes towards acknowledging our commitment to making the serious step change outlined within the Government’s green and white papers. Care UK expanding its children’s service Care UK significantly expanded its children’s service over the last year. This was achieved through several acquisitions and as a result the company now serves the North West, Wales, the West Midlands and the South West. Children’s residential services previously consisted of Corvedale Care based in Powys and Shropshire providing services for 32 young people between the ages of 12 and 18. Expansion into the North West was achieved through the acquisition of two companies, Promoting Positive Lives and Mosaic Social Work Services. These acquisitions have contributed four two-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home in the Cheshire area within easy reach of the 16 local authorities between Liverpool and Manchester. The acquisition of Little Islands brought further success to Care UK’s expansion strategy. Based in Bristol and Wales, Little Islands has 24 beds in 13 homes. John Turk, managing director of Care UK Children’s Services, said “Little Islands meets our strategy of enlarging our geographic footprint in key areas and complements our existing portfolio of homes by increasing our service provision in urban settings”. Jeanette Young of Little Islands said “We believe Care UK offers additional opportunities to both our staff and young people. We felt the partnership with Care UK was a great match and look forward to developing some really exciting services for young people”. Another smaller acquisition of Mosaic Ltd, a four-bedroom home in Stoke-on-Trent, completes the flurry of expansion. Commenting on the business, Mike Parish, chief executive of Care UK, said “The number of contract awards during the year is a strong endorsement of Care UK’s strategy and service quality”. For further information please contact Anglela Geer, Children’s Services Business Development Director, on 07918 639088. Care UK surpasses Government requirements for the education of looked-after children Despite a report from children’s charity Barnardo’s indicating that the cycle of disadvantage experienced by children in care in education shows no sign of being broken, Corvedale Care in Shropshire has this year shown that the trend can be and has been bucked.Corvedale Care is Care UK’s leading provider of specialist residential, educational and therapeutic care services to young people aged 10 to17. Corvedale Care has built up strong ‘preferred provider’ relationships with over 80 Local Authorities around the UK.
Care UK to open new 60-bed care home for the elderly frail A new purpose-built 60-bed care home for the elderly frail is due to open later this year in Newbury. Care UK is delighted to be working in partnership with the West Berkshire Council after being selected to manage the facility, entering into a 10-year contract. The home is scheduled for completion in April 2007. At present elderly people living in Newbury who are unable to look after themselves have to leave familiar surroundings and move away from their loved ones to find care in other areas. The Council’s decision has now opened the door to a vital resource and one that will serve to strengthen the local community. Designed to be a centre of excellence for older people suffering from dementia, the home offers elderly frail people of Newbury access to secure residence, with nursing and continuing care in their own area.Jan Bartlett, interim area director of Newbury and Community Primary Care Trust, said “Berkshire West PCT welcomes the opportunity that this new home will provide for the local community. It will enable older people with specialist care needs to be cared for in friendly and modern accommodation, close to their families”.Richard Pearman, Development Director for Care UK, stated “This long-term partnership with West Berkshire Council will enable us to provide individualised, innovative services for older people with dementia that will enhance the quality of their lives and experience of care”. For further information please contact Richard Pearman on 07799 347997.
Care UK preferred bidder award for CATSS project Care UK has been appointed preferred bidder by the Department of Health for a Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support Services (CATSS) project in Manchester. The services to be provided by Care UK will include specialist assessment and diagnostic procedures along with a range of minor surgical treatments at three community-based centres within the Greater Manchester area. The services for this substantial and important five-year project are expected to commence towards the end of calendar year 2007.Mike Parish, Chief Executive of Care UK, said: “We are delighted that we have been appointed as preferred bidder on this innovative project. The CATSS project represents a further step for Care UK in working with the Department of Health and Primary Care Trusts to deliver significantly improved NHS acute and community services”.For further information please contact Geoff Benn on 07778 590970.
New walk-in health centre in Victoria A new NHS walk-in centre providing free, convenient healthcare opened in Victoria on 11th December, marking the third walk-in centre managed on behalf of the NHS by Care UK. The Victoria NHS Walk-in Centre offers fast access to experienced nurses and on-site GPs who can provide advice and treatment for a wide range of minor illnesses and injuries without an appointment.The walk-in centre is based at the junction of Victoria Street and Buckingham Gate. The Centre is open Monday to Friday, between 7am and 7pm. Early morning and evening opening times make it easier for patients to fit in seeing a GP or nurse during the working day. The centre is also convenient for local residents, visitors to Victoria or any NHS patient who may need advice or treatment away from home.Centre manager, Derek Witt says easy access to treatment for common health problems is the aim of the service: “The walk-in centre is in an ideal location for people who work or live in Victoria or Westminster, as well as the tourists who are visiting the area”. NHS walk in centres have been introduced to complement local GP and hospital services. For further information please contact Derek Witt, Unit Manager, on 07918 650774. New NHS Treatment Centre opens Partnership Health Group (PHG), Care UK’s joint venture with Life Healthcare Limited, one of southern Africa’s leading private hospital operators, opened its third NHS Treatment Centre on 6th November.The new Mid Kent NHS Treatment Centre is conveniently located alongside the Maidstone District General Hospital. It provides a range of general surgical, gynaecological and orthopaedic day case procedures for NHS patients. It also carries out outpatient endoscopies and chemotherapy. It is a joint venture between Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Maidstone Weald Primary and South- West Kent Primary Care Trusts, and PHG.
Care UK receives excellent report from Ofsted Althea Park Education Unit is celebrating after receiving an excellent report from their recent school inspection. Located in Stroud, Gloucestershire, Althea Park Specialist Service provides care, therapy and education to adolescents and adult women with histories of eating disorders, self-injury and other associated psychological, personal and family difficulties. At three specialist centres, Althea Park takes a unique approach to the treatment of these disorders, based on a holistic model that ensures that each individual is valued and regarded as an essential partner in their own recovery process. We believe that successful treatment cannot be isolated from real-life experiences and that individuals need to be supported to rebuild an active and fulfilling life during, rather than after, therapy.Ofsted described the quality of the teaching as ‘high, reflecting a great empathy for the students being taught’. The quality of the curriculum was described as ‘good’ with some ‘outstanding’ features. ‘The provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding’ and the ‘resources, particularly those of ICT, are good and are used to excellent effect, stimulating interest and participation’.The academic success of the students is very high with a 100% pass rate at GCSE, AS/A2 and GNVQ. Most students achieve A* to C grades. Cheryl Byford, teacher-in-charge, said that she was delighted with the report and that it gave a true reflection of all the hard work the staff had put in over the past two years. “I look forward to further outstanding success in the future for our students and staff,” she said. For further information please contact Martin Davies on 07841 105934 Care UK also produce e-newsletters for specific interest groups, such as primary care, learning disabilities, mental health, older people and children's services. These newsletters contain information about our services and latest vacancies at our facilities. To subscribe to any of these newsletters, please click here. To find out more about Care UK visit our website or use the links below: Find out more about our services using the following links: We welcome your feedback - if you would like to comment on InForm or any of our services, please e-mail enquiries@careuk.com. Our Business Development team are also available to discuss how we may be able to work together. |
The way care is provided for those with learning disabilities is continuously changing, and new approaches are always being developed. To evaluate Care UK’s success in delivering a quality service, the Learning Disabilities Division conducted a survey across the country. The format of the survey took two forms: a standard word questionnaire designed for families, friends, visiting professionals and more able service users; and a pictorial version of the original questionnaire to include less able service users in this opportunity to voice their opinions.
– which is only the second scheme of its kind in the UK and revolutionizes the way care is delivered to older people. HRH The Princess Royal is pictured meeting Care UK's Philippa Codd at the official opening.
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I find my work so rewarding and challenging. I get real satisfaction from working with the elderly and being able to make a difference to their lives. In this job there is so much variety - no day is the same! Team Leader, Colchester Branch| Personal and professional care solutions | |||
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