Words Worth Reading Ltd Charity Report 2014

The Words Worth Reading Ltd Charity Report for 2014 is now available to read via the team's website.

The report outlines the fundraising that the team have completed this year, and also provides details of the donations that have been made to charities that the team feel particularly passionate about.

Charities that have benefited from the funds raised or donated by the Words Worth Reading Ltd team include; Little Haven's Hospice, SMA Support UK, Harrison's Fund, Lily's Trust, The British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Children in Need.

In total, the team have raised over £2,000 for charity this year.

For more information, please visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd's website.

Tips on contributing to a Football Magazine

We have recently added an article to our library of free downloadable articles that focuses on how best to contribute to Football Magazines.

The article is aimed at those individuals wishing to write articles for Football Magazines, or indeed for individuals who are hoping to create their own, new, football publication.

The article includes hints and tips relating to; photography, writing style and tone, product reviews, ideas on news articles, and information on how to tailor the magazine to meet the needs of the assumed audience.

All writing-related articles can be found in the 'Extras' section of our website.

First report published on The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has published his first report on the quality of services provided by The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The Care Quality Commission has found that the trust provided services that were caring, however, improvements were needed in the safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership of some services.

The inspection took place in July, the CQC used its new inspection regime. 

Pinderfields Hospital, Pontefract Hospital and Dewsbury District Hospital were each rated as Requires Improvement, although critical care at both Pinderfields Hospital and Dewsbury District Hospital was rated as Good. The trust’s Community Health services were also rated as Good, however Safety across the trust was rated as Inadequate. 

Inspectors found that most patients were positive about the care they received and staff were thought to be polite, patient and caring. Inspectors also found some examples of outstanding practice, particularly within the children’s community end of life team who demonstrated compassion and commitment to families.

Inspectors identified some areas of outstanding practice, including:

• The multidisciplinary team approach in community services for adults with complex needs.
• The implementation of a link health visitor role in community services.
• The compassion and commitment demonstrated by the staff within the children’s community end of life care team (Jigsaw).
• The support provided to patients following discharge from the critical care unit by the set-up of monthly outpatient clinics.

There were also a number of areas of poor practice where the trust needed to make improvements, including:

• The trust must ensure there are always sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled and experienced staff to deliver safe care in a timely manner.
• The trust must take action to address the backlog of outpatient appointments, including follow-ups, to ensure patients are not waiting considerable amounts of time for their appointment.
• The skills and experience of staff working with children in the A&E departments, special care baby unit and children’s outpatients’ clinics must be reviewed to ensure the trust is meeting national and best practice recommendations.
• The trust must ensure the procedures for documenting the involvement of patients and relatives in ‘Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNA CPR) are in accordance with best practice at all times.
• The trust must ensure staff are trained and competent with medication storage, handling and administration, and that controlled drugs are administered, stored and disposed of in accordance with trust policy, national guidance and legislation.
• The trust must review the arrangements over the oversight of Gate 20 acute respiratory care unit to ensure there is appropriate critical care medical oversight in accordance with the Critical Care Core Standards (2013).
• The trust must ensure ambulance handover target times are achieved to lessen the detrimental impact on patients.
• The trust must ensure the high prevalence of pressure ulcers is reviewed and understood and appropriate actions are implemented to address the issue.

The full reports are available on the CQC website here.

If you are a healthcare professional and would like help with CQC documentation, visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd team to find out how we can help you. 

Source: www.cqc.org.uk

Image: Ricardodiaz11, Flickr

Concerns about Care Home in Wirral

In a report published on the 29th October 2014, CQC inspectors highlight repeated concerns following an inspection of Highground Care Home based in Wirral. The inspection was carried out in August 2014 as part of CQC’s scheduled inspection programme for 2014/2015.

Visiting inspectors found that the nursing home was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led; and all nine of the national standards reviewed by the inspection team were not being met.

A full report detailing the findings from the inspection has been published on the CQC website this week.

Inspectors found that improvements identified on their previous visit in April 2014 had not been sustained and raised a number of concerns, including:

• Care and treatment was not planned in the best interests of the residents’ health and wellbeing.
• Residents were not protected from the risks of unsafe care as inspectors found that safeguarding policies were not being followed or updated accordingly.
• Several areas of the home were dirty and in a poor state of repair.
• Records showed that the temperature of the medicines room and fridge was not being monitored regularly and inspectors could not be sure that medicines requiring cold storage had been kept within the correct temperature range. Medicines can become ineffective if they are kept at the wrong temperature.
• People living at the home told inspectors there was a lack of staff and that they often had to wait for care or assistance A review of the homes staffing rota confirmed that there had been insufficient staffing levels on a number of occasions.
• Staff were not being supported to deliver care and treatment safely. Not all staff had received an appraisal and a review of the home’s training records revealed that several staff had received little training in areas such as safeguarding and promoting dignity.
• The home did not have an effective quality assurance system in place and identified shortfalls were not addressed.
• The records kept by the service were of a poor standard, contained incomplete information, lack of clarity on audits and care plans not updated frequently in line with the person’s needs.

As a result of these findings CQC is currently considering the need for further regulatory action against Irvine Care Limited and will report in due course on any action they do decide to take.

Debbie Westhead, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:
"Highground Care Home has an inconsistent history where standards of care are concerned; the ongoing variation in quality of care cannot be allowed to continue.

"We have shared our findings with the Local Authority Safeguarding Team, and we have told Irvine Care Limited very clearly where they must take action to address our concerns.

"The residents receiving care from Highground Care Home are entitled to receive services which are safe, effective, compassionate, well led, and responsive to their needs.

"We are monitoring Highground Care Home very closely in liaison with the local authority to ensure that people receiving care are not at risk of immediate harm, and we will report further on any further action we intend to take in due course."

Any regulatory decision that CQC takes is open to challenge by a registered person through a variety of internal and external appeal processes.

Article source; press release via the cqc.org.uk website

English social care services to be rated as 'Good'

The Care Quality Commission's Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, Andrea Sutcliffe, highlighted the first ever 'Good' adult social care ratings across the country when she made her official speech on Friday 31st October at the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) Conference in Manchester.

21 services out of 30 reports published so far have been judged by the regulator as providing 'Good' standards of care.

These first few reports follow on from CQC's introduction of a new, more rigorous and expert-led approach of inspecting adult social care that was launched earlier this month.

This includes rating care homes and other adult social care services for the first time as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate to help the public make informed choices about their care.

Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission, Andrea Sutcliffe, said: "Our new approach to inspecting and rating adult social care services is intended to shine a spotlight on care, to celebrate the good and tackle the bad. I am pleased that our first ratings do just that and are highlighting the good services we know exist.

"This is of course a very early picture with the publication of our first 30 reports. There is a long way to go before we inspect and rate every one of the 25,000 adult social care services across England by March 2016.

"But what is very heartening is that of these first reports, 21 have been rated as Good. I pay tribute to the managers and staff whose sheer hard work and determination is obviously making a difference for the people using these services.

"I am determined that we see improvement in under-performing services to ensure every person has the same opportunity to receive care that is safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led. In that way we can realise our ambition for adult social care to provide services we would be happy for any of our loved ones to use."

Of the first 30 ratings, 21 are rated as Good, 6 as Requires Improvement and 3 as Inadequate.

Examples of Good care that CQC looks for in its inspection work, includes:

• Safe: A good service will protect people from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm and potential abuse.
• Caring: In a good service, people will receive care and support from staff who know and understand their history, likes, preferences, needs hopes and goals.
• Effective: A good service will make sure that the needs of people are met consistently by staff who have the right competencies, knowledge, qualifications, skills, experience, attitudes and behaviours.
• Responsive: In a good service, people will receive consistent, personalised care, treatment and support and they will be involved in identifying their needs, choices, preferences and how they are met.
• Well-led: A good service will have a clear vision and set of values that includes honesty, involvement, compassion, dignity, independence, respect, equality and safety which will be understood and consistently put into practice.

Inadequate rating for Bradford Care Home

A press release from The Care Quality Commission (CQC) that was published today states that they have told Shakespeare Court Care Home in Bradford, Yorkshire that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

During an unannounced inspection in August, inspectors found that the home, operated by Handsale Limited, was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led. A full report of this inspection has been published on the CQC website today.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall Shakespeare Court Care Home has been rated as Inadequate.
CQC has issued the provider with three formal warning notices setting a deadline for improvements in relation to standards of cleanliness and infection control, care and welfare, and the assessment and monitoring of service quality. The report identifies a number of areas in which improvements are required:

• People were not protected from the risk of infection because they were not cared for in a clean, hygienic environment.
• There were not enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to fully meet people's needs or ensure their safety.
• Care and treatment was not planned and delivered in a way that ensured people's safety and welfare. People’s care needs were not always assessed and care plans were not being updated to reflect people’s changing needs.
• People who required assistance to eat and drink at mealtimes were not being sufficiently supported by staff, and inspectors found that appropriate action was always taken following identification of the risk of malnutrition.
• Inspectors saw caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, however they also observed occasions when people were not treated with dignity or respect
• The home was failing to effectively monitor the quality of service being provided and accidents and incidents were not thoroughly analysed to identify trends and put actions in place to prevent reoccurrence.
• Inspectors found evidence of a number of safeguarding incidents having occurred at the home that had not been notified to CQC as required by law.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North said:

“We have told Shakespeare Court Care Home that they must take action to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people who live there.

“Although our inspectors saw some caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, the substandard infection control practices, insufficient staffing levels and poor care delivery need urgent attention.

“We have made it clear that we will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not - we will take further action to make sure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs.”

For support with your own CQC registration and on-going compliance monitoring, please speak to one of our CQC specialists.

The University Guide

If you are trying to decide where to go to university, who offers the best modules for your course or even what course to take when you get there, check out the University Guide from The Guardian.

Using the University Guide, you can browse subject tables, look at specialist institutions, get top tips and great advice.

Click here to find the help you need.

Image: velk0, Flickr
Source: The Guardian

If you are already a student and would like your essays or dissertation proof read, check out our editorial services just for students on our website.