Adult Social Care Insights, Governance & Quality Improvement

This week’s Adult Social Care Briefing looks at the latest Skills for Care workforce findings, delegated healthcare activities, a National Patient Safety Alert on blood ketone testing, and recent CQC findings on staffing, leadership and assurance.

Some of the people who make the biggest difference in a care home are not always the ones delivering direct care. This blog reflects on the everyday relationships built by kitchen, domestic, maintenance, laundry and reception teams, and why those ordinary human connections matter so much.

How safe is safe enough? In Episode 3 of Beyond the Audit, I explore positive risk-taking in adult social care, the assumptions we make about people’s abilities, and how keeping people safe can quietly become stopping them living.

I once worked in a dementia service that had a workshop, with tools and practical activities. When we were going through the registration process, I was asked whether that was really safe considering the client group. I remember being so irritated by the question, because it seemed to start from the assumption that dementia somehow made the whole idea questionable! The person who asked me with real shock, did not know if the people who would use the space had been working wit

Person-centred care is about far more than adding someone's name to a care plan. I look at what care records actually tell us about the person, their choices and independence, and why poor mental capacity assessments can undermine genuinely person-centred care.

As Dementia Action Week comes to an end, perhaps the most important question is not simply whether people with dementia are safe.