Feb 06 - Care Agency Assures Care Provision Maintained During Staff Training
During a period of handover to new staff the Care Agency has reassured the families of service users that ‘consistency in care provision would be maintained’. In December 2014 the service began the process of training new staff, including shadowing opportunities and supervision, to ensure a smooth handover.
A process whereby commissioned experts are examining how the Agency can continue to improve standards of care is currently being carried out. The process is set to UK specifications and we have established a multi-disciplinary team in order to meet the guideline requirements.
In May 2015, some contracts in the residential service will expire and will not be renewed. No staff members will have their contracts ‘terminated’.
A spokesperson for the Care Agency stated that ‘the capacity and usage of the respite service has been greatly increased over the last few years. Indeed, in December 2011 respite was not available overnight on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and was limited to two service users on Thursdays and three service users on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. In January 2015, however, the afternoon respite service was available to 38 service users per week and the overnight service was available to 23 service users per week, more than double the December 2011 capacity.
They added, ‘the respite service also now offers support to families in their own homes, some of whom are choosing to make use of it on a part time basis.
‘A transition pathway is also being established to guarantee a smooth transfer from children’s services into adult learning disability services.’
Minister with responsibility for the Agency, Samantha Sacramento explained that ‘because of the attempts at scare mongering in the recent weeks, I went to speak with the parents of users of the service to explain what was happening and allay any fears they had. They expressed satisfaction with the explanation as well as the current service and the developments and improvement they had seen in the past three years.’
