Quality Improvement Project in The Independent Care Home Sector By Lee Edmonds Tissue Viability Nurse Four Seasons Health Care

Quality Improvement Project Three Independent Care Home providers involved ‘Relieving the Pressure’ developed quality improvement in pressure area care ‘Talking Quality’ developed quality improvement in communication ‘Getting the Record Straight’ developed quality improvement in record keeping and documentation

Four Seasons Health Care 3100 Care beds in Northern Ireland 6 th Largest Employer in NI. Range of facilities and care units Quality improvement already in place This initiative formalised and strengthened current and future quality improvement into a more structured approach. ‘Relieving The Pressure’

Care Circle Ltd. 93 Care home Beds Provide high quality care to Frail Elderly persons Standard setting is seen as intrinsic to Care Circle’s ethos Main thrust of this initiative is to compliment the primary nurse concept using a formalised, structured approach ‘Getting the Record Straight’

Clonlee/Massereene Care Home Group 95 Care home beds in group Caters for Elderly mentally infirm, Frail elderly and physically disabled Have already developed a pro-active approach to effective and efficient care practices focusing mainly on training ‘Talking Quality’

Destination Quality/standards were assessed & improved Information shared between groups to avoid duplication Various methods were used to illicit information needed

Organisational structure User participation was seen as essential Objective data gathering – Quality assessment tool created Subjective opinion gathering – Clients group encouraged to give opinion Coordinating Committee Group Support Working Groups Professional groups Clients groups CarersOther Information Gathering

Anticipated Quality Outcomes Quality systems developed – Various quality systems already in place – System changes Increased client involvement & satisfaction Increased involvement of key groups Increased awareness of quality Care system improvements

Resource Management Time Frame Original meetings were held to discuss the way forward, schedules etc. Organisational structure developed to facilitate quality initiative Audit system developed at the outset

Resource Management Obstacles Multi-disciplinary team Management changes Time – Time frame – Motivation

Quality Outcomes Goal is simply to increase quality in three key areas from a client centred perspective Key areas identified: – Targeted training needs – Creation of more robust policy/guidelines – Improvement of existing documentation – Empowerment of client group – Increasing staff awareness/involvement in quality improvement – Formalised quality assessment – Formalised equipment replacement

Performance Vs Budget Time was the only initial resource Recommendations were considered in light of cost – effectiveness assessment. Financial resources were allocated when goal setting was completed.

Our Challenge is to maintain those improvements we have made Lack of Time is an Excuse – there is always time for quality Lessons Learned Quality is a Journey – Never a Destination