Care Home Managers Report
We heard from care homes throughout Lincolnshire which offered a range of care including nursing, dementia and learning disability/autism support but most commonly residential care. 57 care home managers shared the challenges they face, what is working well and improvements that could be made to areas such as access to services and hospital discharge.
Key headlines include:
- Challenges faced by care homes – The top three challenges faced by care homes were financial problems, staffing and recruitment and access to dental services.
- Gaps in NHS community funded services – Mental health services and physiotherapy were explored as gaps in the system.
- Challenges with pharmacy services - Medication reviews and prescribing were explored with the key challenge of medication being done remotely and people staying in the service not being permanent residents, leading to challenges.
- Barriers to accessing NHS dental care – Challenges included the needed for home visits, lack of NHS care and not being aware of community dental services.
- Challenges relating to hospital discharge and readmissions – Discussion themes included communication and information, time of discharge and readiness and medication and equipment.
- Communication and coordination – Both were explored in relation to need of support from the PCN services, as well as access to GP records and the sharing of records and essential information between services.
- Enhances care home framework – Improvements related to the need for one platform to share information/timelier responses. Good practice and innovation were also explored.
What works well?
The Clinical Assessment Service (CAS) for urgent and emergency care was praised for its responsiveness and support provided. Managers also shared ways they had been innovative including improving the completion of paperwork and supporting residents with specific activities.
What could be improved?
- The sector continues to face many ongoing issues, especially around staff recruitment, retention and morale as well as financial pressures.
- Access to community services especially dental, mental health, physios and OTs appeared to be challenging for many.
- Awareness of the Community Denta service (CDS) was low and accessing dental care for those with limited mobility of dementia was especially challenging.
- There also continues to be ongoing challenges with hospital discharge in relation to communication, information sharing, time of discharge, transport and equipment/medication.
- Additional training and upskilling in areas such as wound/pressure care and catheters would be welcomed.
Read the full report below, co-designed with NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB):
