The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) improves the lives of people who use care services by sharing knowledge about what works. We are an independent charity working with adults, families and children's social care and social work services across the UK. We also work closely with related services such as health care and housing..
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) is an independent knowledge transfer charity which seeks to drive up the quality of care services by sharing knowledge about what works in all aspects of social care for adults and children throughout the UK. We recognise the central role of people who use services and carers, and we aim to ensure that their experience and expertise is reflected in all aspects of our work.
SCIE does this by working with practitioners, commissioners, providers and those who lead the sector across the UK. It spreads good practice, research findings and practical information in innovative ways. The Dementia Gateway is SCIE's main offer in the field of dementia. This co-produced, web-based resource has practical information on caring for people with dementia, case studies, Social Care TV films, e-learning programmes on mental health and links to useful resources and other organisations. The Gateway is aimed at those who care for people with dementia in the community and in care homes, relatives and carers.
About 1.75 million people work in social care. There is a high turnover of staff who are often poorly paid and have a varied level of professional development and qualification. Those caring for people with dementia work in a variety of settings. Some are employed in the private and voluntary sectors while others work for local councils. Reaching staff is therefore a complex process.
SCIE has developed a range of resources which target different audiences in new ways. Some staff that care for people with dementia do not have easy access to the internet. This makes using the Dementia Gateway, SCIE's key offer to the dementia care workforce, difficult. The Get Connected project, hosted by SCIE, is helping more care homes and other providers to secure access to broadband. People with dementia may be at high risk of abuse. It is important to develop cultures, practices and systems which prevent this.
We developed training courses for staff working in the community, in people's own homes and in hospitals. A new course on communication was also developed and is being trained in early 2018. Training opportunities were taken up by local authorities, an independent hospital and a pilot programme in Wales.
The new content is on how technology can support people living iwht dementia. The role of technology is considered in three sections: communication and entertainment, the use of technology in people's homes (for example in monitors, aids and adaptations) and how technology can support better dementia care in care homes.
Content on people living with dementia who are from LGBT, BAME and LD groups was added to the SCIE dementia resource. Useful links were also provided. Relevant organisations advised and 'cleared' the copy so that the experiences of service users were represented.
SCIE is offering open and bespoke dementia training courses and has now run sessions for local authorities, community-baed staff, senior nurses in an independent hospital chain and care providers. The courses highlight the importance of this person-centered approach and strengths-based assessment. The sessions are run by experienced dementia trainers using a mixed training methodology.
The SCIE dementia resource (no longer named the Dementia Gateway) will contain a new section on often-excluded groups (title to be confirmed) with content on LGB&T and BME groups.
SCIE will continue a programme of work to support the workforce to understand and implement the Mental Capacity Act.
SCIE has published a report 'Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards: putting them into practice' reflecting what is known so far about good practice in management and implementation. It incudes sections on care homes, hospitals, supervisory bodies, assessors and authorisers.
SCIE continues to offer training and consultancy on the MCA.
In November SCIE will publish guidance on the transition of supervisory body functions from Primary Care Trusts to Local Authorities. This guidance concerns the implementation of thedeprivation of liberty safeguards in health settings from April 2013 onwards. It describes the changes to the identity of the supervisory body and offers guidance on how local authorities, hospitals onwards.care trusts and clinical commissioning groups can work together to ensure that the rights of vulnerable patients are protected.SCIE has been asked by the Department of Health to explore strategic thinking within social services departments in relation to people who lack capacity. This small, focused project aims to explore the changing focus of social care, in light of both the increasing numbers of people who lack capacity, and their growth as a proportion of service users.SCIE has produced a train the trainer’s manual in association with UKHCA give an overview of the how the MCA applies to domiciliary care providers.SCIE has also provided monthly articles for the Care Providers’ Alliance, presentations at national conferences and specialist advice where sought.
Pilots were carried out using the MCA training materials with managers of residential and domiciliary care and supported living services.Feedback was also invited from SCIE MCA training associates. The materials have been improved based upon the feedback received. A new induction module was also developed to meet the needs of new care staff.Three further training events were delivered specifically for domiciliary care providers. The focus was on the implications of the MCA for day to day practice and end of life care. The events were positively received by providers.The Provider Implementation Managers ran workshops, delivered presentations and participated in question panels at national conferencesWork to develop a guide to MCA compliance in care plans is ongoingA Mental Capacity Act toolkit has been developed to support providers of social care. This includes guidance and a self audit tool so that providers can review their own performance and development action plans to support improvement. At the time of writing these documents are about to be circulated to the sector for their comments and feedback before publication.
Set of MCA training materials aimed at care providers completed January 2012: these range from induction/introduction to the MCA to training for managers and specific training on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. These materials introduced to SCIE Associates, who will be available to deliver the training, in January 2012.Further training events provided to providers by SCIE MCA Implementation Managers in different parts of the country.Presentations and workshops by Implementation Managers at provider trade association annual conferences.On-going work to develop a guide to MCA compliance in care plans, for completion April 2012.
Guides on Access to the Court of Protection and The IMCA role in the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards completed and due for launch in March. 4 training films also complete; to be launched end of March.
As part of our programme of work on participation, SCIE will identify and explore the factors that influence the participation of older people with high support needs, including those with dementia, in service development and delivery.
A report and At a Glance summary of this work will be published at the end of September. The participation of older people with high support needs continues to be addressed as part of the development of SCIE’s new Co-Production Network. Representation from Uniting Carers, Opening Doors (LGBT project run by Age UK in London) and an independent member who is an older person who cared for his partner who had dementia has been secured, but further work to involve people living with dementia is needed.
To review and update each of the 7 modules that form the Open Dementia e-learning programme, and develop an 8th module and associated training.
The programme is being comprehensively re-designed to make it more relevant principally for staff working with people with dementia in the context of the Care Act 2015 and latest CQC requirements. Much of the existing course content is being re-used, supplemented by new material, including film footage of good practice. The new programme will be piloted in care homes in the Autumn 2015 - Spring 2016 and republished at the end of 2016. For the first time the course will contain a rigorous assessment, be fully validated by an academic institution, and supply a certificate to successful students.
The original authors of the Open Dementia e-learning programme have been commissioned to review, update and extend the content. They will ensure that the content reflects current policy, research and practice, and that it speaks more directly to the very wide audience for this resource. The will also involves creating an additional module around the implementation of new learning and an associated training course for managers. The work will take place during 2014.
Four people with the condition speak movingly about its impact on their life and relationships.
What's it like to have dementia? This film will take an 'experiential' approach to dementia so that the viewer experiences the world as someone with dementia might. Of course everyone's dementia is different. With that in mind and advised by people with dementia, we have focused on a number of experiences and episodes that people with dementia say are common.
There is now a rough cut of the film. This was made available for comment to people with dementia, social care staff in domicilary and residential care. Their feedback has been taken on board and the film is being revised in the light of these comments. We are now looking for the right artist to record the voiceover.
The aim of the DG is to support the development and on-going learning of those who care and support people with dementia. We consulted our Advisory Group to explore how we can best promote the DG more widely. We have considered evidence from google analytics and asked a focus group to determine how best to present the content for different audiences. We are now undertaking a redesign to improve user experience including navigation.
Pages of the DG are in the process of redesign.