Around 361,000 people aged 65 and older are living in care homes in England, which is more than any other part of the UK and more than half (56%) of these resident were aged 85 and over.
Care homes are responsible for carrying out an assessment of a person's needs before they can move in to determine the level of care and support the resident will need, as well as: details of their medication, diet, social interests and end of life preferences.
Two years ago, a team of researchers from the University of Kent, set out on a national project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) as part of the National Priorities for Adult Social Care and Social Work, led by the Applied Research Collaboration, Kent, Surrey and Sussex (ARC KSS), to find out what care planning approaches were available across England and what people thought of them.
The findings of an initial review 'Wellbeing in Care Homes' - set out to identify and classify existing care home planning approaches. They found how most studies had reported on interventions that involved: training, information or resources and/ or changes in working practices. The majority of interventions involved members of staff (93%), compared to just over a third (35%) of friends and family. In addition, only around 10 per cent of studies referred to digital care plans.
This was followed by interviews with staff working in older adult care homes across England, in collaboration with ARC North Thames, ARC North West Coast, ARC Oxford and Thames Valley, ARC West to find out what was important them and in what ways care planning could be improved.
The staff working in those homes told us how they valued adopting a person-centred approach to care and often involved a range of different people when developing care plans, from residents to GPs. However, they also highlighted how, in order to successfully deliver appropriate and person-centred care, staff need to make sure that they:
- have an excellent understanding of the resident;
- involve residents in decision-making, as much as possible; and
- get to know the resident to promote caring relationships.
Nick Smith, Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Service studies, University of Kent, said:
"Care plans are based on individual needs and are consequently different from person to person. Although they are all unique, they all serve the same purpose, including: making sure that residents receive the same care - regardless of which care worker is on duty, making sure that the care given is recorded and supporting to identify and manage a resident's care needs.
"The adult care home staff we spoke to suggested a number of things care homes can do to improve person-centred care planning and improve wellbeing for residents, including: using appropriate care planning templates; encouraging positive leadership; and making sure that care home staff have the necessary time and resources to carry out and assess a person's individual needs.
"Together with input from care home staff, residents and their family and friends, we are now in the process of developing a national blueprint document that will set out the principles of care planning, as well as testing two tools, in four adult care homes across England, that measure the quality of life of people using social care, to see if these tools can help to inform care planning approaches."
For further information about this project contact: Nick Smith.
