In conversation with:
-Philip Daffas, CEO and Managing Director, PainChek
-Suzanne Mumford, Head of Nursing, Care & Dementia, Care UK
-Cheryl Baird, Director of Quality & Care
– Louis Holmes, Senior Policy Adviser, Care England.
The social care sector is, and always has been, very data rich. However, the issue has always been the accessibility of the data. As more care providers digitise their systems, the ability to report on key measurements is becoming much more practical.
In this video, Cheryl Baird discusses the importance of being able to share best practice through the availability of data, enabling providers to support eachother in their area to understand what ‘good’ looks like. Adding to the historical challenges of gaining access to data, the group looks at the cultural change needed in the sector to encourage sharing best practice and understanding industry averages and benchmarks; something which providers have been sceptical to share before.
Louis Holmes highlights the need for a more collaborative approach between the providers and the regulator. Providers have been understandably reluctant to share any details of negative cases in fear of unwanted attention from regulators, as well as showing a perceived competitive weakness among other providers. However, as the group discusses, it is just as vital to share data on instances such as falls, covid mortality and other unfortunate occurrences to be able to support each other in understanding what ‘good’ looks like, and therefore be able to support better development across the sector.
However there has been solid progress in this field in recent years. Suzanne Mumford discusses how the coronavirus pandemic forced providers to be more dynamic in their approach to collaboration. Regular Teams/Zoom calls became a feature of care homes up and down the country as they worked towards a shared goal.
