Supporting quality improvement in care homes for older people: the contribution of primary care nurses

Abstract

Primary care nurses need to be more proactive in the way that they work with older people in care homes. Structured tools such as benchmarking can help them to recognize the range and complexity of resident's health needs, and work with care home staff in ways that acknowledge their expertise and improve the overall care of older people in these settings.

‘We’re effectively becoming immigration officers’: social care managers’ experiences of the risk work of employing migrant care workers

“…In the care home sector 15 per cent (c. 2,200) of managers are registered to manage homes owned by individuals, sole traders or partnerships (Care Quality Commission, 2014a), while others work for larger providers, mostly commercial chains, with some having not-for-profit status. Small numbers of care homes are currently owned and run by local authorities, although local authorities fund most care home residents' fees in full or in part (Davies and Goodman, 2008). In England, the approximately 14,000 care home managers (Orellana, 2014) are predominantly (80%) female; are representative of the wider UK population in terms of ethnicity, with: 80% being white; and two thirds (66%) being aged between 45 and 64 years (Orellana, 2014).…”

Establishing a set of research priorities in care homes for older people in the UK: a modified Delphi consensus study with care home staff

“…The ageing UK population is associated with a corresponding rise in the number of people requiring long-term care [ 1 ], with those entering long-term care having increasingly complex healthcare needs [ 2 ]. Currently, there is little evidence for much of the care provided in care homes [ 3 , 4 ], and concerns about the quality of care [ 5 ] have led to calls for a more structured and evidence-based approach to healthcare provision within care homes [ 6 ].…”

Quality care provision for older people: an interview study with patients and primary healthcare professionals

“…17 In addition, a review on quality improvement in care homes, which focused on the management of specific physical health needs, argued that structured interventions in shared planning are necessary. 21 The current study reveals a picture of varying quality in care. Frustration was also observed among the participating care professionals, who, despite their best intentions, do not formalise methods for collaboration or express mutual expectations.…”