Top 10 Tips For Health and Social Care Compliance

All health and social care providers know they must be compliant with industry standards and regulations but what does that mean, and what does it look like in daily practice?

Here we offer our top ten tips to help you achieve compliance in care and have a care service that you can be proud of and will always be Inspection-ready.

Once your new staff are on board use the recruitment process as the pathway to understanding health and social care.

Their training must start from the moment they join you. And, if they are going to learn quickly and absorb all that crucial information, their care training must be easy to digest and memorable, using simple, straightforward courses.

We know that good quality streamlined methods help new staff learn better and stay engaged. Then when they are ready to care for your customers, you can be sure they are working to high standards.

A key part of this process must include all the criteria of the Care Certificate standards and if you use ours which is fully endorsed by Skills for Care, then your staff will be starting out from the best place.

Get clear on what you need to observe, the methods you will use, and how you will evidence good working practice. This is essential so that you can check staff compliance and be confident they are working to best practice.

Don’t be tempted to avoid giving this your focus. It is vital that all your staff are appropriately trained for their role and have passed their mandatory training courses.
Pay attention to this fundamental training because it will save you time and money overall, as well as avoid costly mistakes.

Aside from the mandatory training courses, there may be other subjects required by the Regulatory Body that your staff must complete. For example, Oral Care, Nutrition and Hydration, or even Mental Capacity training.

Planning how they will do this without disrupting the service must be included in your overall training plan.

How articulate are your carers about their work? Are you confident their training is thorough and their expected knowledge solid? Do they have reference points where they can refresh everything before the Inspector calls?

Care staff who are confident about their role, what they do, why they do it and how they are compliant with health and social care regulations will always be music to any Inspector’s ears. Plus, their customers will have confidence in them too.

It’s as important for your staff to have both practical skills and understand the theory.  So, consider your current teaching methods. Do they measure up? Do you have a Blended Learning Solution that covers both and teaches the practical elements of your social care training?

Lack of either will significantly increase risk of incidents or accidents in the workplace.

Regular supervisions, appraisals and ongoing training will keep your staff engaged, feeling valued and doing an excellent job. Without regular updates and guidance, it’s easy for good practice and compliance to slip.

For staff that are lone-working, it’s vital there is a peer-to-peer network, offering support and help when and where it’s needed. Care staff feel supported when they are part of a team.

Use team building exercises to achieve this and make it easier for people to get to know each other and build trust.

If you have fantastic staff, the last thing you want is to lose them because they feel under-valued or under-trained.

Therefore, it’s important to invest in them; provide quality, effective, simple care training solutions and support them to be the best they can be.

Getting it right and being compliant won’t be a problem if you use these tips to help you achieve this.

To get you started our team at CareSkills Academy is ready to help you to manage your staff compliance in under 15 minutes. All we need is your details and we’ll call you to discuss your needs.

Join our five thousand other satisfied customers today and look forward to a compliant future!