Care Act

This programme is a half day course which will be a refresher of the key principles and duties of the Care Act 2014, in relation to assessment, eligibility and care and support planning. The programme specifically designed for managers will focus on how they can ensure their respective team members meet the objectives and consistently achieve legal compliance and high standards of practice. This will include reflective supervision, overseeing recording and ensuring that strengths based conversations are taking place. It will include a greater emphasis on financial and legal implications. The training is supported by a comprehensive workbook comprising all slides, many with additional notes, plus case studies and a list of suggested Strengths Based Questions. The course will cover the person with care and support needs and carers equally throughout the session.

This programme is a half day course which will be a refresher of the key principles and duties of the Care Act 2014, in relation to assessment, eligibility and care and support planning. The training is supported by a comprehensive workbook comprising all slides, many with additional notes, plus case studies and a list of suggested Strengths Based Questions. The course will cover the person with care and support needs and carers equally throughout the day. The Programme The programme covers a refresher of the core principles of wellbeing, the strengths based approach and personal outcomes, the key duties of Prevention, Information and Advice and Advocacy and Assessment, including how involvement can be maximised. Exercises include one quiz on assessment and a case study to reinforce using a diverse range of strengths based questions and the importance of identifying the person/carer’s personal outcomes. The eligibility section covers the 3 stage test for eligibility, focusing on significant impact. It includes unpicking a sample of the eligibility outcomes, working through specific and recent Ombudsmen cases and considering what questions need to be addressed. This section concludes with a brief overview of the elements of accurate recording, professional opinion and providing evidence. The remainder of the session will cover the duties of Care and Support Planning through completing a quiz, understanding support options and the range of ways a Personal Budget can be taken, including how Direct Payments can be used, the three key principles (transparency, sufficiency and timeliness), Public Law Principles and adopting creative solutions through reference to the case study from the morning session.

This programme is a half day course intended for those with a good working knowledge of the Care Act and understanding of the key duties and principles, in relation to assessment, eligibility and care and support planning. It will include a refresher of the key duties and principles followed by a detailed examination of case law and Ombudsman cases. The training is supported by a comprehensive workbook comprising all slides, many with additional notes, plus relevant case studies, a list of strengths based questions and Ombudsman cases/Judicial Reviews. The course will cover the person with care and support needs and carers equally throughout the session. The programme will include a refresh of the core principles of wellbeing, the strengths based approach and personal outcomes, the key duties of Prevention, Information and Advice and Advocacy and Assessment, including how involvement can be maximised. The emphasis will be on the application of the law in relation to these duties/principles and the learning derived from various judicial judgements. Exercises will include one quiz on assessment which reinforce some key statements in the Care Act Guidance. The eligibility section covers the 3 stage test for eligibility, focusing on significant impact. It includes a selection of Ombudsman cases in relation to specific eligibility outcomes, working through specific and recent Ombudsmen cases and considering the learning drawn from these and identifying key sections from the Care Act Guidance in relation to the consideration of finances.

The Care Act reinforced many of the overarching principles of assessment and highlighted the importance of an individual being supported to be as fully involved in the process as they are able to be. Aspects such as supported self-assessment and the new legal duty around advocacy reinforce this principle. The strengths or asset based approach, mandated in the Act, is about focusing on what a person can do, rather than what they cannot do, it is a move away from considering needs initially to exploring the person’s skills, relationships and resources. The Care Act also highlights the importance of an individual defining their own personal outcomes related to what is important to them. These are distinct from eligibility outcomes defined under the Act. The important principle of wellbeing was introduced alongside new duties of Prevention and Information. The Act strengthens the rights and recognition of carers. The eligibility criteria, which from 2003 until the introduction of the Care Act had been set out under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) guidance, was replaced by a national eligibility threshold (one for customers and a separate one for carers) comprising three requirements including whether, as a consequence of the person’s needs and outcomes, there is a significant impact on their wellbeing

This course supports members of staff who chair a variety of different types of meetings which all have the same theme in common, they are all sensitive meetings e.g. Adult & Child Protection Meetings, Safeguarding Meetings, HR Meetings, Disciplinary Meetings, Restructuring Consultation etc.

Supervision is central to good practice. Good supervision provides an opportunity to develop reflective thinking which can improve resilience, improves the quality of decision making and interventions, supports professional thinking and prevent failure, helps to identify and achieve personal learning and development opportunities and addresses workload management. It can increase a practitioner’s confidence and improve job satisfaction and assure the supervisor that all tasks have been completed, and that practice is legally compliant and meets standards. This highly interactive day with a number of small and large group exercises will explore the aims and functions of supervision, define good supervision and outline the values, principles and standards, as set out in your Supervision policy. It will cover the importance of reflection and powerful questioning, including using the strengths based approach and addressing difficult conversations. It will reinforce supervision standards required by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), set out the responsibilities of both supervisor and supervisee for supervision and define the supervision contract. It will include an opportunity for supervisees to develop or expand their own resilience toolkit. This 1 day course will promote high quality supervision in the methods used and content covered to ensure that it supports the individual, their professional development and their wellbeing and where a key aspect is the focus on the quality of practice, which will in turn impact on the quality of interaction/support given to the adult/carer.

This half day course, which will be adapted to meet specific requirements, is intended for staff who do not have a current working knowledge of the assessment and care and support planning aspects of The Care Act and who will not be using this knowledge directly in their day to day practice. However, this course will increase their understanding of how allied professionals work within this legislation.

The Care Act states that the review should be person centred, outcome (not service) focused and accessible and proportionate to the needs being met and that plans must be kept generally under review. Reviews need to consider what outcomes have been achieved, what has worked and has not worked, changes to support networks, whether any changes are required and whether eligibility criteria are still met. The course will include an overview of the strengths based approach, that the process is outcome focused, proportionate and person centred with an emphasis on promoting wellbeing and prevention and that it abides with public law principles.

The aim of this course is to enable participants to understand what dementia is, its symptoms and its progress and to apply the principles of reablement to the care of people living with dementia. The course considers the stages of the onset of the disease and examines strategies for supporting someone living with dementia within reablement

Prevention and Wellbeing form two of the major aspects of the Care Act 2014. The Act emphasises protecting and promoting a person’s independence, however defined by them, ensuring the person is fully involved and harnessing both the person’s inner strengths and the strengths within their family, network and community to meet needs and outcomes. Early intervention and resolution form an important part of this, with an emphasis on creative thinking and solutions and the avoidance of relying on care packages and long term support. The Wellbeing principle, the core principle of the Care Act, identifies nine core aspects which practitioners must consider in all interventions with a person. Two key Judicial Review cases with wellbeing as central aspects will be discussed with key learning points drawn from them. This course will cover what the Care Act Guidance states in respect of both subjects, will unpick the nine aspects of wellbeing, highlight the three components of the Prevention duty, namely prevent, reduce, delay and encourage practitioners to stretch their thinking in coming up with multiple examples of resources/options for each heading.

This course aims to examine positive approaches to risk and choices in asset care and support. It is rooted in the strength based focus of the Care Act which encourages workers to consider helping people to identify their assets (strengths, talents, gifts, connections and relationships) to mobilise them rather than to meet needs through the provision of traditional social care services such as residential or day care. The day provides the opportunity to explore the issues and their roles in a safe place so that they can reflect on what, culturally needs to change to embed asset based approaches in their practice. It draws on models of good practice from around the country explored through TLAP (Think Local, Act Personal and SCIE) and is an opportunity to reflect on, and embed local policy and procedure.

This course aims to explore what is meant by person centred planning, its implementation and evaluation and responses to the challenges the approach poses for practice

This course creates a basic awareness and understanding of issues regarding the Mental Capacity Act and procedures concerning Deprivation of Liberty

This course is designed to support staff working in community settings caring for palliative patients and those requiring end of life care. It will cover holistic assessment of physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs and consider the balance between potential benefit and burden of treatment. Symptom management to optimize quality of life and the need for clear, honest communication will be shared.

The Care Act 2014 aims to put people at the centre of their care and support and maximise their involvement. Helping people achieve the outcomes that matter in their lives is seen as essential to promoting wellbeing in the transition towards end of life. Advance Care Planning is critical to these outcomes.

This programme is a full comprehensive day covering the key principles and duties of the Care Act 2014, in relation to assessment, eligibility and care and support planning. The training is tailored accordingly to accommodate a mixed group of staff, including social workers, social care officers/support workers, occupational therapists and students. The training is supported by a comprehensive workbook comprising all slides, many with additional notes, plus case studies and a list of suggested Strengths Based Questions. The course will cover the person with care and support needs and carers equally throughout the day. The programme begins by looking at the background of the Care Act - a consolidation Act and covers the key philosophy and spirit of the Act including the emphasis on maximising choice and control harnessing the existing strengths within a person’s life and focusing throughout on what is important to that person. It continues with coverage of the core principles of wellbeing, the strengths based approach and personal outcomes, the key duties of Prevention, Information and Advice and Advocacy and Assessment, an emphasis on Think Family and how involvement can be maximised. Exercises include two quizzes, one on assessment, the other on eligibility and a case study to test out a range of strengths based questions and to reinforce the importance of identifying the person/carer’s personal outcomes. The eligibility section covers the 3 stage test for eligibility, focusing on significant impact. It includes unpicking some of the eligibility outcomes, working through specific and recent Ombudsmen cases and considering what questions need to be addressed. This section concludes with the importance of accurate recording, professional opinion and providing evidence. The remainder of the afternoon session will cover the essential components of the Care and Support Plan and include a quiz, refining the personal outcomes, clarifying what the Indicative Personal Budget is and the suggested conversation around it, understanding support options and the range of ways a Personal Budget can be taken, including how Direct Payments can be used, the three key principles (transparency, sufficiency and timeliness), Public Law Principles and adopting creative solutions through completing the case study from the morning session

This one day course gives participants the opportunity to explore the various facets of professional curiosity, including the reasons behind non compliance, guarding against the rule of optimism, ensuring a person’s maximum involvement in their own assessment and what gets in the way of professional curiosity. It then explores six areas, namely: Wellbeing, outcomes, wishes, preferences, values and beliefs Communication skills Legal literacy Achieving best practice in supported decision making Evidence and decision making Positive risk taking Supervision and looking after you A highly interactive course, it uses a number of case studies and small group exercises and draws on findings of a recent national safeguarding adults review analysis.

The strengths or asset based approach, which is mandated in the Care Act, is about focusing on what a person can do, rather than what they cannot do, it is a move away from considering needs to explore and maximise the person’s skills, relationships and resources. Engaging with the person at the centre, the practitioner’s role is to support the person to make the best decisions for them. It involves mapping what is available in the community, tapping into universal services to find what is right for the person and being as creative as possible to find solutions that best meet the person’s outcomes and enhance their wellbeing. The Care Act also highlights the importance of an individual defining their own personal outcomes related to what is important to them. These are distinct from eligibility outcomes defined under the Act. This one day Strength Based Approaches Training course looks at how the subject of supporting a person to define and record their outcomes during an assessment is done and how to adopt the strengths based approach by changing the questions asked. Examples and case studies from other authorities will be presented, using a range of materials. The course will explore the 3 conversations approach developed by Partners4Change and will provide an extensive list of potential questions for practitioners to consider and to adapt to their own practice.

The emphasis in the Care Act is that care and support planning should put a person in control of their care and that the person must be as actively involved, with support, as required, and influential as is possible. The person should know how their budget was calculated and feel confident that the personal budget is correct and sufficient to meet their care and support needs. Support planning is about considering options and solutions, strengths which have been identified and what is available in the person’s community. The plan needs to include the person’s outcomes, their assessed needs and assets, the input of any carers, how any outstanding needs will be met, the person’s own financial contribution, as applicable, and whether a direct payment will be taken

This programme gives delegates the opportunity to explore some of the key Care Act themes and principles in greater depth, for example addressing the question What does giving people choice really mean and require of you? It considers the shared duties and themes of the Care Act and the Mental Capacity Act and explores the need to understand how a person makes decisions in their life and what we need to do to support that person in decision making. A number of quizzes test knowledge of key Care Act duties. The day is split into 6 parts, wellbeing and outcomes, maximising choice and achieving best practice in supported decision making, duties, effective assessment, eligibility determination and care and support planning, positive risk taking, evidence and decision making and reviews.

In this course, Delegates will be encouraged to explore their own feelings and responses to abuse whilst gaining an understanding of the definition of abuse, its forms and indicators, and their role in safeguarding adults. The course includes an Introduction to The Care Act 2014 and updates, local policies, and any other relevant Safeguarding legislation.

The key principle of Making Safeguarding Personal is to support and empower each adult to make choices and have control about how they want to live their own life. It is about responding to safeguarding situations in a way that enhances their involvement, choice and control, as well as improving their quality of life, wellbeing and safety. This course highlights ‘Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP)’ and what this means for practitioners and vulnerable adults alike. The course looks at how adults are involved at the very beginning, the middle and the end of their involvement with the services they are working with. The 6 principles are explored and how they fit within MSP. Also, in this very interactive course legislation under the Care Act, Human Rights Act and other relevant laws are covered and explored within MSP. Including sharing information with other authorities. The course ends with interview skills focused on how to interview to obtain the views, opinions, needs and wants of the adult, and not focused on the agency’s needs.

The aim of this course is to provide a good understanding of how to care for the dying, The learning will ensure participants: – Have a clear understanding of End of life care – Are able to demonstrate effective communication – Understand and state the principles of delivering bad news – Explain palliative care and person centred planning

Continuing Care is care provided over an extended period to an adult to meet a person’s physical and mental health needs due to disability, accident or illness. An individual who needs continuing care may require services from NHS bodies and/or Local Authorities. Where it has been assessed that the individual’s primary need is a health need, which can be provided in any setting, a complete package of on-going care is arranged and funded solely by the NHS. The eligibility for NHS Continuing Health Care is based on an individual’s assessed health needs and is not disease specific. Where a person has some needs requiring a health intervention and others requiring a social care solution, a split package of care can be arranged. The aim of this one day course is to increase knowledge of the various components of the CHC assessment process from the completion of the CHC checklist, the Health Needs Assessment and the Decision Support Tool to enable all practitioners involved to confidently arrive at a joint decision.

The course is designed to enable participants to develop a working knowledge of the importance of understanding and managing challenging behaviours in a variety of different workplaces.

The aim of this Care Act Compliant Carers Assessments Training course is to enable staff to identify carers and to confidently undertake an assessment and support planning of carers needs

This 1.5 training day Care Act Refresher Training for practitioners will cover a refresher on the key aspects and principles of the Care Act, including involving the person as much as possible during the process which highlights a number of key duties. It will look at the link between the Act and how this is translated into effective practice and explores a range of aspects in relation to good assessment and good care and support planning. The course will consider what different types of information can be used in evidence, the factors to take into account when formulating a professional opinion and examine defensible decision making. Linked to this will be a session on what constitutes ethical and effective recording. The training will finish with looking at handling difficult conversations and promoting self-resilience. The sessions are highly participative with delegates working in small groups on a range of case studies, exercises and quizzes. The programme for managers will have the same overall programme but will focus on how they can ensure their respective team members meet the objectives and consistently achieve legal compliance and high standards of practice.

The Care Act reinforced many of the overarching principles of assessment and highlighted the importance of an individual being supported to be as fully involved in the process as they are able to be. Aspects such as supported self-assessment and the new legal duty around advocacy reinforce this principle. The strengths or asset based approach, mandated in the Act, is about focusing on what a person can do, rather than what they cannot do, it is a move away from considering needs initially to exploring the person’s skills, relationships and resources. The Care Act also highlights the importance of an individual defining their own personal outcomes related to what is important to them. These are distinct from eligibility outcomes defined under the Act. The important principle of wellbeing was introduced alongside new duties of Prevention and Information. The Act strengthens the rights and recognition of carers. The eligibility criteria, which from 2003 until the introduction of the Care Act had been set out under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) guidance, was replaced by a national eligibility threshold (one for customers and a separate one for carers) comprising three requirements including whether, as a consequence of the person’s needs and outcomes, there is a significant impact on their wellbeing.

The strengths or asset based approach, which is mandated in the Care Act, is about focusing on what a person can do, rather than what they cannot do, it is a move away from considering needs to explore and maximise the person’s skills, relationships and resources. Engaging with the person at the centre, the practitioner’s role is to support the person to make the best decisions for them. It involves mapping what is available in the community, tapping into universal services to find what is right for the person and being as creative as possible to find solutions that best meet the person’s outcomes and enhance their wellbeing. The Care Act also highlights the importance of an individual defining their own personal outcomes related to what is important to them. These are distinct from eligibility outcomes defined under the Act. This one day Strengths Based Approaches Training course looks at how the subject of supporting a person to define and record their outcomes during an assessment is done and how to adopt the strengths based approach by changing the questions asked. Examples and case studies from other authorities will be presented, using a range of materials. The course will explore the 3 conversations approach developed by Partners4Change and will provide an extensive list of potential questions for practitioners to consider and to adapt to their own practice.