Teaching Care Homes

Creating Excellence in Care Through Learning and Innovation

In2 016, Care England was given a grant by the Department of Health to develop the concept of a Teaching Care Home. The Teaching Care Homes pilot programme aims to create centres of care that demonstrate excellence and innovation in nurse-led care and where the learning environment benefits staff and students.

Deborah Sturdy, Visiting Professor at Bucks New University and Honorary Nursing Advisor to Care England, comments:

‘The social care workforce provides complex care for thousands of people living in long term care settings. It is imperative that nurses and care workers share and learn together; we need to raise the bar.  Care home nursing teams deliver complex, skilled care in nurse led units across the country.  The development of Teaching Care Home is one way in which we can change the narrative of nursing and how it is perceived.  At a time when it is hard to recruit and retain nurses the Teaching Care Home is a way in which we can help encourage nurses into the sector by creating confidence about their roles, prominence in the wider nursing community and influence the next generation of the profession.’

As part of this pilot, The Foundation of Nursing Studies (FoNS) is leading a programme of learning and support to help five care home teams to become recognised as ‘flagship homes’, centres of excellence in person-centred care where learning and innovation is a continuous process. These centres will be supportive places for staff to work, where they feel valued and confident to take responsibility for care, learning and innovation. Residents and families will experience care that is centred on their needs.

The five homes from across England taking part in the pilot programme are:

·       Millbrook Lodge, Orders of St John CareTrust in Gloucestershire

·       Rose Court, HC-One in Bury

·       Berwick Grange, MHA in Harrogate

·       Lady Sarah Cohen House, Jewish Care inBarnet

·       Chester Court, Barchester in Bedlington

Working with FoNS, the five care home teams have created a draft vision for a Teaching Care Home and we would now like to share this and to widen the debate.

Draft Vision Download

In our first Tweet Chat on 10^th January 2017 at 8pm, we would like to consider person-centredness in care homes and how this can be realised for both residents and staff.

In our second Tweet Chat on 2^nd February2017 at 8pm, we would like to explore how we can create vibrant learning environments within care homes.

These Tweet Chats will be followed by a series of round table discussions, culminating in the co-creation of a vision of a Teaching Care Home that can be shared and used as a focal point for discussions, evaluation and/or developments within homes in the future.

For further information about Teaching Care Homes go to:

·     http://www.careengland.org.uk/teaching-care-home 

·     http://www.fons.org/programmes/care-sector.aspx?page=teaching

A microsite for the care sector has been developed and hosted by Nursing Times:

http://www.nursingtimes.net/careengland/care-sector-resources

For further information about FoNS go to:

www.fons.org

About our guest hosts

Dr Theresa Shaw

Chief Executive

Foundation of Nursing Studies

NursD, BA (Hons) Nursing Education, RNT, RN

Theresa is passionate about nursing and enabling nurses to flourish as caring, knowledgeable and skilled practitioners. As CEO, she is proud of the work FoNS has contributed to this and to developing nursing practice and improving patient experience of care. Theresa has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years. She worked in the NHS for 17 years during which time her experience spanned clinical nursing, nurse education and practice development. Whilst her clinical expertise lies in the field of cardio-thoracic nursing, Theresa has worked with and supported nurses and nurse-led teams across health and social care practice. She has held several External Examiner positions for academic institutions and chaired the NICE Guideline Development Group for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Theresa is part of editorial team for the International Practice Development Journal and a member of both the RCN Nursing Advisory Group and the RCNi Editorial Advisory Board; she is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Canterbury Christ Church University, England, UK. Theresa is regularly invited to speak locally and nationally on enabling practice based development and research in nursing, transformation and leadership and in 2014 was proud to be named on the inaugural Nursing Times Leaders List, celebrating the most inspirational role models in nursing.