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  5. Communication & Information Management in Adult Care
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  7. Establish effective monitoring systems for communication within services

Establish effective monitoring systems for communication within services

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This page is designed to answer the following questions:

NOTE: This page has been quality assured for 2023 as per our Quality Assurance policy.

For this assessment criterion, you will be required to establish effective communication and information delivery systems for staff and others using adult care services. Some of the areas that you will need to consider are included below.

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Staff induction processes and procedures

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When a new member of staff joins an organisation or department, they will need to learn the practical aspects of how they perform their role and fulfil their responsibilities. For example, they will need to learn where Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is stored, who they should report concerns to and how they can access organisational policies and procedures. In addition, employees new to care will need to complete the Care Certificate during the induction process to ensure that they have the knowledge, skills and understanding to perform their role competently and confidently.

As a manager and leader, you will need systems in place to ensure that all staff members receive a comprehensive and consistent induction. You may need to have information delivery systems in place to ensure that the knowledge they require to complete the Care Certificate is accessible to all new starters – this could be online training or even signposting them to DSDWEB.

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You will also need to have systems in place to record the induction activities of new employees and monitor them to ensure that they are adequately trained. Quality assurance audit processes, feedback and performance management issues may help to identify areas where the induction process could be improved.

Staff supervision across all staff teams irrespective of employment hours

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All staff should receive regular supervision irrespective of their employment hours so that they have a safe place to offload, report their concerns and discuss their performance. Formal supervision is a legal requirement under Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and should always be recorded to evidence compliance and hold both team members and managers accountable for what has been agreed.

Therefore, systems must be in place to record, store and retrieve supervision records. These systems should allow only an authorised person access to supervision records to respect the confidentiality of each employee. In addition, you will have a written policy and procedure for the supervision process, which all managers will be expected to follow.

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Mentoring/coaching opportunities

Coaching and mentoring opportunities can be an important part of continuing professional development (CPD) within an organisation. As well as providing a channel of support to team members, they can also be used to share knowledge and experiences as well as promote learning opportunities.

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If your organisation has a coaching/mentoring program or intends to initiate one, information systems must be established to record and monitor their efficacy. This will usually be recorded within an individual’s CPD file, but feedback from staff that have been involved in the program can also be used to assess performance. This record will also be used to evidence the team member’s training and development over time.

Training events – internal and external

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Similarly, both in-house training and training provided by external agencies should be documented in each staff member’s CPD file to keep a record of their historic learning and development. Many organisations maintain a ‘skills matrix’ to quickly identify which employees have training or experience in particular areas and areas where there is a ‘skills gap’.

Individual and team goal setting in supporting positive outcomes

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Managers and team members will collaborate to agree on individual and team goals that support positive outcomes. These goals should be agreed upon using the SMART process so that they are attainable and clear.

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Realistic
  • Timely
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Systems should be in place to record these goals and ensure that they are monitored regularly to review progress and make modifications if necessary.

Action planning e.g. care planning, recovery planning, support planning

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Following goal setting, action plans will be developed to specify what actions will be taken to achieve the objectives. For longer projects, time-bound milestones may be set at regular intervals. Again, by having systems to record the action plans, there will be evidence and accountability for what has been agreed.

Risk assessment

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Risk assessments must be documented to provide an audit trail and evidence that they have been performed. This also makes them accessible to others that may need to understand and follow them, however (as with all records that may contain private data) they should be securely stored and there should be systems in place to prevent unauthorised access.

The manager will also need to ensure that there are effective monitoring systems to ensure that team members are following risk assessment policies and procedures correctly and within the legislative framework (see The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999). These monitoring processes may identify areas where team members require additional training related to risk assessment.

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Review current policies in line with legislative and regulatory requirements

All policies should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they still adhere to legislative and regulatory requirements. As a manager, you will need to keep up to date with changes in legislation and regulation to ensure that policies are amended to reflect any new requirements. For example, the Coronavirus Act 2020 eased some of the obligations that local authorities had under the Care Act 2014 and so policies were revised to reflect this.

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Therefore, staying informed with the latest industry news is essential to identify any changes that may need to be made to policy and practice. You may do this by subscribing to email lists, websites or magazines that provide this information or using external services, like ‘Quality Compliance Systems’ to manage document compliance automatically.

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