Focussing on Care Homes.

If you are working in a Care Home on Scotland last week was quite important because the Care Inspectorate has announced that they are changing how they are going to inspect care homes for older people. Their new inspections will reflect the new Health and Social Care Standards and will focus more on outcomes and experiences for people. More details about the new regime for inspections are available from the Quality Framework for Care Homes for Older People which you can finds by clicking HERE

You can also find out what’s changing by watching their short video

 

Also at the end of last month the RCN launched an online resource to support nursing care in older peoples care homes. This resource allows you to follow a resident’s care home journey through from pre-admission to end of life. Each section demonstrates the role of nursing staff when supporting the resident, their families and nursing colleagues at a particular stage of the resident’s journey. It also provides real life scenarios signposting you to high quality, evidence based resources to answer the clinical questions that frequently affecting those caring for older people. You can check it out by CLICKING HERE

 

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Older People’s Events During Edinburgh Festival Time!

In Scotland, the world’s biggest arts festival starts today. As always I’ll spend some time through there over the month and try and take in some shows/events etc. with my family.

So what might be worth seeing that focuses on Older People? Well, these aren’t my recommendations this list comes from Luminate, Scotland’s creative ageing organisation, which runs a diverse programme of creative events and activities throughout the year. So they know better than me what to see. So here is their list of recommendations.

What to See in Edinburgh 2018

I’m intrigued by one in particular… Who Do You Want to Wipe Your Bum?

Which features Dr Anna Schneider of Edinburgh Napier University highlighting a few things worth thinking about; considering you’ve got an 80% chance of needing care at the end of your life.

I suspect she will have to say something about this Global Health Workforce Labor Market Projections for 2030

Global Disability Summit 2018

In London on 24th July, the first-ever Global Disability Summit, co-hosted by the UK and Kenya Governments and the International Disability Alliance took place. The Summit aims to bring attention to the rights of people with disability. Organisers and delegates hope to mobilise new global and national commitments on disability while showcasing good practice, innovation and evidence from across the world. The four main themes of the Summit were

1. Dignity and respect for all
2. Inclusive Education
3. Economic Empowerment
4. Harnessing Technology and Innovation

OK, so why am I drawing you attention to this? Let’s take a closer look.

Globally, people over the age of 60 account for at least 38 per cent of the population living with disability. In developing countries, this figure jumps to over 43 per cent. According to the World Health Organization and the World Bank, the prevalence of disability also increases significantly with age. Crucially, women are more affected that men in relation to disability as there with a much higher number of women living longer with disability then men. People with disability have been marginalised in society throughout history and being older with disability can make you almost invisible.

The summit’s goal is to create a charter for change that governments and organisations can sign up to. A copy of the 10 points for change and a list of the governments and organisation that have signed up to them can be found on the Summit’s Charter for Change page.  You can also download the charter in a number of formats from that page.

Slipped Under the Radar: More Evidence of Workplace Ageism (and a Video!)

So, who noticed in amongst all the fuss over a President having a game of golf a hotel he owns in Scotland and a Prime Minister trying to pretend that she is not being stabbed in the back, that a new report was released from the UK Government’s “Women and Equalities Committee”.

Their new report published this week, called “Older People and Employment” found that the situation across the UK as “unacceptable”. Currently, more than one million people over 50 are unemployed and the Committee said that the Government needed to be clearer that prejudice, casual ageism and even unconscious bias against older people continue to be unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. They went on to criticise the continued lack of enforcement of laws to prevent ageism at work. Delia Henry, Age Scotland’s Director said in the Herald and repeated on Radio Scotland that…

 “…this report is eye opening but sadly its conclusions are unsurprising. The overwhelming majority of businesses and employers in Scotland do not have an age strategy and as such will struggle to get the best out of the workforce. Older workers add tremendous value to the workplace but are too often faced with unfair bias and less opportunity as they get older. This must change.”

Well, I am not one to disagree with that.

Now a total change of topic. If you have never heard of Professor Richard Wiseman then this is a brief introduction. He is the Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom and is one of my heroes because he wrote the only self-help book for everyone that might be worth reading. It’s called “59 Seconds: Think a Little Change a Lot”

So this is his latest venture. He recently teamed up with the folks at Business Insider to make this short video containing science-based tips on how to be more productive and a better leader. Three minutes of simple genius!

More New Guidance from NICE and the Importance of Healthcare Quality.

Last month it was NG 97: Dementia, this month an equally important one NICE Guideline 100: Rheumatoid arthritis in adults: management

As with Dementia, the flowchart has also been updated making it easy to follow.

At the same time, they have also updated the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality Standard (now Q33) which has 7 recommendations that it would be worth becoming aware of. Rheumatoid Arthritis affects over 400,000 people in the UK making it one of the most prevalent long-term conditions health professionals see. If you need to know more about rheumatoid arthritis its worth looking at the NHS Direct entry which you can see by Clicking Here

In the wake of the celebrations to mark #NHS70 and in the light of recent negative publicity about the health of the NHS, it’s probably a good time to mention this.  A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank has claimed low-quality healthcare services are holding back progress on improving health in countries at all income levels. (i.e. the NHS is not alone in the problems its facing).

te report highlights that 1 in 10 patients is adversely affected during treatment in high-income countries. Adherence to clinical practice guidelines in eight low- and middle-income countries was below 50 per cent in several instances. Also, 10% of hospitalised patients in low- and middle-income can expect to acquire an infection during their stay, as compared to 7% in high-income countries. The report outlines the steps health services, health workers, governments, citizens and patients needed to take to improve healthcare quality. It would be a shame to let this important report slip under the radar because of #TrumpVisitUK and the Brexit mess. See:

OECD/WHO/World Bank Group (2018). Delivering Quality Health Services: A Global Imperative. World Health Organization. Geneva, Switzerland.

DOI:10.1787/9789264300309-en.

Hello from Manchester’s @BSGManchester2018 #BSG2018

 

So this week I am at the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Conference 2018. I don’t think that I have ever been to a larger Conference and there is so much in the Conference Programme that it is almost big enough to require a wheelbarrow!

Anyway, later today I am speaking with Becky Moran the Care Home Educational Facilitator (CHEF) from NHS Lanarkshire talking about the BSG study day we held back in August 2017. See This Link for our report to Ageing Issues

At the conference the following has been announced that other people might be interested in.

Firstly, the Centre for Better Ageing at https://www.ageing-better.org.uk/ is releasing a new report today called Home Adaptations: A Typical Journey, which explores personal and professional perspectives on home adaptations. Go to the website and download it.

Secondly, Ageing and Society have released some full-text versions of some of its most interesting articles online. There are a range of topics so if you want to take a look at what is available see www.cambridge.org/ASO-BSG18

Finally, the Centre for Policy on Ageing has pooled together some of its Information Resources. An interesting one to look at is called “Policies on Ageing” which is an online resource providing easy access to government policy documents and key national reports and briefings that are raising the profile of issues around the support of older people and an ageing population. See:

www.cpa.org.uk/cpa/policies_on_ageing

Hope you find something interesting.

 

Happy Birthday to #ourNHS70

The NHS celebrates its 70th Birthday on Thursday 5th of July 2018. I am not going to bang on about how wonderful it is. Lots of people will do that. If you need reminding see: The History of the NHS in Charts and #ourNHS70

Lots of things to watch out for this week as a result.

The NHS: To Provide all People is a good starting point. This is a film poem that charts the emotional and philosophical map of what defines the NHS and the personal experiences at the heart of the service and recognises its achievements and the challenges it faces. Based on real interviews conducted with NHS staff.

The BBC centrepiece of the season was NHS 70 Live, a 90-minute event broadcast live from a hospital on BBC Two. Hosted by Nick Robinson and Anita Rani. The programme asked some of the big questions about the NHS today and its future. Drawing on landmark independent research from four leading think tanks, the programme gave audiences a chance to contribute to the wider conversation around the NHS.

More details of what can be found on the BBC related to the NHS at 70 can be found here

The highlights on ITV include the NHS Heroes Awards and A&E Live. Their programme line-up can be found at ITV marks NHS70

Well that’s enough on Telly and catch-up to keep you busy for quite a while!  Don’t forget there ar also many local events. On Thurday I’ll be in Manchester at the #BGS2018 Conference “Ageing in an Unequal World” conference. Say hello to me if you are there as well.