How can providers work with families to improve care outcomes?
While providers’ focus should undoubtedly remain on delivering person-centred care, the importance of drawing on family expertise cannot be underestimated and should not be dismissed. Skills for Care’s framework for adult social care employers outlines four central themes for ensuring successful working relationships with the families of people receiving care.
Put your best foot forward
Establishing a positive rapport with families from the outset lays the foundation for the delivery of quality services with the preferences of the cared-for person at the heart of decision making. Simple yet effective actions to achieve this could include making timely contact with families to allow for plenty of time for planning and offering to visit families in person to discuss any concerns. This may help to strengthen relationships in the early stages.
In what can be a time-sensitive situation for families who may have already contacted another member of your team for an initial discussion, it makes sense to check what information you may already have about the cared-for person and the family to avoid repeated discussions and dedicate as much time as possible to forming a strong relationship.
Respect family dynamics
It is always possible that the cared-for person may not wish for family members to be involved in some or any aspect of service delivery. Avoid assumptions about typical family structures and roles and discuss in as much detail as you can with the cared-for person about the nature of their family relationships and how they will determine care planning.
The cared-for person lacking mental capacity to make decisions for themselves must also be considered. As well as working in line with relevant legislation and guidance, it is undoubtedly important to establish which family members, if any, will be best placed to contribute their skills and experience to assist care planning and delivery.
Communication is key
Strong and frequent communication will likely underpin most positive working relationships between providers and the families of the people they care for. By keeping channels of communication open, each party provides itself with the opportunity to learn from the other. Care providers can offer up their expertise to fill in any blanks that families may have in relation to their loved one’s condition and families can impart invaluable information about the cared-for person to the provider.
This may be especially helpful if the cared-for person lacks capacity to communicate themselves. Communication between providers and families should be mutually beneficial.
Part of the family
The process of working with the families of cared-for people can be as delicate as it can be fulfilling. While all providers would wish for harmonious relationships between themselves, the cared-for person and their family, conflicts may arise and/or some family members may need support to cope with their involvement in care delivery. Agreeing your role and establishing boundaries with family members from the outset, while also being aware of how this may need to change to suit an individual’s ongoing care needs, is vital to preserving positive working relationships with families.
Signposting families to relevant information and advice in situations where you may not be best placed to offer help could provide a lifeline for families who may be struggling with their situation. On the contrary, family members may wish to undertake training or enhance their skillset to further contribute to care delivery. It makes sense to have an up-to-date record of external service providers to fall back on, or perhaps investigate if it’s possible to provide training opportunities yourself.
We’ve just seen the seventh annual Co-production Week take place. This is an important time for SCIE because it’s our chance to celebrate and highlight the unique contribution that people who draw on services make to social care. Co-production helps develop better public services by putting people at the heart of decisions made about them. It’s not about people ‘participating’ in things like consultations. You wouldn’t go into a café and be told that you’re drinking coffee when you want tea. We’ve discovered a growing appetite for co-production. During Co-production Week, we heard from organisations across the country sponsoring their own events. SCIE produced a webinar on developing our understanding of the difference co-production makes in social care, and nearly 300 people attended. And the 10 blogs we hosted were from Bradford to Hampshire. Our updated guide on what co-production is – and how to do it – was the most popular item in our recent newsletter. During Co-production Week, we hosted a podcast where two people who draw on services in Suffolk explained how they used their voices to support changes to local health services, making them more efficient for providers and people who receive care. Their unique perspective was listened to and acted upon. Designing services is only one aspect of co-production. Services need to be monitored and assessed for their outcomes and impact. That’s why, for instance, the Care Quality Commission has ‘Experts by Experience’ accompanying its inspections, to give the perspective of the people accessing services. Despite co-production’s evident popularity, more is needed to realise its potential for people who draw on care and support. For instance, Valerie, a family carer from Doncaster, told us that she thinks services are still very much service-centred, with personalised care missing out. She says co-production is very good ‘on paper’ because there’s a ‘good framework’, but more is needed to translate co-production into tangible improvements. Fundamentally, co-production is about understanding people’s preferences and lived experiences to deliver better, more personalised care. As we mark the successes of this year’s Co-production Week, we look forward to advancing co-production principles and practices with our sector partners over the coming year. Kathryn Smith, Chief Executive, Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
Our teams try to involve family members and relatives as much as we can. We find that communication is vital to give reassurance to residents and relatives that we are consistently providing excellent, high-quality professional care. We have regular meetings and care reviews giving relatives and families the chance to ask questions, hear about what’s going on in the organisation and forge strong working relationships with our care professionals. Understanding the lives that our residents lived before they came into care is key to ensuring that people are cared for in a meaningful way. We ask for the help of the wider family members to engage with us and tell us as many details as possible so we can understand as much as we can about a person. This open communication helps staff to get to know a resident and their families and in turn can result in caring interactions and the forming of relationships. We also call on relatives and families to offer reassurance and support to our care teams, especially for care with a resident living with dementia. This collaborative working can result in meaningful care for the resident. We want to continually improve at Jewish Care so we use a rigorous spectrum of quality assurance where we ask all stakeholders to tell us what we do well and how we can improve. This helps us sustain positive working relationships and allows us room to grow, understand expectations and use feedback, continuously monitoring and working within the legislative framework. We have recently launched an innovative project with our volunteers who work with residents and their families to give live feedback instead of completing a survey. This is an excellent way to encourage a safe place to talk and can often yield more fruitful responses than filling in a form. We have also started in-person meetings with relatives and multi-disciplinary clinical teams. We share information about relevant news, questions and answers and most importantly, bonding between the teams delivering care and the advocates for cared-for people. This has developed relationships and built trust. We always want to improve every aspect of care for our residents and make care a positive journey for our relatives and families. We will continue to strive towards these goals in an ever-changing landscape of care. Rachel Jones, Director of Care, Housing and Hospitality, Jewish Care
Interesting, helpful articles allowing for further thought.