New inspections raise the bar on dementia care
03 June 2008
A new report published today raises the bar on the care of
people with dementia living in care homes.
A new way of inspecting, used by CSCI inspectors for the first
time, focuses on the needs of people who cannot easily communicate
and gets under the skin of the real relationship between staff and
the people they care for. Using the new technique, inspectors
observed the interactions between staff and people with dementia in
100 care homes across England.
Launching the report, See me, not just the dementia:
Understanding people’s experiences of living in a care home, CSCI
Chair Dame Denise Platt said:
“People with dementia are often unable to communicate easily.
This new way of inspecting, developed in partnership with the
University of Bradford, is unique, and lets us look beyond the
surface of routine care practice to understand people’s emotional
well-being, and how staff relate to them.
“This is helping us to raise the bar and drive improvements in
the quality of care for people with dementia. We have developed the
new inspection technique in partnership with the University of
Bradford.”
CSCI Chief Inspector Paul Snell added:
“The quality of life for people with dementia living in care
homes is hugely affected by the way in which care staff communicate
and empathise with them.
“Much depends on a care home’s leadership and ethos, and the
quality of training and support given to staff.”
CSCI’s study will contribute to the forthcoming Government
consultation on dementia that will have high quality care as a key
objective.
Notes for Editors
- Inspectors used a new method called SOFI (A Short Observational
Framework for Inspection), to watch the interaction between people
with dementia and care home staff. SOFI is based on Dementia Care
Mapping first developed by Tom Kitwood and recognised as a powerful
way of evaluating the quality of care from the perspective of the
person with dementia.
- The report published today: See me, not just the dementia:
Understanding people’s experiences of living in a care home is
available on CD-ROM as well as on paper. The CD version contains a
number of video clips of interviews with people with dementia, care
staff, inspectors and others talking about their experiences.
- Find out more
about the 'See me, not just the dementia' report
- CSCI is the inspectorate for adults’ social care in England,
responsible for regulating and inspecting all social care providers
- whether in the public or independent sector, and for assessing
the performance of local councils in delivering their adults’
social services functions. The Commission’s primary aim is to
improve social care by putting the needs of people who use care
services first. The Commission is chaired by Dame Denise Platt DBE
and has five Commissioners. The Chief Inspector is Paul Snell.
Media contacts
- Andy Keast-Marriott: 020 7979 2093
- Ray Veasey: 020 7979 2094
- Chris Salter: 020 7979 2089