This week, we continue our series looking at how to open a Care Agency and consider the third of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Five Key Domains: providing a caring service. This follows on from the previous two blogs, where we consider the first two key domains, covering provision of a safe and effective service. If you’ve not read these or earlier blogs about how to register with the CQC and some of the business fundamentals of running a care service, I’d recommend taking a few minutes to read these before going on with today’s blog.
Key domain 3: caring
According to the CQC, a caring service is one in which staff treat service users with “compassion, kindness, dignity and respect”. This may sound so obvious it should not need further explanation: the industry is, after all, called the care sector. Unfortunately, we are all familiar with the horror stories of neglect and abuse that make this blog a necessary one. So how do you ensure that your care business is caring?
To start, it is important to view your service holistically. As a new start-up, your most important asset will be the staff your recruit – no matter what role they fill. We know from various studies that arranging care for a loved one is one of the most difficult decisions a family will face. It is therefore vital that ‘caring’ is evident from their very first contact with your business and continues throughout the process, even if, in the end, you are unable to provide a service.
Every interaction between your business and current and prospective residents or services users, their families or representatives is an opportunity to gain their confidence in your ability to provide a service. But the opposite is also true, and trust is more easily lost than gained. A well-trained, professional, courteous and knowledgeable staff will ensure that these interactions are handled in a way that builds up the relationship.
How to open a Care Agency: no detail is too small.
A professional telephone response is a prerequisite, as most first contact will come this way. A voice is often amplified when heard on the phone and a distracted (or worse) attitude is easily noticed. Such an attitude gives away an ‘uncaring’ service and will cost you dearly.
No hands are better than the wrong hands: it is an old adage but still very much relevant today. It could be the saving of you and your business reputation, and provides the best foundation to build your business on. It applies to all you recruit, for all jobs. The simple truth is that you cannot pay people to care; they have to feel it, whether though personal experience, or a kind and caring nature. It is through your people that you will build ‘care’ into the core of your business.
Compassion, kindness, dignity and respect
These are powerful words, easily said, not so easily lived. What does each entail?
Compassion
Compassion is best described as the sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress, together with a desire to alleviate it. It is this active component of compassion that differentiates it from pity, concern, sensitivity and empathy. When others keep their distance from those who suffer, compassion prompts action on their behalf.
Kindness
Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous and consistent. Affection, gentleness, warmth, concern and care are all traits of kindness. It can sometimes be seen as weakness or naivety; in reality, kindness can require great courage and strength of character.
Dignity
Dignity covers all aspects of daily life, including privacy, autonomy, self-worth and self-determination. What is very clear is that people know when they have been treated in a way that damages their dignity through inappropriate interpersonal behaviours or inhumane systems and processes.
Respect
Respect in the context of care, means due regard for the feelings, wishes and rights of others, as conferred by the Human Rights Act 1998. This legislation, which transposed the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law, sets out the basic human rights we are all entitled to and provides British courts the power to remedy breaches of these rights.
Conclusion: caring to the core
Compassion. Kindness. Dignity, Respect. These are core to the delivery of a quality service. Recruitment, training and the setting of standards and values for your business should all pay heed to these qualities. As the business owner, you should seek to personify them. Because, ultimately, commitment (of lack thereof) to these four qualities will define the growth and development of your business within (or in violation of) the CQC regulatory framework.
As part of W&P’s offering to those you wish to open a care agency, our care agency policies and procedures packages, with associated forms, provide an accessible template for establishing a caring practice. We also offer a Care Agency Business Start-up Package that provides support, necessary guidance and direction to help you get started as a business with CQC compliance.
Join us again next week for a different perspective on the fourth key domain: providing a responsive service.
Margaret Ross Sands
Business Support Director
Margaret has over 30 years of experience in Health & Social care having worked in various local authorities in England holding senior positions in Contracting, Commissioning, and Operationally for the LA’s own in house Care Service. She has a deep knowledge of Adult Social Care and is our main policy lead in terms of keeping up to date with the latest government legislation, case law and good practice guidance. On leaving the statutory sector Margaret… Read Margaret’s Full Bio
