Tools and resources

“We will support care providers by encouraging positive changes that will actively raise the standard of care, each care provider is responsible for listening and acting upon concerns raised which benefits the care being provided. Nightingales Army is here to raise awareness about the concerns that are being expressed and unaddressed”

Here we provide you with a selection of tools and resources for yours staff and colleagues. We advise care providers to implement the best range of tools and resources for their team to gain better motivation and production.  Staff who are given the best equipment will use it to their ability and be proud of the work they achieve because of this.

Care Certificate

The Care Certificate replaced the National Minimum Training Standards (NMTS) and the Common Induction Standards (CIS) and provides the framework for these within Health and Social Care. As a care provider you must ensure all your staff complete the care certificate within the first 12 weeks of starting their new role. 

The Care Certificate is not accredited as a qualification and we often find companies will not accept new employees with a completed care certificate from their previous employer. The new staff member, will be asked to resit the care certificates 15 modules in their own time. Even if they have a certificate in place. We find this to be extremely counterproductive and discriminative of the care staff who have already completed this work previously, some may refuse all together. The outcome of this is, a reduced effort overall given by the care staff, feeling as if their work is already undervalued and disregarded as not good enough by their new employer. For this to happen at the very beginning of the working relationship lays the pathway for a commitment return from the staff member of a very low standard and assumption that the employer does not consider that individual a valued member of the team.

We advise all care providers and employers to give new employees the same equal opportunity and respect as the current retained employees, to use their previous training and care certificate as a portfolio of their knowledge and understanding of their job role. Refer to Skills for care for advice if unsure on the current requirements for the care certificate.

We believe the time, commitment and passion of a care assistants role wasted on resitting care certificates could be put back into the service provided for those in need of care improving the consistency of the services. Removing the duty from employers and governing the distribution of care certificates in a educational environment we can ensure care certificates are completed in a timely manner without the need for a resit in preparation for the individual to begin a career in care. We wish to standardize the care certificate and make it mandatory.

tax, forms, income

Nightingales Army have spoken to Skills for care directly in relation to Endorsement of the care certificate and how we can purpose to make the qualification recognized and mandatory. We aim to use the care certificate in our training (coming in the near future)

My care matters

Zoe has provided us with an introduction video – Thank you Zoe.

We promote the use of my care matters flip charts. These charts are beneficial to care providers and their team because they provide a clear, brief understanding of the individual in the care setting, they can be a line of support for agency staff who are unable to access care plans. They can give information that would be otherwise unknown, which can be used as a conversation starter, that can benefit both service users and staff well-being.

We promote the use of my care matters online tool. where you can create or retrieve a profile.

  • As a member of the public you can prepare a profile of your non-medical information so that if you need care in hospital, care home or at home, staff are aware of your needs and preferences.
  • As a care provider you can prepare profiles for your residents / clients to ensure their needs and preferences are available to all staff, and easily share information if they need a stay in hospital.
  • As a POA you can access a  patient’s profile on the my care matters page.

Embed Mycarematters into the day-to-day life of your wards to help staff deliver truly person-centred care.

We promote the use of the my future care handbook. By providing clear and concise information with practical tasks, action lists and forms to complete, the Handbook offers a gentle and nonthreatening way to start a really important conversation. After all, despite some people’s belief to the contrary, talking about it really doesn’t make it more likely to happen! 

NACAS

We met Paul, the founder of NACAS though networking in 2020, due to the restrictions of Coivd we had to do introductions via Zoom. We are very pleased to unite and to have the opportunity to share his company with you, so you can to utilize this service, it’s benefits and rewards. As a carer or health care professional NACAS can give you further guidance and advice on: employment and immigration legal advice, online training and professional development, mental health, well-being and much more.

NACAS benefits: including their different membership options. At nightingales Army we feel the different options and benefits offered through NACAS can support a wide range of carers in different areas and with different annual rates suitable for all. Have a look at NACAS Membership page here.

We have been given permission to share NACAS survey results with you and wish to thank Paul and his team for their hard work and commitment to raising awareness and promoting great care service. 

“Between 30th July and August 7th, 2020, the National Association of Care & Support Workers conducted a short survey entitled Professionalism & Parity in Social Care. The principal aim of the survey was to gauge the level of understanding among care workers of what being a professional meant to them. It also asked questions around training and what they felt was meant about parity with our healthcare colleagues.”

Click here to see: NACAS – Survey Results Summary

“NACAS is a membership organisation and professional body run by and for care and support workers.

Our philosophy is that care workers deserve to be respected, supported and recognized for the amazing work they do, and that no care worker should ever feel alone.  

At NACAS we are proud that we have a reputation for providing  professional services, personal development opportunities and support for our members and elevating care working as a highly skilled profession.” – NACAS what we do.

Following in the footsteps of giants.

The road to professionalising Care Workers.

Paul Featherstone

Founder- National Association of Care & Support Workers

It is often perceived that care working is carried out by those who cannot get a “proper” job, by those who are too old, too stupid, as they either dropped out of education or did not get a raft of A+ exam results, unable to do anything else, that it is easy to get a job in care, that anyone can do it, single mums become care workers because it’s the only thing on offer.

Those of us who do the job, will know that the reality of just how difficult being a care worker is.

However, the modern-day perception of care working is nothing new.

Until the mid-nineteenth century nursing was not an activity which was thought to demand either skill or training. Nor did it command respect, sound familiar?

Read the full article here: NACAS – The road to care work as profession

Nightingales Army – Thanks Paul for allowing us to share the article you have written.

Log my care E-Documentation

  • Log my Care is an award-winning care planning software company that was developed by Carers for Carers and has been specifically designed to overcome the challenging amounts of administration and paperwork involved in delivering care.
  • We are the only care planning software company with a free product – our Core software is totally free to use so you don’t have to worry about choosing between going digital or going over budget.
  • We offer free 30-day trials of all of our modules so that you always get to try before you buy. 
  • We collect payment on a monthly basis so you’re never tied into long contracts.
  • We really value feedback from our community. They help us decide what features we build next through our request a feature board.
  •  We recently launched our new eMAR system to help our community members improve their medication administration.
  • We include care planning for relatives to add their own reports.

Nightingales Army, promotes the use of E-documentation. We strive to find the best companies for you to give you the chance to make a well educated decision on your care needs and where they are documented. E-documentation reduces the chance of lost paperwork, mistakes and errors. It shows the health care assistant who provided care to the individual that day and can be used in a court of law when required. We found this company to be cost effective and always working to improve their services. We found log my care to share the same values as Nightingales Army. To actively raise the standard of care.

Have an unanswered question? Contact us today and we will help you to find an answer.

Click here

Does your company recycle? – Recycling is very important as waste has a huge negative impact on the natural environment, recycling reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.  

Do you aim to reduce food waste and lower your output of landfill produce? – Preparing food correctly to the needs of the service users requirements can reduce a vast amount of food waste. Offering leftover food to staff for lunch promotes physical and mental well-being, staff feel rewarded.

Do you donate? Do you accept donations? Do you reuse? – Within a care setting equipment is required which can be costly for some, we find families often will offer donations when their relative no longer requires it. This can be extremely beneficial to others. 

What plan does your company have in place for the long term effect of the waste produce by your care setting? Both produced waste that ends up in landfills or generated waste from electrical items. Do you remind staff to switch off lights or are they automatic? Do TV’s and radios get switched off when the room is empty? Making these small changes can overall effect the outgoing of the homes expenses.

Other considerations: When washing clothes is the load over or under filled?  Do your staff uses continence aids correctly? Are they being used to their capacity or are they being under or incorrectly used and causing excess waste? Are your staff applying cream in the correct manner? Are they being stored and ordered correctly? All of these small contributions can overall dramatically change the output of the home or community’s waste. Nightingales Army intend to train on all these concerns to reduce waste in all areas.

These statistics are based on households this can only be amplified within the health care sector as individuals living at home will require the correct storage units and wastage bins to dispose of the times used and care homes are generally 28 bedrooms or more, within these homes the wastage output is high. 

A nursing or care home or community service can be quite diverse when it comes to waste. Forms of waste include:

  • Cytotoxic drugs and waste.
  • Used incontinence pads.
  • Medicinal waste from medications.
  • Used needles and sharps.
  • Pharmaceuticals, swabs and wound dressings.
  • Dental.
  • Food waste.
  • Clinical waste.
  • Cardboard waste.
  • Glass waste.
  • Garden waste.
  • Household waste.
  • Furniture.
  • Electrical items.

All storage and disposal procedures for hazardous materials are set out by a variety of acts, including the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Special Waste Regulation Act 1996 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). Further information about waste disposal Here

Safe disposal information and policy

Initial: Nursing and care facilities produce a variety of waste types, which can make the process of disposal confusing. Initial works closely with all kinds of nursing and care practices including care homes, nurseries and assisted living facilities, to ensure that your waste is correctly segregated. More information Here

  • Nightingales Army advises all care providers to supply the correct equipment to ensure all wastage output is segregated correctly. All areas of waste should be clearly labeled. Hazardous waste should be securely locked away from service users, we find in most cases this is not the case and staff will leave sluice door on the latch leaving the service users vulnerable and at risk of harm. In these areas you may find, clinical waste bins for used continence aids, tissues, wipes and any items that are not contaminated by blood – these items go to landfill. Hazardous waste bins for dressings and anything that may be infectious – these items are incinerated. Sharps bins, for used needles. Urine sample containers and tests. If an individual finds them self in this area they are at high risk of consuming anyone of the items listed above, this could be fatal.

Care providers you are responsible for all equipment your service users require.

Care homes have a vast amount of equipment and furniture which can be loaned, donated or bought by the service user, some items can be very costly due to having to be adapted to the users requirements, such as wheelchairs. Some items are accessible to all such as: adjustable tables, profiling beds, recliners, commodes, shower chairs, static chairs and tables.

These items must be ordered and acquired through the relevant companies and when they are not required by the individual any longer they should be returned in the same manner.

As you can see here in our gallery these items have been abandoned to rot in a care home without any consideration for the amount of money that has been wasted. These items should have been returned or could have been donated at the time of abandonment and used in other environments. (Hover over the photos for more information)

These items could have benefited individuals in the community, care homes, individuals living alone or receiving support from friends and family. If they had been utilized at the correct time they could have been cleaned by sanitizing wipes which kill 99.9% of bacteria and germs and “actively raise the standard of care” for another individual. 

Please be aware that there are hundreds of abandoned care homes around England, just with these nine items alone being disrespected a total of £3,616.96 has been wasted. Has this cost the NHS?