SCIE media releases 2006

Dignity in care begins at home: SCIE's response to CSCI report

19 October 2006

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has responded to the first inspections of domiciliary care services in England by urging councils and agencies to seek good practice guidance and support.

Speaking about the CSCI report Time to care? Chief Executive of SCIE Bill Kilgallon said:

"Domiciliary care, and especially home care for older people, is an increasingly important social care area. This comprehensive report reminds us of the importance of listening to people using social care services, providing choice and genuinely responding to their needs.

"SCIE is working on a number of evidence based resources that bring together research, policy and good practice examples to support services for older people. Next month we will launch Dignity in Care - a web-based resource with guidance on mealtimes, communication, complaints and respect. As local authorities strive to commission and provide more effective services, it is crucial that they use the available evidence about what works well."

SCIE also runs the People Management website - a practical resource to help social care organisations improve their recruitment, retention and employee relations policies. The website is useful in helping domiciliary care agencies, achieve workforce satisfaction.  A low level of staff turnover promotes trust, continuity and better outcomes for all.

Other SCIE resources on older people include:

• Practice guide 02: Assessing the mental health needs of older people
• Research briefing 12: Involving older people and their carers in after-hospital care decisions
• Practice guide 07: Making referrals to the POVA list
• Helping older people to take prescribed medication in their own home

All of SCIE's products are available free-of-charge on www.scie.org.uk.

Ends

Media contact

Annie Goss | Media and Communications Officer | T: 020 7089 7117 | M:  07739 458 192
Email: annie.goss@scie.org.uk

Notes

• The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) was launched in October 2001 as part of the Government's drive to improve social care. It is an independent registered charity, governed by a board of trustees. Its role is to promote and advance knowledge about good practice in social care across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For more information about SCIE visit www.scie.org.uk

• Come and visit SCIE at stand G6 at the National Children and Adult Services Conference 2006. SCIE will have a number of printed guidance and resources to look at and take away as well as demonstrations of our websites, practice guides and links to further information. 

• SCIE's Dignity in Care web-based resource guide will be launched in November. It has been developed at the request of the Department for Health (DH) and is part of a wider DH campaign to promote dignity for older people within health and social care services.