Better services for care homes
To help develop the local market to provide services tailored to the needs of present and future residents of your care home you need:
- a thorough knowledge of the people who live there now – their histories, preferences, interests and capacities
- a clear understanding of the local population, its strengths and needs, and how it is changing
- insight into the strategies which local agencies are developing to meet local needs.
Under the Care Act, local authorities have a duty to achieve a responsive, diverse and sustainable market of service providers. The starting point for this is the publication of a Market Position Statement.
For more information go to TLAP: commissioning and market shaping
Market development to fit local needs should be the result of joint work and consultation with a wide range of organisations and individual citizens.
Care home owners and managers clearly have a role to play in shaping the market for residential care. Collaboration with local agencies will help you to develop the future of your care home.
Checklist for owners and managers
- Can you demonstrate that person-centred care is embedded in every part of the service you currently offer?
- Do the services offered by your home clearly meet identified local needs? Are there any changes you can make to provide a better fit?
- How are local needs likely to change over the coming years? How will your home need to adapt to these changes?
- Are you able to offer the space and staff for service innovation in the home?
- Do you listen to and value the suggestions and ideas that staff may have about service innovation?
- What new service provision is needed in the locality to provide choice and quality provision for your residents?
- How certain is your financial future? Are you able to offer stability as the market develops?