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Night Care in Care Homes (Scotland) Policy

Policy Statement

This policy describes {{org_field_name}}’s approach to its night care provision. The home works on the basis that its night care forms an essential part of its total provision and must be of a standard that enables it to provide consistent, 24-hour, person-centred care.

The home’s night care services are organised and provided to comply with the relevant national health and care standards found in My Support, My Life, which require service providers to ensure that people receiving their care always experience high quality care and that they have confidence in their care service to meet their needs.

Principles

1. Night care is seen as a continuation of the care and support to a person provided throughout the day and is therefore person-centred.
2. Service users are helped to get a good night’s rest and sleep. The needs of any service users who are wakeful at night are appropriately met.
3. Any care and support provided to a person including monitoring is based on the individual’s assessed needs and as recorded on their plan of care.
4. Night care plans are based on the need of service users to have the minimum disturbance possible while also making sure that they are kept safe.
5. Any risks to a service user’s safety and welfare at night are always fully assessed and carefully managed.
6. Any interruption to a person’s patterns of sleep that might result in a need to monitor that person’s condition or to provide medication is carried out with the full consent of the person involved.
7. Where a person is unable to give consent to procedures that are considered necessary during the night because of lack of mental capacity, including any that might be considered to be depriving the person of their liberty, decisions are made in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
8. The home always employs night care staff in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of service users.
9. Night care staff are qualified and competent to provide the levels of care and support required.
10. The home offers the same opportunities for training, supervision and support to its night care staff as it does to its day care staff.
11. Any work in the home that is carried out at night is always done so that service users are not disturbed by it.

Implementation

To put these principles into practice the home:

• always strive to have a full complement of competent and qualified night care staff who:
  • can communicate with people receiving care who need to be woken up or cannot sleep
  • know how to respond to peoples’ requests for attention and help and how to respond to any who are distressed, confused or prone to wandering, appear lonely and bereft, or have illusions and delusions
• fully communicates the home’s standards and expectations to its night care staff through detailed briefing, monitoring and reviewing of their practice
• makes night care person-centred based on individual needs and risk assessments, rather than uniform, routine practice
• develops a person-centred night-time care environment that promotes good sleep hygiene, using technological and IT aids if suitable
• makes sure that intrusive practices such as checking and changing pads are done with minimal disruption and are sensitively carried out
• provides relatives with relevant information about night care and keeps them updated
• plans and follows through systematically all night care plans and recording practices, including identifying and managing risks, following correct medication and other agreed care procedures
• briefs staff clearly on a day-to-day basis about their tasks, duties and responsibilities
• trains and supervises night care staff to respond to emergencies and health and safety matters
• uses assistive technology and IT appropriately and ensures staff are competent in any device used
• supports night care staff to manage the risks of working at night, particularly if alone
• helps its staff to manage the stresses of night-time working and other occupational health issues
• includes its night care staff in its training, supervision and staff appraisal programmes
• manages any outsourced night care service so that standards are maintained (where applicable)
• appoints night-time key workers who are responsible for producing, implementing, co-ordinating and reviewing night care plans and providing a communication link between the service user, their relatives and other staff (where applicable)
• regularly reviews and evaluates its night care provision to make sure that it continues to fully meet service users’ needs and to make changes in line with the review findings.

[The individual home might wish to expand on any of the above by describing its night-time provision in more detail.]

Training

All night care staff are provided with the same training opportunities as their daytime colleagues and specific arrangements will be made to ensure their attendance. The home’s policies and procedures on night care have important implications for induction training in line with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) training guidance and resources.

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}

Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}

Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}

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