DW222. Staff Complement and Deployment in Care Homes
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Staff Complement and Deployment in Care Homes (Wales) Policy
Policy Statement
This care home aims to be fully compliant with current staffing regulations. It carefully monitors and reviews its staffing complement and turnover and terms and conditions of service to ensure that it employs staff who are of the required calibre to provide high-quality care and to enhance the practice of these members of staff.
This policy should be read and used in relation to the care home’s other staffing policies, including those that address terms and conditions of service and working practices, supervision and training.
To comply with its registration requirements, particularly Regulation 34: Staffing — Overarching Requirements of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 and accompanying statutory guidance, and to support the implementation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, the home is committed to:
- achieving staffing levels in terms of numbers and skills that are appropriate for the number of people being cared for and to meet their assessed needs
- assessing with partner professionals and organisations each individual’s care needs to work out the level of support needed
- providing good continuity of care by making sure that its staff work as teams and that they have good teamwork
- developing effective communication between team members
- new staff are always well supervised before they are assessed as competent to work without direct supervision on any regulated activity
- fully briefing duty staff to meet the daily needs of people who use the service and to respond appropriately to the different care situations that arise
- working closely with other carers, professionals and agencies involved in the service provision.
Principles of the Staffing Policy
1. All staff have clearly defined job descriptions.
2. All staff are expected to shadow other members of staff during their induction period to better understand their own and others’ roles and responsibilities.
3. All staff job descriptions are linked to achieving the individual goals of the people receiving care as set out in each person’s plan.
4. Staff are made familiar, and are expected to comply, with the respective code of conduct/practice for their profession or occupation.
5. Staff are also made familiar with and are expected to comply with the care home’s safeguarding policies.
6. All nursing staff and allied health professionals employed by the care home (where applicable) comply with the standards of conduct and practice established by their own regulatory bodies.
7. Staff are only expected to go beyond their job descriptions in exceptional circumstances to make sure people’s needs are being met.
As part of their work roles, all staff are expected to:
- get to know and develop a relationship with the people they support
- meet individual needs with attention to gender, age, cultural background, personal interests and use of the Welsh language
- be aware of their own knowledge and skill limitations and know when it is appropriate to involve someone else with more specific expertise.
Commitment to Teamwork and Interdisciplinary Working
The care home is committed to having an effective staff team, with sufficient numbers and complementary skills to support people’s assessed needs at all times. The rota and total numbers of staff planned to be on duty at any one time will therefore be set according to the:
- needs of the individual to be cared for
- nature and level of dependency of the people to be cared for, their assessed risks and the plans made to support their wellbeing
- ages of the people to be cared for
- locations of people’s homes
- skills and experience of the staff
- availability of staff (part time/full time/sickness/leave, etc)
- the need to work with other professionals and agencies to deliver an integrated package of care.
In terms of staff experience, it is the care home’s policy that:
- there is always an appropriate mix of staff with relevant experience, qualifications and skills available to people during every visit
- staff in charge of the care home are all suitably qualified and experienced to be in a position of responsibility
- staff who are initially appointed as trainees (including all staff under 18) are as a matter of course registered on a nationally certified training programme
- any staff members from overseas who do not use English as their first language receive support to overcome any immediate communication difficulties they might be having
- extra staff will be called in at periods of high demand and emergencies, if necessary
- Welsh speakers will be used to support Welsh speaking individuals who use the service, wherever practically possible
- where agency staff have to be used, every effort is made:
– to obtain them from a reputable agency
– that staff provided are of high quality and are suitably qualified and experienced
– that preference is given to using agency staff who know the work of this service and the people who use it already.
Staffing Model (Example Only)
[The following example should be adjusted to meet individual requirements.]
This home operates two rota systems to provide 24-hour care, one rota for senior/nursing staff and one rota for care assistants. Each rota is announced at least one month in advance.
Any requests from staff for particular dates or time off must be submitted in writing to the person responsible for the rota at least two weeks before a rota for the following month is due to be announced.
Management try to meet all reasonable requests for certain duties, but reserves the right not to accede to the request if accepting it would cause staffing levels and skills mix to fall below the minimum acceptable standard.
The senior rota consists of the following.
- Two qualified nurses on duty through office hours of 7am to 5pm.
- One qualified nurse on duty from 5pm to 10pm.
- One qualified nurse sleeping in on call from 10pm to 7am.
The care assistant rota consists of the following.
- Two day staff on duty from 7am to 10pm.
- One extra staff on duty from 7am to 10am.
- Two extra staff on duty from 4pm to 6pm.
- One night staff on duty from 10pm to 7am.
___________________________ is responsible for working out the rota.
[The senior rota is applicable only to homes providing nursing care.]
The rota will be set according to the following factors.
- The numbers of people to be cared for.
- The nature and level of people’s care and support needs and the assessed risks to their personal safety.
- The ages of the people to be cared for.
- The geography and layout of the building.
- The skills and experience of the staff.
- The availability of staff (part time/full time/sickness/leave, etc).
- The availability of Welsh language speaking staff for residents whose first language is Welsh or is their language of choice.
Staff Experience
To conform with the statutory requirements, it is the policy of the home to ensure that:
8. there are sufficient number of suitably qualified and experienced staff on duty at any one time, including registered nurses (where required)
9. younger and less experienced staff, including apprentices and trainees, always work with or receive support from more experienced and qualified staff members and these requirements are fully reflected in the rostering.
Additions
- Extra staff are called in at peak times if necessary.
- Domestic staff are employed in sufficient numbers to ensure that standards relating to food, meals and nutrition are fully met, and that the home is maintained in a clean and hygienic state, free from dirt and unpleasant odours.
Training
Staff who are new to care work are inducted into their roles in line with the Social Care Wales: All Wales Induction Framework for Health and Social Care and are made aware of other staff roles and responsibilities, and the care home’s commitment to teamwork as part of the training process. Staff with previous experience of care work but who are new to this work setting have an induction programme related to their roles and responsibilities. Further training is provided as and when new roles are introduced.
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