S114. Monitoring and Accountability
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Monitoring and Accountability Policy
Purpose of This Document
This policy makes clear {{org_field_name}}’s expectations with regard to the completing of worksheets used to record the making of a call or visit to the home of a person. The policy includes how the service monitors staff working patterns and the actions that it takes if it discovers that staff have been falsifying records, eg by recording that they have made a visit when for some reason it has not been made.
Scope
The policy applies to all care staff who have a schedule of visits and who need to record accurately:
- the fact that they have made the visit
- the duration of the visit
- journey times between visits.
Policy Statement
The service provides its care staff with a schedule of visits, which provides for some flexibility in that each set of work tasks always needs to be completed fully and to the satisfaction of the person receiving care. This can sometimes result in the schedule being disrupted and delayed.
The service also operates on the basis that there needs to be a certain level of trust placed in staff to carry out their work satisfactorily and it encourages transparency and honesty in the use of time. It expects staff to communicate any difficulties being experienced: such as, in travelling or obtaining entry to the home of the person receiving care.
The service’s policies on Persons Missing from Their Home and Access to the Homes of People Who Use the Services in Care, including key holding, address the main contingencies in which visits might not be completed as scheduled or result in delays, which can disrupt the rest of the worker’s schedule.
In all these instances, the care worker is expected to contact their supervisor, line manager or office at the earliest opportunity and to discuss appropriate ways of proceeding.
The Use of Timesheets
The time or worksheets that the service asks a care worker to complete on a daily basis provide a tool to enable the service to exercise its accountability for the service that it provides to its users and to its commissioners.
To complete the timesheet, the service requires the care worker to record the time of arrival at a house and of departure, obtaining the person’s signature or that of someone else in the household wherever possible. If this is not possible, then the space should be left blank. The service will try to obtain specimen copies of “authorised” signatures from people who use the services or representatives in advance to help with the checking.
The line manager will collect timesheets on a weekly basis and carry out a check to assess the visits have been made as planned and to take note of any issues indicated by the records. The manager might make spot checks by telephoning a sample of people to make sure they have received the visits as planned and to discuss any quality issues arising.
When making their supervisory visits to the homes of people who use the services, the manager will also check care plans and records held in the home to verify that the visits have taken place as planned. Managers will also use review meetings as a monitoring vehicle.
The service expects that its care staff will be able to account for any significant discrepancies or departures from the agreed schedules. It will use staff meetings and supervision to discuss any workload difficulties that might be experienced.
However, it does expect honesty and transparency and will take disciplinary measures if it discovers that there has been deliberate falsifying of timesheets and care workers have not been carrying out their agreed work schedules. The outcome could result in a worker’s dismissal.
Also if it has been proved that care workers by their misconduct — for example, not making calls when they have recorded them — have caused harm or possible harm to people who use the services, the service will be legally required to refer them for possible inclusion on the Disclosure and Barring Service lists, which would bar them from future care work. In some cases, the service might need to refer the matter to the police if it considers the care worker might have committed a criminal offence.
Electronic monitoring
Many care services have installed or have been required by service commissioners to use electronic methods for logging in and out of the homes of people who use the services. Such methods remove the need for timesheets, instead requiring phone calls to a dedicated number when entering or leaving the individual’s home. The permission of the person using the services to use their phone will always be needed if required by local arrangements and alternative methods used, for example mobile phones, if permission is not given or it is not possible to use a landline.
If a mobile phone is provided by the service to enable it to meet its electronic monitoring contractual commitments to remain in the individual’s home, it will, with the agreement of the individual, be kept in a safe place, pass key codes to prevent unauthorised use with only those needing to use the phone knowing the pass key code.
Where electronic methods are used, the service will still have a system of monitoring of the electronic call records, for example to check that time spent at the home is consistent with individuals’ needs, as reflected in their care plans. The service will make regular spot checks and supervisory visits to homes for quality assurance purposes.
Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
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