{{org_field_logo}}

{{org_field_name}}

---

Healthcare and Clinical Procedures in Care Homes (Wales) Policy

Policy Statement

This policy sets out the values, principles and procedures underpinning {{org_field_name}}’s approach to the healthcare that it offers to people who use its services so that they have highest quality physical, emotional and mental healthcare service.

The policy is written in line with the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 and accompanying statutory guidance, which require people’s health needs to be fully met as part of their personal plan. (See particularly Regulations 15–17.)

The home provides high-quality healthcare based upon individuals needs as recorded in an individual plan for each person. Each plan is determined by a full needs assessment and drawn up in full partnership between the home and the person who uses services.

The home considers that it is important for its care staff to identify developing healthcare problems in people early so that they can be helped to get prompt and fair access to medical or other healthcare resources. The home also considers that illness is not an inevitable part of ageing and that older people should not be discriminated against with respect to healthcare provision and should receive the same high standards of care that can be expected by the rest of the population.

Healthcare and Individual Plans Policy

It is policy at {{org_field_name}} that healthcare provided to people who use services is flexible, consistent, reliable and responsive to their changing needs and is based upon the development of individual plans. Specific policy points that apply in {{org_field_name}} are as follows.

1. Care staff who are expected to support people, who use medical aids, equipment and in the procedures involved, eg catheters, PEG feeding, oral suction and certain injections, will be allowed to do so, only if they have had the necessary training and have been assessed as competent to take part in the described procedures.
2. Care staff should maintain the personal and oral hygiene of each person, either by giving required help and support or by supporting the persons own capacity for self-care.
3. People will be assessed, by a person trained to do such assessments, to identify those individuals who have developed, or are at risk of developing, pressure sores and appropriate interventions will be recorded in individual plans of care.
4. The incidence of pressure sores, their treatment and outcome, will be recorded in an individual plan of care and reviewed on a regular basis.
5. Professional advice relating to the promotion of continence will be sought and acted upon and any aids or equipment needed will be provided.
6. People’s psychological health will be monitored regularly and any preventive or restorative care should be provided.
7. Opportunities will be given to every person for appropriate exercise and physical activity and this will be advised by a qualified expert wherever possible.
8. Appropriate interventions will be carried out for people identified as at risk of falling.
9. Nutritional screening will be undertaken on admission and subsequently on a periodic basis, a record maintained of nutrition, including weight gain or loss, and appropriate action will be taken.
10. All people who use services must be registered with a local GP. All people not already registered with a local GP will be helped to register with a GP of their choice.
11. All people who use services should be registered with a dentist. All people not already registered with a local dentist will be helped to register with a dentist of their choice. The home will then support whatever treatment regime is recommended by the dentist. For those not able to travel to a dentist then a community dental service is available.
12. The home will ensure that people will have access to appropriate:
    a. hearing tests
    b. sight tests
    c. specialist medical, nursing, dental, pharmaceutical, chiropody and other relevant therapeutic services
    d. care from hospitals and community health services.
13. The home will ensure that people’s entitlements to NHS services are upheld in accordance with guidance and legislation.
14. All plans of care will include details of an assessment of people’s night-time care needs and appropriate interventions.
15. All plans of care will be regularly reviewed and discussed with both the individual concerned and with their family or representatives.

In addition, equipment necessary for the promotion of tissue viability and for the prevention or treatment of pressure sores will be provided as follows.

Equipment	Location	Maintained/Serviced by	Responsibility of

Training

Healthcare issues are reflected in all of the standards included in the Social Care Wales: All Wales Induction Framework for Health and Social Care. All new staff receive training to implement the policy on healthcare and individual plans as part of their induction process. Existing staff receive training covering basic information about basic healthcare and procedures including sessions on care planning and on the recording of notes.

{{org_field_name}} supports a system of staff appraisal whereby all staff have an annual performance review. During this review, the member of staff will be expected to identify with their reviewer any training requirements and needs they might have. These will be recorded as a training plan. The home will support and encourage the continuing development of its staff through this method so that it can be sure that its staff remain competent, up to date and effective.

---

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}}

Copyright ©2024 {{org_field_name}}. All rights reserved