IoRN Tool Discussion (amalgam of two sessions) – Scribe Notes
Broad discussion:
The presenting team (Anthea Fraser, Gail MacNamara and Peter Knight) set the scene with four key points about ioRN:
-It has two main versions: community and care home (though the latter may also be used in hospitals in the future)
-It should not be used as a standalone tool
-It is not an assessment: it follows or supplements an assessment
-It allows for quantifiable change in a person’s condition to be measured over time.
There was initially an open discussion where people were prompted to share how they use or hope to use the ioRN tool.
-Gail expressed the view that it was an invaluable tool for housing placements
- Helped augment qualitative information about the person
-Anthea said that in Midlothian they use the tool in a number of different ways:
- For reablement, intermediate care;
- In care homes
-Gail mentioned that there have been moves within their (SC) service to use the ioRN tool more widely.
- They use it in their ‘housing with care’ service, where they carry out one ioRN on the day the patient/client comes in, and one several weeks on (though as many can be carried out as necessary).
-There was interest in using the tool to inform staffing levels
-The point was raised that there is no standard tool for understanding the dependency of residents in care homes
- Interest growing for ioRN tool
-One person made the point that this tool could help understand 4-6 week patient pathways better.
-There was also general agreement that the tool had potential to help with the linkup of services:
- i.e. discharge team could carry out an ioRN, then housing, etc.
Peter mentioned that staff from Dumfries and Galloway had noted that the tool “helps improve care by improving focus”.
A manager from Edinburgh said that embedding ioRN within working practices had been more difficult to achieve than expected.
Additional comments by those who have used the tool:
“it is important to be mindful of the time of day the assessment underpinning the ioRN is carried out as the person’s needs may vary during the day”
“It only takes about five minutes to complete”
“Training for how to use the ioRN is extremely important”
ioRN2 (redevelopment):
ioRN has been updated creating a new version that is more sensitive than the original:
-the redevelopment has focussed especially on the tool being used within reablement and intermediate care
-guidance on the mental health/behaviour component has been improved
Two videos (one for promotion, the other for training) are being developed and available hopefully in early 2017
There are talks underway to transfer updated ioRN information onto the ISD website as much of what is on there now is out of date
Care home ioRN
The publication of a detailed report on the use of the care home ioRN is pending. This should be released quite soon and will evidence how the dependency characteristics of residents in care homes are changing.
Discussions underway on a possible new care home contract & commissioning has included a conversation about a possible new care home model.