Steering Group Minutes: 10/01/2017

Carer Skills Passport

Steering Group minutes: 10/01/2017

• As above

• Agreed as a true record

• The Carer Skills Passport team has met with the Alder Hey Physiotherapists. A plan has been agreed to merge the two training portfolios. A respiratory physiotherapist assessment will be included in recommendations for Carer Skills Passport care needs assessment together with a “prescription” of recommended respiratory care e.g. suction technique to be used, suction depth etc. The subgroup identified that there will be a shortfall of appropriately trained Specialist Paediatric Respiratory Physiotherapists to undertake this assessment and this may need to be addressed as part of the Carer Skills Passport project.
• The Carer Skills Passport Steering Group discussed that additional funding may be required for parents, paid and unpaid carers to complete assessment and be signed off as competent to provide respiratory care, particularly in the Liverpool area.

• Lynda has met with Laura Neely Epilepsy Nurse Specialist and her manager Andrea McLaren. A train the trainers/ academy approach has been agreed as the best way forward. The Alder Hey epilepsy team will work with the Carer Skills Passport team to support the current project with regard to buccal midazolam administration and Laura Neely will be an expert advisor to the Carer Skills Passport.
• Esther Bennington is providing interim training to parents and staff in Liverpool Special Schools until the Carer Skills Passport programme is in place

• The literature scoping exercise has been completed but is not yet published. The report confirms that there is very little consensus evidence to support care skills training and assessment. What evidence there is describes the lack of evidence and what needs to be done. It is not clear when the report will be formally released.

• As above

• Skills for Health has published a wide range of care competencies aimed at a range of professionals. Some of these competencies map to the priority competencies for the Carer Skills Passport but there are a lot of gaps. The majority of the competencies are adult-orientated. There appears to be no formal process for reviewing and updating these competencies
• The Carer Skills Passport will incorporate available competencies from Skills for Health as part of the Consultations on individual competencies

• It remains unclear what funding Alder Hey receives for training and where this sits. if or where any funding the trust receives for training sits.
• Cheryl Brindley has suggested that some allowance for training may sit with specific groups e.g. long term ventilation, long term TPN but elsewhere arrangements are unclear. It is also likely that the Liverpool Community Children’s Nursing team (and other similar teams) is being funded to provide some training for patients registered with a GP in their catchment area
• If commissioners say Alder Hey is being funded the onus should be on them to demonstrate what they are commissioning

• The proposed person-centred training design workshop to be facilitated by Helen Sanderson Associates was discussed in detail. Key issues identified include:
• Inconsistency of training approach across Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and beyond
• Differences in language and terminology used
• Training needs to be person-centred both in terms of the child or young person’s care needs but also with respect to the learning needs of the parent, paid or unpaid carer
• Training outcomes need to be consistent although the approach to training may be different for different learners
• A learning styles questionnaire and training needs assessment should be included when an individual (parent, paid or unpaid carer or professional) joins the Carer Skills Passport project
• Assessment may be best undertaken through practical demonstration of skills e.g. through simulation rather than a more formal test or examination: formal examinations with a “pass” or “fail”
• Significant challenges training and supporting parents, paid or unpaid carers whose first language is not English and a translator is required
• Many care packages have relatively transient staffing. The Carer Skills Passport should help reduce the impact of this through more consistent training and assessment
• The Carer Skills Academy train-the-trainers teaching needs to include identifying and accommodating different learning styles
• A workshop running from 10:00 to 14:30 would be expected to be accessible by parents, paid and unpaid carers.
• The venue is really important including access to good parking.
• Options would be to hold the event in term time or possibly at a weekend during term-time
• We need to work to identify parent participants for the workshop
• Potential venues include using one of the Special Schools (e.g. Redbridge), a football club, a children’s centre or the Lime hub. There was a very successful Rett’s syndrome event at Rowan Park school when nursing students from John Moores and Edge Hill were asked to come and help with child-care
• Gill Goodwin will develop a more detailed outline proposal to circulate with the steering group

• We have received the first allocation of funding for the set-up phase
• A dedicated service line has been set up in the Palliative Care Team projects cost centre
• We are awaiting clarification of banding for the posts and amount of funding to be carried over into the new project before setting a new funding forecast
• The revised project plan will also need to accommodate funding for the training design workshops.

• The following documents were circulated and signed off by the group

• Project initiation document
• Steering group terms of reference and membership

• The job descriptions for the Nurse Facilitator, Administrator/ web content manager and Parent Voices Count Facilitator were circulated for information but not formally discussed

• A communication strategy is required to facilitate recruitment of parents, paid and unpaid carers and professionals to participate in online consultations and to become part of the Carer Skills Academy. The communication strategy will be essential to raise awareness of the Carer Skills Passport and ensure sustainability

• There were 58 respondents to the first round of this first online consultation. Some clear messages were provided through the feedback. Round 2 of the consultation commenced at the beginning of January. We have had 42 respondents so far. The second round consultation form, including a summary of responses to round one was circulated at the meeting

1. Oxygen
2. Oxygen saturations and vital sign monitoring$
3. Oral suction $
4. Nasal suction
5. Tracheostomy suction$
6. Nebuliser$

• These competencies are closely linked and are a significant component of the 13 priority competencies for the current phase of the Carer Skills Passport. It is hoped to commence consultation within the next 6 – 8 weeks

• The Carer Skills Passport team has had a further meeting with Human Resources at Alder Hey. There is some confusion regarding a revision of the Temporary Staffing Policy and how this will impact on the Carer Skills Passport. Maria Salcedo is looking in to this and will report back. It is important that the new process is light touch and does not contribute to delays in parents, paid or unpaid carers providing care. The new policy also needs to be effectively cascaded and supported by appropriate documentation on the Carer Skills Passport website and hand-held documents
• Lynda plans to meet the ward managers on afternoon of 17th January
• In the past some agency staff may have been providing care on the wards without the appropriate DBS checks

• This has been commissioned and delivery is due today

• We have 27 registered website users so far (7 pending review). The review and approval process will be faster once the dedicated web content manager is in post.
• A site traffic calculator will be added to the website shortly
• Mike Farrell has suggested a number of improvements as follows:
• An “About” section which identifies where the passport project has developed from, some details about the project governance arrangements and indication that Alder Hey is helping to host the project/development.
• The progress bar at the top of the page which indicates status should just indicate either current approved version or removed.
• Some further clarification regarding copyright
• Further clarity regarding any intention to sell aspects of training, and/or for this to this be commissioned. If there is some finance model/sustainability behind the development then this needs to be much clearer.
• Review the language used in the website to make it clearer and easier for parents. The steering group also suggested a video explaining what the Carer Skills Passport is all about
• Move the Terms and Conditions agreement to the About us section or the membership section

• Recruitment of post-holders
• Setting up the website
• Both are on track, although the post-holders may not be in post on 1st April depending on notice periods

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