June Newsletter

We are living through very difficult & uncertain times as the ever present threat of COVID is still with us. We want to let you know we have been working hard to ensure you can have the best support possible during these testing times. We invested in technology, protection equipment & staff development and we will continue to look for ways to improve even further. And most importantly, we will continue to be here for you.

Supporting your wellbeing

We will continue to ensure you experience compassion, dignity and respect. That you get the right service, your health benefits from the support we provide, and most importantly you the get the most out of life.

We will continue to invest in research and technology, support our staff with development and new staff roles to improve your wellbeing.

COVID Vaccination

You will be please to know that almost 60% of our staff have been vaccinated now. We are working hard to get all of our staff vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

We strongly encourage our clients to take their COVID vaccination when it is offered to them. If you have had both vaccinations please could you let our office know so that we can update our records.

Staff are well led

Our vision and values will continue to inform practice and we will monitor this through quality audits we share with you. Our leaders will collaborate to ensure people are supported and well led.

We are very focused on building new stronger team leaders, increase retention and deliver staff learning despite the pandemic.

We will encourage greater communication between all staff, support your career and learning needs. All staff now benefit from a 3 year career plan including pay, benefits and learning outcomes.

Creating great staff teams

We will continue to work towards maintaining our best practice recruitment approach, recruiting staff that have the knowledge, competence and skills needed to care for and support our clients. We will continue to ensure we have the right staff level and mix of skills to meet client’s needs.

We created and expanded our staff teams to implement a culture of knowledge sharing amongst the staff. We introduced pairing to improve staff involvement and teamwork.

We will continue to invest in creating new roles to provide better support to our teams and service users. We will seek collaboration from other organisations including the 3rd sector to expand our skillset.

Training

How can you be involved in Social Care Alba’s Training?

On 1st July we will be holding a Medication Administration and a Moving & Handling Workshop. If you would like to participate and give us feedback about these workshops please inform the office and we can organise this.

Staff engagement survey

We have sent out an anonymous survey to our staff to let us know about what aspects of the job they enjoy & equally things they find challenging. Also how we can improve things for them along with what kind of support they would like us to offer them to do their job better & feel happy.

Planning care and support

We will continue to encourage the involvement of family members in the support plan and invest in technology, ensuring our staff has the tools they need to assess our service users’ requirements and wishes.

Access Group

We are setting up an access group which aims to;

Look at how we can improve the wellbeing and health & safety of our service users by the use of smart technology in their homes.
Provide a monthly podcast covering the needs of service users and their family members.
Facilitate access to services such as advocacy, befriending or specialist support such as Dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Improve ways in which service users and their family members’ voices are heard and get more Involvement in the training & recruitment of care staff.

For more information on our access group, listen to our month of May podcast:

Our capacity for improvement

Looking back at what we did well and what we can do better, we will continue to improve our development plan and provide support to more people. We delivered on all areas of our Annual Improvement Plan and explored ways to further improve our capacity levels.

Amongst others we wish to improve the lives of people with dementia and those with life shortening condition. We will expand the uptake of PASS with service users and families. Collaboration with other organisations such as Vocal and Alzheimer Scotland will be a priority.

Supporting you through the COVID-19 pandemic

We never stop looking for ways to support your physical, mental or emotional health. We will keep you connected, respected and treated with dignity throughout the pandemic. This means doing everything we can to stop the spread of Covid-19. From responsive and flexible staffing to improving your knowledge and skills to stay safe.

With no end in sight just yet we will continue to respond rapidly to changes, making sure you and your loved ones are protected.