Welcome to episode 19 of Continuous Quality Compliance

Today I am talking about Regulation 18: Staffing

CQC cannot prosecute for this but they can take regulatory ac tion.

To meet the regulation, providers must provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times .

.Staff must receive the support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisals that are necessary for them to carry out their role and responsibilities.

They should be supported to obtain further qualifications and provide evidence, where required, to the appropriate regulator to show that they meet the professional standards needed to continue to practise.

The regulators can be the GMC, NMC, GDC , they can be associations like the HCPC, BABICOM whose standards you should be meeting if you are a member.

Point 1

Providers must have sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to make sure that they can meet people's care and treatment needs.

Point 2

CQC are looking for a systematic approach to determine the number of staff and range of skills required in order to meet the needs of people using the service and keep them safe at all times.

The approach they use must reflect current legislation and guidance where it is available.

In determining the number of staff and range of skills required to meet people's needs, they should consider the different levels of skills and competence required to meet those needs, the registered professional and support workers needed, supervision needs and leadership requirements.

Point 3

Staffing levels and skill mix must be reviewed regularly and adapted to respond to the changing needs and circumstances of people using the service. Or in terms of providers undertaking diagnostics and screening they type of reporting you are doing.

Point 4

A robust induction is really important it should prepare the person for their role. You should also ask for feedback on the induction so you can make improvements on it. I have never had a great induction. The worst was turning up and being told the person who was assigned to me was on holiday for the rest of the week. I was just left to fend for myself. It was awful and it was a corporate which made the experience worse. In my other roles I turned up and there was no-one there even to greet me. How do you thing that made me feel. I understand that they were on the wards but a little thought on their part . It could have been a little welcome box or even a simple note would have been better. Luckily It was a new speciality in a hospital I worked so I knew my way around the IT system. But it made me feel unwanted and unwelcome.

Point 5

Staff should be supported to have training. CQC will look for how you are monitoring training and will ask for a training matrix at the least. You should be looking at any additional training which may be required. A good example is when a client of mine was bring in tablets to be sued by staff for their IT platform they were using. A Good move to go paperless. But they had not done pre-requisite work on the competency of their staff and ability of them to use tablets. Some staff did but others were floundering and instead of saying I don’t know how to use this technology they blamed the platform. I wrote an IT competency checklist for my client and is was told to staff that by completing the form it would help the company to know the level