College of Care proposals welcomed by social services chiefs

Proposals for a College of Care in the draft report of the Commission on Improving Dignity in Care, have been welcomed by social services chiefs.

The College of Care has been proposed by Age UK, the Local Government Association and the NHS Confederation.

The aim of the College would be to reduce many of the challenges surrounding care staffing issues, currently a workforce that records an unusually high turnover, by enabling a smoother recruitment process, better qualifications and professional development, and more effective monitoring and regulation.

The idea has been welcomed by Peter Hay, the President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).

He said: ‘It works with the grain of our aims to ensure that older people throughout the care system – whether at home or in hospitals or residential/nursing home settings – live with the security and the peace of mind they deserve.'

‘All Big Ideas start somewhere and the idea of a College of Care is a Big Idea which will undoubtedly be developed over time into the sort of heavyweight proposal which ultimately can make a lasting difference to the educational architecture of the services we provide.’

The National Skills Academy for Social Care are also among those who have welcomed the recommendations of the Commission, with chief executive Diane Lawson keen to point out that the draft’s objectives reflect their own perspective on how the leadership of the care sector should be implemented.

Ms Lawson said: ‘The Academy has been working tirelessly for over two years to address the key recommendations in the Commission’s report relating to changing the culture of care, so that people working in a care setting, whatever their role and their level, can feel confident in taking responsibility for their own practice and addressing shortcomings elsewhere.'

‘We know from our own research that the importance of leadership is already acknowledged in the sector: in a pan-sector survey carried out for the Academy at the end of 2011, 94 per cent of respondents made a direct link between quality of leadership and quality of services’.