Continued Care

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Continued Care's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Continued Care is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

The Rt Hon Lord David Blunkett, MP

The Rt Hon Lord Eric Pickles, MP

33CONTINUED CARE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Samantha Harrison, Director

A collaborative culture

Continued Care is a home care provider based in Harrogate,

North Yorkshire, which celebrated its 25th anniversary

in 2018. With clients of all ages from across a wide

geographical area, including from a satellite office in rural Settle,

they offer everything from 15-minute pop-in visits, to 24-hour

live-in care for 250 clients. They work closely with North Yorkshire

County Council to provide support to people of all ages, receiving

funding for home care, as well as private clients that require extra

help to live independently. Director Samantha Harrison elaborates.

I believe that care is all about people. We are driven by our goal to build a

relationship with all of our clients from the outset, learning about their interests

and passions, so we can offer a truly personalised service that reflects their needs,

their aspirations and their goals.

In order to achieve this, we need to focus a lot on our staff. Care is a difficult

industry to work in, as not only is it low paid, but it doesn’t command the respect

it deserves. When care hits the headlines, it’s often in a negative way, which can be

demoralising for carers who are doing a fantastic job every day in their community.

We work hard to keep our staff motivated and happy, and ensure they feel valued.

We pride ourselves on being a great place to work and we offer permanent

contracts, paid holidays, company pensions, support with qualifications and career

development opportunities to all of our staff. We have recently introduced a

welfare and engagement support service for lone workers and the feedback has

been really positive. We work in a caring business, so it is important that our staff

feel supported and appreciated.

FACTS ABOUT

CONTINUED CARE

»Director: Samantha Harrison

»Founded in 1993

»Based in Harrogate, North

Yorkshire, with a satellite

office in Settle, North

Yorkshire

»No. of employees: Over 100

»Services: Offers care to private

and council clients

»No. of clients: 250

»www.continued-care.co.uk

Continued Care

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

34 | CONTINUED CARE

Supporting our staff and our

community

To enhance our service, we conduct

a range of programmes to create a

sense of community around our carers

and clients. We offer a match funding

scheme up to £100 for any carer who’s

raising money for a charity and we

contribute significantly to some great

causes. Our service user forum enables

clients to provide direct feedback on

the care they receive and how our

services could be improved. It’s just

one of the ways we encourage clients

to be honest with us, a culture that

also applies to our carers, as we allow

them to be open about their work and

any problems they encounter.

We work closely with community

organisations, so when our carers

spot a client who’s struggling, they

know who to call on. For example,

we’ve helped clients to maintain their

overgrown gardens with the help of

local volunteer services, and we have

accessed new carpets and second-

hand furniture to improve our clients’

living conditions. We’ve also realised

clients’ lifelong ambitions; we enabled

a client to attend football matches

even though they had not been out of

the house for two years.

From our Settle office, we have

established a partnership with a local

charity that co-ordinates art therapy

for people living with dementia. As

the condition deteriorates, people

often have additional needs in terms

of personal care, which the charity

was struggling to meet. In response,

we provide a trained carer one day a

week for their activity day, to assist

with personal care, and she has

become part of the team. Not only

does she provide consistency for the

participants, but it’s also a huge help

to their family members, who get a

day’s respite, knowing the participant

is safe and cared for at the project. Our

approach to day-to-day work is very

innovative and we recently invested

in electric bikes to help our carers

travel around. Not only is this faster

for walkers, but it is often better than

driving, as carers can avoid traffic jams

and keep to their schedule even at

peak times.

Left: A service user

visiting Elland Road

Right: Activities are

important

We enabled a

client to

attend football

matches –

they had not

been out of

the house for

two years

“

35CONTINUED CARE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

Because we value our staff, they in

turn value our clients. I am often

impressed to hear of the little things

they have done to make people’s lives

better. Earlier this year, we took on

a new client who didn’t speak any

English. In order to communicate with

her, our carer learnt a few phrases in

Cantonese and was able to have a

conversation with her.

Similarly, we had a client who was

losing her sight. After completing

research, our carer found that yellow

is often the last colour that people

are able to see clearly, so she brought

some daffodils from her garden to

put in a vase in the client’s home. The

client was delighted and was able to

see the petals clearly.

The future of home care

One of the biggest challenges facing

the whole care industry is funding.

Care receives a very raw deal

compared to health, yet it plays a vital

role in the wider health and social care

picture. Our services help people stay

out of hospital, come home sooner,

stay in their own homes and feel part

of their community.

Without companies like us, more

people would end up being admitted

in emergencies because small problems

would go unnoticed before becoming

more serious. Bed blocking would be

more prevalent in hospitals without

community care to enable people to

go home, and residential homes would

be under even more pressure. As

individual services, we all interlink to

provide the best support and outcomes

for clients.

For individuals, home care is an

incredibly important service. We have

many long-term clients who have

spent time in hospital and in residential

settings. We have been involved in

supporting clients with complex needs

to return back to their own home,

who often tell us how much better

they feel when they are surrounded

by their own things, seeing friends

and family whenever they like, and

feeling as independent as possible. Our

experienced management team knows

exactly how to ensure each client gets

the package of care they need to make

this possible.

Working in care is extremely

challenging every day. We work long

hours, pay is low and respect for

care as a professional career is often

lacking. What makes it worthwhile is

the people; knowing you have made a

difference to someone’s life, enabled

them to live independently where

they want to be, or brought a little

more happiness to their day is the best

reward you can get. We feel privileged

to be part of someone’s life and for

the small differences we can make,

while offering carers an opportunity

to train in social care, to forge a career

and to spread the word about how

rewarding and personally satisfying a

career in the care sector can be.

We feel

privileged to

be part of

someone’s life

and for the

small

differences we

can make

“

A close knit team

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from the prime minister.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister