TCS LDA and MH newsletter Q1 2024

TCS LDA and MH newsletter Q1 2024

Welcome to the second edition of the Thornbury Community Services (TCS) Learning Disabilities, Autism and Mental Health (LDA & MH) quarterly newsletter.

In this edition, we reflect on the last couple of months and celebrate the incredible work you and your colleagues have achieved and the high-quality care and support you have delivered to our clients in the community.

We have added a few new additions to this newsletter to ensure you are getting all the information you need to support you in your role.

You’ll find a dedicated awareness campaigns section highlighting the key campaigns we’ve supported this year and the upcoming ones we will celebrate.

Another segment we have included in this newsletter is a section dedicated to Compass. This new area explains what Compass is, where to find it, how to use it in your role at TCS, and new items within your Compass portal. Keep reading to find out more.

Celebrating you and your role

After a very successful quarter 1 in 2024, we want to take this opportunity to reflect and celebrate the care you delivered to our clients and share with you a good news story about one of our TCS LDA & MH clients.

Hours of care delivered to our clients

Last quarter, we delivered a total of 103,562 hours of care to 26 clients and 2 new clients in the community.

Thank you for being a part of this success. You were instrumental in making this happen, and we hope to see this number grow every quarter so we can continue supporting more individuals to receive care in their own homes and communities.

How would you like to be celebrated in your newsletter? 

If you have any ideas on how we can develop this section of the newsletter, please click the button below to share your feedback.

Or, if you’d like to shout out a fellow colleague or clinical lead and even share a recent achievement of the client you care for, click the button below.

The difference you make

In February 2024, we received some lovely feedback from one of our clients, whom we supported in transitioning to another care provider in the community. This was due to the client’s incredible progress in stabilising under our care.

The client’s family sent us very kind feedback about their experience with TCS. 

The whole TCS team is exceptional, and we are very grateful for the support you have provided since you took over the care package. Our family is going to miss you all when the changeover happens.

Family of the client

We also received feedback from the client about their TCS clinical lead.

Where do I start first? Thank you for everything you have done for me; I cannot put into words just how much this has meant to me. Thank you for everything. You have truly been amazing to me.

Client

Supporting your wellbeing

As part of our commitment to prioritising your wellbeing at TCS, we offer confidential wellbeing calls and 24/7 access to our Wellbeing and Support Hub. Keep reading to learn more.

Employee Assistance Programme

Our EAP is available 24/7, all year round, and gives you access to speak to professionally trained advisors who are available to help with family problems, marital concerns, financial and legal matters, stress, depression, and other issues affecting your personal or work life.

Confidential wellbeing calls

As part of our wellbeing support at TCS, we offer confidential wellbeing calls with our Supervisions and Appraisals Team, who are registered nurses that have worked in the same setting as you for some time and are fully aware of what support we can provide and the challenges of working within the complex care setting.

All calls and personal details will be confidential unless there is a risk to your safety or others. If you would like to book a confidential wellbeing call with the team, please click the button below.

2024 Awareness Campaigns

At TCS, we’re committed to supporting awareness events throughout the year that celebrate inclusivity and showcase the diversity of our clients, healthcare professionals, and employees.

We recently supported Learning Disability Week and its theme, ‘Do you see me?’ by asking a few of our support workers how they ensure our clients are seen, heard, and valued at TCS and what our clinical leads enjoy most about working in the Learning Disabilities, Autism, and Mental Health Service as a clinical lead.

Take a look below to see if you recognise any of your colleagues or clinical leads or visit your new awareness campaigns section of Compass to see the upcoming campaigns we’ll be supporting this year.

To continue the Learning Disability Week celebrations and celebrate our incredible teams, we’ll be introducing more of our Learning Disabilities, Autism and Mental Health Services teams over the upcoming weeks on our TCS LinkedIn channel. Don’t forget to like, comment and share the posts with your connections.

Your Compass portal

This new section of your newsletter explains Compass, where to find it, and how to use it in your role at TCS.

What is Compass?

Compass is a dedicated hub that helps you navigate your career with TCS. Compass hosts all the key information, resources, guidance, and contacts you need throughout your journey.

From accessing the DNL video guide and timesheet guide to viewing your employee handbook, policies and procedures, key contacts, CPD training courses, and your TCS newsletter, we’ve got you covered.

How can I access Compass?

You can access Compass on any device by clicking the button below.

How to use Compass in your role

Compass contains the key resources and information you need to support your TCS career.

Our quarterly newsletters are housed within Compass, so you can access them anytime by selecting the first tile on your Compass portal.

We have a dedicated Digital Nurse Logs (DNL) section that contains the complete DNL user video guide, mini clips that walk you through each step of using DNL during your shifts, and the form to complete when you encounter an error with DNL or eMAR.

To support you before, during, and after your shifts, we have a dedicated preparing for shifts section and a timesheet guide area containing a video guide that walks you through the steps to complete and send your timesheets.

What is coming soon to Compass?

In our next newsletter, we will introduce a new area of Compass that will be created to support you with the latest clinical governance guidance, information, and resources.

This new area will be reviewed by our clinical teams and updated regularly. So don’t forget to keep an eye out for more information in the upcoming newsletter.

Latest guidelines and updates

We have created this dedicated section of the newsletter to ensure you have the latest guidance, updates, and information to support you in your role.

Your safety and the safety of our clients are our top priority. That’s why we’re committed to providing you with the latest industry and safety information and guidance.

There have been several new updates from the following sources:

• Thornbury Community Services LDA & MH
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• Royal College of Nursing (RCN)
• Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC)
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
• British National Formulary (BNF)

Please read the information below to learn about the latest updates.

TCS updates

DNL finance records

We are experiencing some challenges with the DNL finance records, and the totals being calculated. We are implementing a paper finance record chart to be used until further notice. Please capture photo evidence weekly so that a clear record of our client’s finances is available for us to view and audit while we work on the DNL form in the background.

Guidance on package phones

In some instances, some of our clients are provided with a package phone for nurses and support workers working in the package to use.

We are currently developing clearer guidance for you on how to use these phones. However, please remember that the purpose of these package phones is to provide a line of communication between yourself and TCS only.

Your clinical lead will share more detailed guidance about the package phone usage in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please adhere to the following guidance.

Not all of our clients’ homes have landlines, so the package phones are for TCS to contact staff during shifts to discuss the clients’ care, including the clinical lead communicating any changes.

The phones are also for emergency communications, so you can call the TCS office to report incidents and contact emergency services during crises.

Please note that these phones are not for use by clients. It is important to keep the phones charged and in a safe place so they can be used appropriately.

Whistleblowing policy

As a care provider, we recognise the importance of allowing employees to disclose information that they believe shows malpractice, unethical conduct, or illegal workplace practices without being penalised.

This includes protecting staff from any detriment or discrimination if they do report (i.e., ‘blow the whistle on’) improper or illegal conduct within the organisation.

In the policies and procedures section of Compass, you can access the Whistleblowing policy and all policies and procedures that fall into the following categories:

• Clinical and care
• Clinical standards of practice
• General Policies
• Incidents and complaints
• Safeguarding
• Information standards and data protection

Industry updates

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) update

The NICE has released an update recommending more targeting of antibiotics to those at the highest risk of Sepsis to ensure people are receiving the right treatments.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) updates

The CQC has published an update on Integrated Care System assessments. This follows the discussions with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), which has agreed to a short delay in starting ICS assessments to allow for further refinements to their approach.

The CQC has added three new items of best practice and guidance relating to the Assessing Needs quality statement to provide a benchmark for what good looks like in the following area:

• Proportionate assessment approaches a guide from the Chief Social Worker for Adults, principal social workers, and principal occupational therapists.
• The Care Act and Whole-Family Approaches
• “No Wrong Doors” for Young Carers

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) update

At the Royal College of Nursing annual congress for 2024, members voted in favour of a motion asking the union to lobby the government on regulating the nursing support workforce.

The nursing support workforce, often known as healthcare assistants (HCAs), nursing support workers, or healthcare support workers, are normally on Agenda for Change bands 2 or 3 and are not currently regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) update

Following the emergency registration of nurses and midwives, which officially ended 31 March 2024, the NMC wanted to thank every professional who stepped forward to support essential health and care services during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The NMC has launched a new engagement forum for international nursing and midwifery associations (INMAs), organisations that provide wellbeing and career support for internationally educated and diaspora professionals working in the UK.

Safety updates

Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) updates

For the latest updates regarding medicine and medical devices, please visit the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) website using the button below.

British National Formulary (BNF) updates

The British National Formulary has released several updates in January, February, and March of this year; click the buttons below to view the updates.

For further useful guidance to support you in your role at TCS, please view the following resources.

• https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/improving-the-physical-health-of-people-living-with-severe-mental-illness/
• https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/resources-healthcare-professionals
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/improving-health/stomp-stamp/
•  https://leder.nhs.uk/resources/action-from-learning-reports

Learnings from incident trends

In Quarter 1 of 2024, we saw an increased trend of medication administration incidents.

When you are required to administer any medication, please ensure that you check the MAR chart, source prescription, and medication label, include the following:

1. Name
2. Date of Birth
3. Weight
4. Medication
5. Dosage
6. Route
7. Expiry Date

There is further medication management training available on Compass to support your learning and continuous professional development. Please visit the training below.

For further information about tissue viability, please visit the training courses below.

In Quarter 1, we identified an increased trend in physical aggression, largely resulting in no injury. Thank you for prompt reporting of these incidents. This enables us to keep our clients safe in the community.

We are continuing to transition our physical intervention training from ARC to PMVA. If you have not attended PMVA training yet, it will take place this year.

Digital Nurse Logs (DNL)

We want to thank you for effectively and professionally managing the implementation of Digital Nurse Logs (DNL) in your role and consistently delivering ‘Outstanding’ CQC-rated care to our clients in the community.

To support you during your shifts, please refer to the DNL resources below.

DNL video guide

If you require ongoing support using DNL, please refer to the DNL video guide which is available on Compass and can be accessed by clicking the button below.

The video guide takes you through each step of the digital recording system and how to use it during your shift, which includes:

• Logging in and using the one-time use pincode
• Documenting and recording your shift
• The tasks you need to complete for your shift, including forms
• Accessing the care plan and previous forms
• How to raise a Datix
• Completing your shift

Reporting DNL or eMAR errors

To enable us to capture errors in real-time so you can continue to deliver safe, effective care to our clients in the community, please report each DNL and eMAR error you encounter by clicking the button below to complete the short form. This will allow us to troubleshoot each issue and direct you to the relevant teams for support.

Our dedicated teams

Our teams are here to support you in your role at TCS. We have a dedicated operational and clinical 24/7 support service for you to contact at any time.

Our compliance, payroll, and supervisions and appraisals teams are also available during the week to support you.

To view the contact details for each of our teams, visit the help and support section of Compass.

Career opportunities

We have several career opportunities available at TCS in our Complex Care Service. Take a look below to learn more.

We’re currently recruiting paediatric and adult clinical leads in Surrey, Hampshire, and Hertfordshire.

Working as a clinical lead within our TCS Complex Service, you will be responsible for overseeing the care and support our clients receive, enabling them to achieve their full potential at home and in their local communities.

Share your feedback

We value your feedback

As this is our very first quarterly newsletter, we want to know what you liked about it and your ideas or suggestions of what you would like to see in your upcoming TCS quarterly newsletters.

We’d appreciate your feedback, which you can provide by completing the short anonymous form below. We look forward to reviewing your ideas and suggestions.

We’d love to hear about your experience with TCS so far, key highlights from your TCS career and examples of the positive impact you’ve had on our clients in the community. Please spend a few minutes writing a quick review on Google.