Since October 2014, Macmillan Cancer Support has been developing and testing an innovative development programme designed to support health and social care support workers in all settings that have care and compassion at their heart. The programme is workplace-based, person-centred, and embeds Macmillan’s Values Based Standard® [PDF] of compassion, dignity and respect as a common thread. Therefore, it naturally covers significant components of the Care Certificate.
What is the HCA programme?
This is an exciting programme of work that aims to model how support workers can be helped to provide compassionate care, learn about reflective practice and be supported in their roles.
The programme covers:
- You and your values – an exploration of values, what this means and an introduction to reflective practice
- Supporting the person I am with – observing, noticing, person-centred care tools and techniques
- Developing your communication skills at work – characteristics of human communication, listening skills
- Difficult conversations and looking after myself - managing difficult conversations well, resilience at work
- How I make a difference at work – what I can do/change, care talk techniques, SBAR, HEART
Why do we need it?
There are currently 1.3 million frontline, unregistered staff in the UK who deliver the bulk of care in hospitals, care homes and individual homes. In Macmillan’s experience across all sectors, these direct care-givers are the most unqualified of a care team and yet have the most direct contact with patients.
Echoing other findings, for example from The Cavendish Review[1] and more recently, feedback received from the Talent for Care consultation on the development of the Healthcare Support workforce[2], our work implementing the Values Based Standard has found that health care assistants have the least investment in their professional development. They often feel they are unheard and undervalued. Yet, when given an opportunity to reflect upon patient experience, they continuously demonstrate how well they can respond to patients' needs.
Macmillan has identified the role of a health care assistant often becomes extremely task-focussed. Job after job with little or no time to reflect on their practice or how their behaviours impact on their patients or indeed, how their own experience of caring affects them personally. Research strongly indicates a firm link between staff morale and patient experience so it seems to be in everyone’s interests that this workforce are supported to provide good person-centred care.
With two million people living with cancer, rising to four million by 2030, our focus at Macmillan is on how those people affected by cancer are cared for. We see health care assistants as a vital part of the workforce that will be required to deliver that care in the future. However, all patients deserve to be treated with care and compassion and in many organisations care for people with cancer takes place in general wards and care homes where a mix of patients are to be found. For this reason Macmillan strongly believes that this workforce, and the patients cared for by them, will benefit greatly from a high-quality development programme with care and compassion at its heart.
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