IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i14p7581-d595626.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Providing Staff Training and Enhanced Support to Care Homes on Care Processes, Safety Climate and Avoidable Harms: Evaluation of a Care Home Quality Improvement Programme in England

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Damery

    (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands B15 2TT, UK)

  • Sarah Flanagan

    (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands B15 2TT, UK)

  • Janet Jones

    (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands B15 2TT, UK)

  • Kate Jolly

    (Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, West Midlands B15 2TT, UK)

Abstract

Older people living in care homes are at risk from avoidable harms, which may require hospital attendance or admission. This paper describes a mixed methods evaluation of a large quality improvement (QI) programme that provides skills training and facilitated support to staff in 29 care homes across two localities in the West Midlands, UK. The Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) is used to assess changes to care home safety climate between baseline and programme end at 24 months. We use routinely collected data to assess pre- and post-programme avoidable harms and hospital attendance/admission rates. Semi-structured interviews with programme managers (n = 18), and staff (n = 49) in four case study homes are also used to assess perspectives on programme implementation. Our results show that safety climate scores increase by 1.4 points. There are significant reductions in falls ( p = 0.0006), severe pressure ulcers ( p = 0.014), UTIs ( p = 0.001) and ‘any’ events ( p = 0.0003). Emergency hospital attendances reduced, but admissions increased. Interview participants report improvements to teamwork, working practices, information sharing, knowledge and skills. Upskilling care home staff can improve working practices and attitudes towards resident safety and care quality, which may be associated with significant reductions in avoidable harms rates. Care staff turnover rates are high, which may impact the potential for longer-term sustainability of the changes observed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Damery & Sarah Flanagan & Janet Jones & Kate Jolly, 2021. "The Effect of Providing Staff Training and Enhanced Support to Care Homes on Care Processes, Safety Climate and Avoidable Harms: Evaluation of a Care Home Quality Improvement Programme in England," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7581-:d:595626
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7581/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7581/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frances Bunn & Claire Goodman & Kirsten Corazzini & Rachel Sharpe & Melanie Handley & Jennifer Lynch & Julienne Meyer & Tom Dening & Adam L Gordon, 2020. "Setting Priorities to Inform Assessment of Care Homes’ Readiness to Participate in Healthcare Innovation: A Systematic Mapping Review and Consensus Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Reena Devi & Graham Martin & Jay Banerjee & Louise Butler & Tim Pattison & Lesley Cruickshank & Caroline Maries-Tillott & Tracie Wilson & Sarah Damery & Julienne Meyer & Antonius Poot & Peter Chamberl, 2020. "Improving the Quality of Care in Care Homes Using the Quality Improvement Collaborative Approach: Lessons Learnt from Six Projects Conducted in the UK and The Netherlands," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-21, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dawid Szurgacz & Sergey Zhironkin & Jiří Pokorný & A. J. S. (Sam) Spearing & Stefan Vöth & Michal Cehlár & Izabela Kowalewska, 2021. "Development of an Active Training Method for Belt Conveyor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reena Devi & Adam Gordon & Tom Dening, 2022. "Enhancing the Quality of Care in Long-Term Care Settings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-3, January.
    2. Charlèss Dupont & Robrecht De Schreye & Joachim Cohen & Mark De Ridder & Lieve Van den Block & Luc Deliens & Kathleen Leemans, 2021. "Pilot Study to Develop and Test Palliative Care Quality Indicators for Nursing Homes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Marcello Nonnis & Alessandro Lorenzo Mura & Fabrizio Scrima & Stefania Cuccu & Ferdinando Fornara, 2022. "The Moderation of Perceived Comfort and Relations with Patients in the Relationship between Secure Workplace Attachment and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in Elderly Facilities Staff," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Lucy Johnston & Heidi Koikkalainen & Lynda Anderson & Paul Lapok & Alistair Lawson & Susan D. Shenkin, 2022. "Foundation Level Barriers to the Widespread Adoption of Digital Solutions by Care Homes: Insights from Three Scottish Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-9, June.
    5. Ryuichi Ohta & Yoshinori Ryu & Takuji Katsube & Chiaki Sano, 2020. "Rural Homecare Nurses’ Challenges in Providing Seamless Patient Care in Rural Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Everink, Irma & Urlings, Judith & Griffiths, Alys & Verbeek, Hilde & Haunch, Kirsty & Spilsbury, Karen & Hamers, Jan & Devi, Reena, 2023. "Bridging the gap between science and care: a qualitative exploration of the role of the Scientific Linking Pin researcher working in research and practice partnerships," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120712, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Anna Dadswell & Ceri Wilson & Hilary Bungay, 2024. "Sustainable Creative Practice with Older People: A Collaborative Approach between Arts and Care Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-17, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7581-:d:595626. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.