DBS Law Ltd

Happy care staff are key to good caring

Care homes and the care industry have hit the headlines recently and none of the news has been good. The failure of Southern Cross and revelation of mistreatment in some care facilities have shocked the nation. Of course this reporting may be exaggerated and not reflect the true state of the care industry but standards are being questioned by high profile charities like the Alzheimer’s Society. 

 The bad press is worrying for anyone who has a relative in care or if they themselves require some residential care in the near future. It’s worrying for those people who run care homes and their staff too. Anxiety is bad for service users and it’s bad for business.

 Most care homes are independently run small businesses working hard to give their clients the best quality of life possible. It’s a tough job mixing business with care giving and having to turnaround a bad reputation, particularly one you didn’t earn, will only make it harder

 Birmingham based solicitors DBS Law have identified some of the many obstacles that managers face in running care homes efficiently. The most complicated issues arise from the employment of staff which is of course vitally important. Unhappy staff means unhappy clients. There are mountains of regulations for managers to wade through with respect to pay, hours, holidays and the like so it can be hard to keep staff content and feeling valued. 

 Judging by the number of calls the firm gets from worried care staff many homes are not on top of their personnel management. Head of employment law at DBS Paul Griffin said, “We’ve had hundreds of care home staff call us with concerns about pay and rest brakes and that sort of thing.  There has been an increase in tribunal claims against care homes recently too.  We’ve been looking at ways of helping managers deal with potential problems before they arise so staff can concentrate on caring and managers can focus on constantly improving service for their clients.”

 DBS will launch a tailored personnel management service for care homes this month. The firm plans to back this up with the introduction of an independently assessed “Happy Staff Certification” for display by firms on their marketing material and websites to reassure potential service users and their families.