Care Council for
Wales’ response to the Health, Social Care and Sport
Committee’s inquiry
into the Welsh government’s draft dementia strategy.
- The Care Council for Wales welcomes the
opportunity to provide a short written response to the
committee’s inquiry. We are responsible for supporting
the training and regulation of the social care workforce. In
that context, we wish to emphasise to the committee the importance
of good training and support for individuals who are providing care
and support to people living with dementia.
- We feel that any approach must be underpinned
by values, in relation to supporting individuals living with
dementia these include :
•
Everyone matters.
•
Everyone has something to contribute.
•
Everyone is different.
•
Everything matters and the ‘normal’ and the
‘ordinary’ are important.
•
Every word matters - we must use positive and strengths-based
terminology in supporting people with dementia.
- These values underpin our recent publication
Good Work: A Dementia Learning and Development Framework for
Wales
which responded to demand and evidence
for more training and a consistent approach to caring for
people living with dementia.
- These values are articulated within a
range of codes of practice across health and social care in Wales
and are consistent with the values of the Welsh Government’s
Social Services and Well-being Act.
- All of the principles and learning and
development topics outlined within the Framework are being applied
in practice somewhere in Wales but this is not consistent, with
pockets of good practice across Wales and elsewhere. We need to
learn and build on this to spread the good practice everywhere. The
Framework recognises that everyone is on a different journey in
developing support for people living with dementia and their
carers.
- The publication was developed jointly between
the Care Council, the Welsh Government and NHS and is a practical
document, which will support individuals to be better informed and
trained about caring for people living with dementia.
- For workers, the framework can be used to
inform:
•
Qualifications
•
Training
•
The involvement of people with dementia, carers, families and the
wider community
•
Continual professional development
•
Recruitment
•
Appraisal
The Framework can assist people with dementia and their carers
to:
•
Know their rights;
•
Know what good care, support and services should look like;
•
Be able to evaluate the quality of any care and support they
receive;
•
Know how they can contribute to the design and delivery of good
care and support and understand the pivotal role they can play in
this.
- In April, the Care Council will become Social
Care Wales. We will continue to promote and disseminate the
dementia learning and development framework. We will support
the Welsh Government in developing their dementia strategy and we
expect dementia will be identified as an improvement priority for
the sector. The role of social care in supporting
individuals living with dementia through for example community
support; care and support at home and residential care is critical
to support citizens well-being.
Sarah McCarty
Director of Workforce and Development
Care Council for Wales
South Gate House, Wood Street, Cardiff, CF10 1EW