Sheffield Local Involvement Network

The Care Homes for Older People Action Group has been hard at work for some time now. They have now released a detailed Interim Report , which includes findings from a number of ‘enter and view’ visits and from a questionnaire completed by 35 homes. There is also a shorter executive summary of the report .

It highlights a number of positive findings including that 88% of care homes that responded said they offer person-centred care and 60% provide essential services, such as transport and special mattresses, as part of their fees. However, a number of areas of concern also came to light including the uptake offree podiatry care and the availability of en-suite rooms and facilities for relatives.

The report also calls on Sheffield City Council and NHS Sheffield to improve how they engage with older people who use their services and to improve the quality and availability of information to care homes to allow people to make more informed and independent decisions. The Action Group is continuing work on this topic by sending the questionnaire out again to those homes that had not responded the first time and, to date, another 19 responses have been received. In addition, another 12 ‘enter and view’ visits have been arranged with local homes to continue improving our knowledge of care home provision in Sheffield.