Care homes have had such a tough couple of years, and it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for those key workers pre-Covid either! For such hard-pressed caregivers, compliance to the National Standards may feel like a chore, just one more hurdle to jump in the race to deliver first-rate patient care. But that is not the case. Standardisation means everyone doing the same thing in the same way, so for care homes, this just means taking the great practice that is already going on in the sector and rehoming it in a way that makes it measurable. The Standards are about giving staff in primary care the confidence to know that they are providing five-star levels of cleanliness for their patients.
There was talk recently of the CQC pausing routine inspections while care homes battled with the impact of the Omicron variant and this caused some anxiety about a lack of oversight. Complying with the National Standards solves this problem – if you are compliant, you can measure your own performance and you can feel safe in the knowledge that your cleanliness meets the nationally recognised benchmark. It effectively removes any anxiety you may feel around your own cleaning procedures, work schedule or personal expertise and experience.
For care homes, the National Standards are not putting up a hurdle to jump, but offering a rope to help pull you up.
