Care Show Speaker Spotlight: The Illusive Outstanding
Ahead of The Care Show 2018 (17-18 October, NEC Birmingham), The Carer talks to Jonathan Cunningham about that illusive OUTSTANDING rating! 2% of all care providers achieve this level of recognised excellence but what is it that sets them above the rest?
In December 2016 Jonathan was behind Rosebank Care Home to become the first Care Home in Sefton on Merseyside to secure this CQC grade. Since then he has helped achieve this for others and now as the Registered Manager over Birkdale Park Nursing Home he is continues to work his magic over his residents’ lives. There is little doubt that Jonathan knows a thing or two about how to become OUTSTANDING.
So, what’s the secret?
There is no secret, nor is it rocket science. It is about the focused combination of gritty determination, infuriating uncompromised drive and a deep-seated love for your residents and staff. I have a simple test for providers:
- If you continually chase CQC compliance, then you are probably just GOOD
- If you do things that other providers do, then you are probably just GOOD
- If you don’t eat, sleep, drink and dream about being OUTSTANDING, then you are probably just GOOD
- If you read other providers’ CQC reports to get ideas, then you are probably just GOOD
- If you don’t make it all about your residents and your staff, then you are probably just GOOD.
Many managers think that becoming outstanding is about doing what others have done before them. This is where they go wrong. An outstanding grade is found within YOU not in the pages of other people’s CQC reports. Providers must think differently and start to take risks. It starts in believing 110% that it is achievable and an attitude of mind that will stop at nothing. Only then does a manager elevate themselves to a new level where the impossible becomes possible.
What are your top tips?
I have six areas that I would suggest that providers need to focus on:
- Get unwavering support from the provider. You will not achieve an outstanding rating without the full support and commitment from the provider. Regardless how much you may try without their backing you will not achieve it. Get them on side and off you go!
- Build the network. You must become the centre of an interconnected network of social care connections. This allows you to identify best practise, share ideas and influence your domain. You must establish your home as a community care hub that continually influences others and brings life and fulfilment into the wider communal world.
- IT and Social Media Innovation. IT is not a couple of iPads or a set of virtual reality goggles! IT innovation is about enabling people’s lives through the imaginative use of IT. Social media features in every outstanding home. Homes have a duty to broadcast their message, to inform other of their values and enhance the lives of their residents.
- Your people. The most important resource is your staff. Outstanding homes recognise this and make uncompromising investment into them, their training and development. Staff are key to the organisations success, but this takes time.
- Internal Systems of Audit. Outstanding homes have effective systems of audit. They are good at self-policing and do not require CQC to inform them if they are good or bad. Audits are well designed, well implemented and are a long way off of the box ticking approach of many homes. Establish excellent systems of audit and you are on your way.
- Finally, all outstanding Homes have ‘outstanding leadership’! It is top down. As I tell my team “I am Captain of this ship”, I am here to protect all those who sail in her, it is my job to keep watch and navigate the choppy care waters, allowing my team to deliver outstanding care. I love my team deeply as it is my job to nurture, develop and enhance every single one of them. This doesn’t mean that we are soft with people. Challenging HR problems are dealt with head on, nipped in the bud and fully recorded. The activity of team building is never ending but is the only way a battle winning team is maintained.
Why attend my Care Show presentation?
Can you imagine drinking from a fire hydrant? Well that is what is going to happen to you during my presentation. I will fire so many ‘top tips’ for your care home you will need 2 pens and 4 arms to take down all the new ideas. Stand by to be inspired, enthused and elevated to a new level. See you all there!
Meet Jonathan at The Care Show on Wednesday 17th October 2018 from 11:40 – 12:10 as he presents in Theatre 2 as part of the show’s Excellence in Care, Residential Care conference stream. For the full conference agenda please click here.
