Delivering Excellence Through Assessment

Can assessments evidence competence?

2012-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

In essence the principle behind CIS-Assessment.co.uk is to facilitate evidence of knowledge and competence.

Firstly, someone cannot be competent without the knowledge to support it, because competence is knowledge put into practice. So making sure someone has the knowledge in the first place is the starting point, once you have established they have the knowledge required, you are some way towards evidencing competence. Competence is the application of knowledge so you have to add an observation of practice – it is the only way to really evidence competence, it is the only way to check that the knowledge is applied in the day to day role.

However, what happens when you can’t do a formal observation, like safeguarding or fire safety, hopefully neither of them happen that often, so you can’t observe. But you can discuss in supervision along the lines of “how would you deal with…”, “what would you do in this situation?”, “give me an example of…”, so that you can gather evidence that the person could put their knowledge into practice when in that situation, but you must evidence that they have the knowledge in the first place.

Lastly, traditional training courses suffer with the same issue. If someone attends a course you still need to evidence competence because otherwise why would you bother investing the time, effort and resources? Therefore, doing assessments after someone attends a course supports you to evidence what they learned from the course, what they retained and therefore what they have available to apply in their day to day role. Support that with an observation and now you have a quality piece of evidence that says: they attended a course, we measured its effectiveness, measured what the person learned and checked that they are applying what they learned = ie the transfer of learning. The transfer of learning is actually what it is all about, because if they don’t learn, they can’t apply and the application of knowledge is what affects the quality of service delivered and the outcomes of the people being supported.

Take that one stage further and complete an assessment before someone attends training and then you can work out if they need the training, or of if there is some other way the learning needs could be fulfilled. Furthermore, it enables you to send people on formal training with a purpose, you need to learn A, B and C and we will discuss A, B and C when you get back from the course. I guarantee they will pay more attention when they are there, which will contribute to their competence, confidence and their capabilities...

Award Winning!

2011-12-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we attended the Local Government Chronicle Business Partnership Awards in London. We are delighted to announce that we won the “Innovative Partnering Solution” award, for the workforce development work we have done and are continuing in partnership with Bracknell Forest Council.

We would like to thank everyone who has worked with us over the past five years to create and strengthen www.cis-assessment.co.uk, www.three60degree.co.uk and www.e-tna.co.uk with a special thank you to Bracknell Forest Council. We are looking forward to continuing the delivery of cost effective and innovative solutions to existing customers and partners and we also look forward to working with new people.

If you would like to read about the projects we have supported Bracknell Forest Council with and some of the successes then please see the following two case studies:

Bracknell 50 Percent Case Study

Bracknell three60degree Case Study

National Childrens & Adults Social Care Conference

2011-10-25T09:29:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone that visited our stand last week at the NCASC Conference.

We held a prize draw on the Friday of the conference and the winner of the laptop was Pauline French, from the London Borough of Croydon.

We also had a number of "runner-up" prizes and we will be contacting them individually over the next few days.

Refreshed Common Induction Standards

2011-06-10T01:32:00.001-07:00

Today is the day - Friday 10th June! Today is the day that the refreshed Common Induction Standards come into effect, no longer can the old, smaller Common Induction Standards be used with new staff. The refreshed Common Induction Standards however are a fantastic way to ensure that all staff have the knowledge they need to do their job safely, which is why the Common Induction Standards are referenced very clearly in the CQC Essential Standards of Quality of Safety.

Importantly the refreshed Common Induction Standards contain many outcomes that were not in the old Common Induction Standards so they more accurately reflect the changing environment in which we operate these days, for example there are no "service users" any more, enalbing individual employers to use the Common Induction Standards with their PA's. However, the increase in the number of outcomes (from 70 to 161) and the increase in the number of Standards has not been matched with an increase in the amount of time available to complete the Standards, as that remains at 12 weeks.

Alongside the refreshed Standards Skills for Care have also released some updated gudiance about both Induction and Refresher courses, which you can download from the resources section http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm On page 3 Skills for Care describe very clearly that completion of Induction is subject to an assessment that evidences the practitioner's competence and this is part of the culture change that is required in Social Care that the Audit Commission highlighted it's briefing paper yesterday.

What ever method you use to facilitate Induction it has to be assessed at the end to measure it's success. What ever method for refreshing knowledge you use, it is imperative that the knowledge people acquire is checked and most importantly - put into practice. Our assessments against the refreshed Common Induction Standards have supported Local Authorities and Private, Voluntary and Independent organisations to do just this, evidence the knowledge and practice of the people providing services, because that is what has an impact on the outcomes of the people being supported.

To find out more download one of the case studies from the resources pages of this website.

Refresher Training, CQC and Skills for Care

2011-04-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Skills for Care recently launched “Meeting the workforce regulations: Skills for Care advice on CQC's workforce-specific outcomes” to support employers with meeting the requirements of the CQC Essential Standards, which is a fantastic resource and can be found at http://bit.ly/gmWAGl .

In addition at the beginning of April they released additional resources specifically targeted at Outcomes 12, 14 and 25 and it makes for very interesting reading, download a copy from the resources section: http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm

Skills for Care specifically address “refresher training” on page 7 and it states: “Service providers and managers should assess the need for refresher training according to the service type, care setting and the role of the worker” and goes on to say that Skills for Care do not set the legislation http://bit.ly/e5MTC4 .

Furthermore it directs you to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and their legislation and requirements and this is even more interesting. In the HSE document “Health and safety training – What you need to know” http://bit.ly/eBqhRf it says:

Training means helping people to learn how to do something, telling people what they should or should not do, or simply giving them information. Training is not just about formal ‘classroom’ courses.

In the HSE document: “Manual Handling Training” it asks the question “How often should training be given” and it is very clear, “there is no firm rule about this”. http://bit.ly/eVn1kZ

So Skills for Care suggest that you need to assess when refresher training is needed and the HSE support that by recommending that training is more than a formal course, yet people tell me regularly that you HAVE to go on training, particularly Moving and Handling training and I always ask the same question, “Why do you need to go on training?” and the answer I am looking for is “to learn”, but it is the answer that I seldom get.

The real driver behind “refresher training” is about making sure that people have the knowledge they need to do their job safely, which is what CQC describe in outcome 12 of the Essential Standards of Quality and Safety http://bit.ly/hpByBO and not sheep dipping people through training to get certificates of attendance.

So what is the answer? Skills for Care suggest that you use a “Skills scan and an observation” because in doing so you are able to firstly evidence whether or not someone has the knowledge and secondly using the observation, you can evidence if they can put that knowledge into practice and if can evidence that someone can apply their knowledge in their job role that kind of evidence is much more valuable than a certificate of attendance.

We agree. To find out more about how our assessments can support you to reduce your training overhead but still ensure that everyone has the knowledge they need for their job role, visit the resources section of our website and have a look at some of the case studies.

CQC - The essential standards

2011-03-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we attended the Skills for Care Berkshire Showcase. Thanks to everyone that came and said hello and thanks to everyone who took the time to come over and share the fantastic feedback about using the assessments - we really appreciate it.

However the really interesting thing that happended yesterday was the presentation that the South East Compliance Manager gave at the end of the day. I had been looking forward to hearing CQC present because everyone had been telling us for ages that "CQC were no longer being prescriptive about training courses", but we had no way of verifying if this was actually the case. Well yesterday certainly cleared things up!

CQC made it clear that they are not the experts in every single job role and therefore they cannot prescribe what training an individual does or does not need - it was made very clear that that is the managers role. Only the manager in that location, knows what that individual needs to carry out their job role safely and so it is down to the manager to demonstrate to CQC that the person has the knowledge and skills relevant for their job role.

Outcome 12, is very clear staff need the "skills and experience necessary for the work performed", it does not say that staff have to go on training course X and then be refreshed every year or three years.

Another indication that CQC are no longer looking for training course certificates is the removal of the 50% of staff with an NVQ2 target. It is no longer about whether people have been on training; what is important is: do they have the knowledge required for their job role and can they put it into practice? CQC will looking for evidence of this, but that does not have to be in the form a training course attendance certificate any more.

Our online assessments have been supporting organisations to do evidence exactly this since 2007 and many of our customers have written case studies that describe the successes they have had using the online assessments, please visit the resources section to download the case studies.

Comprehenisve Spending Review

2010-10-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

Social Care and Health integration and the funding to get it started. See link below to a letter from David Behan - Director General Social Care, outlining the funding the next four years:

David Behan Letter

An additional £2Bn to support the delivery of social care and an ambitious program of efficiency.

£300m for re-ablement, alongside two new grants, the Learning Disabilites and Health Reform Grant and the Public Health Grant, to reflect the forthcoming transfer of responsibility for services from the NHS to local authorities.

Transformation and efficiency however will be the theme over the coming years and we believe that we can contribute to those efficiencies, as Jill Manthorpe of Kings College London said recently "less training and more skills development".

Visit the Case Studies page on new.cis-assessment.co.uk/case_studies to download the West Berkshire Case Study, which outlines how they transformed their training provision and saved £thousands.

NEW Common Induction Standards Workbook

2010-10-19T01:53:00.000-07:00

Since Skills for Care refreshed Common Induction Standards in June of this year we have been working on updating our assessments and our workbook.

We released updated assessments a while back and today we are thrilled to launch our new workbook. A big Thank You to everyone who provided feedback on the draft versions over the course of the summer and a special Thank You to Sarah for all of the hard work that she has put in over the past few weeks.

The workbook is available FREE if you are an existing customer, please get in touch if you do not already have your copy of the workbook.

If you would like to have a look at the workbook, please see the links below to Standard One and the Introduction:

http://new.cis-assessment.co.uk/docs/pdf/intro.pdf
http://new.cis-assessment.co.uk/docs/pdf/St1_wkb.pdf

As the refreshed Standards have twice the number of outcomes compared to the 2005 Standards, we have split the workbook into individual workbooks for ease of completion. However this also means that the assessments and workbook can be used to ensure that existing staff are up to date with the refreshed Standards, without them attending lots of training.

Please visit the workbook research and the case studies on website in the resources section for more information:

http://new.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rp

New Website - Beta launch

2010-10-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Firstly, thanks to all the customers that have provided us with feedback that has enabled us to develop the new version of CIS Assessment. We have incorporated many of the things that you asked for including "Save" assessment and a "Don't Know" button plus much more...

If you would like to have a look at the new website you can log on using your existing username and password. At the moment the new site is in "beta" and we are going through the final checks to make sure that everything is working correctly and we have transferred everything across, so if you are able to log on, have a look and provide us with feedback we would be very grateful.

You can find the beta version of the CIS Assessment at:
http://new.cis-assessment.co.uk

We will adding updates throughout the course of this week and if you would like more information, please visit the news page at:
http://new.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=nfp

Finally, we are showcasing the new assessments at "Shaping the Adult Social Care Workforce" Conference on October 13th http://www.insidegovernment.co.uk/health/adult-care/

For a discounted rate please register using the code CIS01

Ryder Cheshire Volunteers

2010-09-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that sponsored me for the New Forest Half Marathon today - which I completed in 2.13.37 (Thanks for the support Mr & Mrs VB)

So far my 'Just Giving' page stands at £105 and will stay live for another three months at: www.justgiving.com/Alex-Knapp

I ran on behalf of Ryder Cheshire Volunteers and if you want to find out more about their work, visit: http://www.rcv.org.uk/rcv/index.php/projects/reading-project.html

If you are able to make a donation and support the fantastic work that Ryder Cheshire do, please click on the link above. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me so far.

Investing to Save

2010-09-25T03:58:00.000-07:00

I was talking to one of our Local Authority customers yesterday who described a conference she had attended where they talked about "Investing to Save". Essentially being smarter about training that is commissioned and using assessment to ensure that when people do attend training they have learnt from it!

Sounds very similar to one of our key messages over the past four years, but due to the current economic climate are people are getting on board, which is fantastic. A culture change is needed that means managers and organisations still need to ensure that staff have the required knowledge to do thier job safely, but training courses and qualifications won't be there to evidence the knowledge of staff, because the budget no longer exists.

Another of our customers said to me recently that CQC are suggesting that 3 years is too long between refreshers and that they should be done anually! Imagine that, everyone on every training course, every year - is it really necessary? Surely there must be a smarter way?

Essentially, the assessments will support you to make sure that the limited training budget is invested in the people and the areas that need it rather than using a blanket approach. It is exactly what happens when someone needs a homecare package for example, they are assessed and the package is focussed on their needs, not what the service provides, so why shouldn't it be the same in learning and development?

Use the assessments as the referesher and if someone is still not sure then when they attend the refresher at least they will attend knowing what they need to find out from the course, rather than switching off when they get there because it is the same course they attended last year!

Download the cost benefit analysis from the Solutions pages on the new website, to see how one Local Authority cut training costs in half: http://bit.ly/bBWDsi

New Workbook

2010-07-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

Since Skills for Care released the refreshed Common Induction Standards at the start of June we have been busy revising both our assessments and the workbook that supports them.

I am very pleased to say that the final draft of the workbook has gone out for final review and I am really looking forward to the feedback.

All customers who have current license will automatically get a copy of the revised workbook free of charge. Watch this space for details of the final released date.

The assessments have been tested and are now being added to all existing customers, however if you would like a temporary username and password to have a look at the new assessments please do get in touch via the contact us page.

NEW Common Induction Standards Latest

2010-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

20 days after Skills for Care launched the refreshed Common Induction Standards we have uploaded the updated version of our online assessments! I want to extend a big Thank You to the team at http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/ for all of their effort over the past three weeks.

Over the course of the next two weeks we will be completing the final testing and review process before making them available to all of existing cutomers free of charge.

If you would like to be part of the testing process during the next two weeks please get in touch via the contact us form http://bit.ly/bSXmlm

Please do get in touch if you have any questions and once again a BIG thanks to everyone who has put in the effort since June 10th.

GMC "Extremely Concerned"

2010-06-18T10:45:00.001-07:00

The General Medical Council according BBC 6 O'Clock News is "extremely concerned that there is a gaping hole in procedures and they cannot assess the competence of doctors coming to work here from Europe".

Judith Morris on this evenings news was reporting on the death of David Gray who given a fatal overdose by a german doctor who has today been struck off at a GMC hearing.

Andrew Lansley the Heath Secretary also said he would be "working closely with the GMC to ensure that foreign health workers are not allowed to practice unless they have proven their competence and language skills."

Perhaps someone could give him our number?

Review of Child Protection

2010-06-17T06:46:00.001-07:00

Eileen Munro has been asked by Michael Gove (Education Secretary) to "cut red tape, improve IT and build confidence" according to Community Care. http://bit.ly/b9RwDa

Furthermore to look closely at the Hackney Model of Social Work, which interestingly is one of the London Boroughs that use our online assessments to support the Supervising Social Workers that work with their Foster Carers.

In addition the Community Care article states "Another area Munro and her panel will examine is how IT systems can "contribute to strengthening good practice." CIS Assessments online assessments used in Hackney and many other Local Authorities across the country are used to ensure that staff have the knowledge required to do their job safely and knowledge in our opinion os the foundation of good practice.

Does any one have Eileen's email address?

Time to raise expectations

2010-06-09T06:43:00.000-07:00

I have just listened to the Radio 4 You and Yours program from Monday of this week, which is available at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00slb6n

Pamela Wells shared her experiences of the abuse and neglect that her husband faced over a 2 year period in a care home along with similar experiences that other people have shared with her since. Pamela has weritten a 17 page report about her experience which is available to download at: http://bit.ly/aJZUs7

What puzzles me is that these are all things that should never have happened if staff had been properly supervised, selected and trained; maybe the new Common Induction Standards will bring some focus to these issues when they are released tomorrow.

Perhaps the new CQC quality ratings that Amanda Sherlock describes in the Radio 4 interview will also have some impact, because they are going to focus on what individuals in care actually experience. I also thought Amanda's comment that "we need to raise expectations" was interesting, does this mean that CQC are going to be more rigourous in their inspection regimen?
From what Skills for Care say in their Refreshed Common Induction Standards document: The CQC Essential Standards of Quality and Safety highlight the importance and value of strong and comprehensive induction and they will need to be assured that all new staff have undergone a thorough induction process. You never know!

NEW Common Induction Standards

2010-06-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

Later this week we will start work on the NEW Common Induction Standards, when Skills for Care release the Standards on Thursday.

Over the past few weeks we have been preparing revised versions of our workbook and the assessments in readiness for the changes, so we hope to have the new assessments and workbook available very soon.

All of our existing customers will receive a copy of the workbook FREE of charge and we are looking forward to working with Skills for Berkshire who are going to review it along with the Berkshire Local Authorities.

Please visit the blog or the news page for further updates over the coming days.

Please also see the previous blog / news item entitled "Do more with less", which is also related to the Common Induction Standards.

The Era of Evidence! At last...

2010-06-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic blog from Community Care! http://bit.ly/bSS8nU

In an era of budget cuts organisations will need to evidence "the cost-effectiveness of social care interventions and this will be a key task if the sector is to fight for and keep funding in the coming months."

Over the past four years we have helped our customers to do exactly this, evidence that training, coaching, e-learning or any intervention is having the required effect - ie knowledge and an impact on outcomes for the people who access services.

Furthermore, using onlione assessment also enables organisations to measure the effectiveness of training and evidence whether or not the intervention has been successful, or if it was even required in the first place.

Check back next week for more announcements after the release of the refreshed Common Induction Standards or visit the website www.cis-assessment.co.uk

New Common Induction Standards

2010-06-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Skills for Care have recently confirmed that the release date for the New Common Induction Standards will be June 10th - next Thursday!

The Standards have changed quite dramatically since the draft standards and so will require some work in order to map across from the existing 6 standards, however Skills for Care have confirmed again that there will be 8 standards, but they still need to be completed in 12 weeks.

www.skillsforcare.org.uk/cis

Please check back for more information after June 10th or visit www.cis-assessment.co.uk

Do more with less...

2010-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Skills for Care have recently released a wealth of information about the refreshed Common Induction Standards, which can be found at http://bit.ly/9S0hsY

The key points seem to be that the Standards will have 8 Standards as the draft version of the Standards did and Skills for Care have confirmed that even though the number of Standards has increased by 25% the amount of time in which organisations have to complete the Standards has not increased beyond the current 12 weeks.

The Common Induction Standards are unlikely to be accredited because of feedback from the sector that staff not being able to work alone for the first 12 weeks of employment would put a huge strain on resources.

LDQ will be no more, instead "contextualised Common Induction Standards" will be the way forward, partly because there will be a Learning Disabilities pathway in the QCF which was not the case in NVQ.

Finally, the core units of the QCF "mirror exactly" the first four units of the induction so provided it is "carried out effectively" the evidence can be used towards the Health and Social Care Diploma.

CIS Assessment are already working a revised version of their successful Online Assessments and workbook which will be released as soon the Standards are confirmed by Skills for Care. All existing customers will receive a copy of the workbook free of charge and will automatically get access to the new module provided their licence is up to date.

Visit the links page to download case studies on how our customers have successfully used the assessments over the past three years.

www.cis-assessment.co.uk

Skills for Care Conference 2

2010-03-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we hosted workshops at the Skills for Care Berkshire Conference in Slough. Below is a copy of the e-mail from the conference organisers:

Dear Alex

Again, I would like to offer my sincerest thanks for your magnificent contribution to our conference this week.

As last time, you were able to provide delegates with a very informative, innovative and interesting workshop.

Without exception, all of those who attended your sessions were either satisfied or very satisfied with the high quality of your presentation and the clarity of the information that you imparted to them and the way in which the information was clearly presented.

You undoubtedly achieved the outcomes which we were hoping for, which was to give delegates an insight into the assessment process and many of them have committed themselves to signing up with you.

The conference was extremely successful and I would like to thank you again for the part you so admirably played in helping to achieve this.

With best wishes

David Shinegold
Event Organiser
Skills for Care (Berkshire)

Outstanding!

2010-03-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic article on Community Care http://bit.ly/9BZcxk

"One thing the outstanding fostering agencies have in common is a strong commitment to training not only their staff, but also the foster carers."

Is it really that simple? Who knows but it has to be a great place to start!

Visit http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=wuf for more infomation.

Skills for Care Annual Conference

2010-02-25T01:21:00.000-08:00

Just sat waiting for the conference to start looking forward to hearing Linda Bellingham speak this afternoon.

It will be interesting to see what Andrea Rowe has to say about recruiting and retaining the workforce of the future and if she mentions the new Common Induction Standards as part of that process!

Will be attending the Dementia and QCF workshop which will be interesting and will be finding out about the accolades as well.

From our perspective knowledge is the foundational element for retaining and recruiting the workforce of the future and the current workforce, let's see whether or not Skills for Care agree!

Skills for Care Chairman

2010-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

In Community Care of February 11th there is a letter from David Croisdale-Appleby in response to a Community Care article about the services provided to Dementia sufferers.

www.communitycare.co.uk/113542

In his letter he makes an excellent point and it is an opinion which I share, namely that that the estimates are that we need around an extra one million social care workers to cope with needs of the ageing population (by 2025) and the training they receive is a critical element of quality care.

It is essential that existing staff and new staff alike receive the proper training, David is right, but training in itself is not the only thing required. The reason people attend training is to improve their knowledge or refresh existing knowledge, so they can make use of that knowledge when they are supporting the individuals they work with.

However, it is imperative that the success of that training is measured and does not become training for training's sake. Checking that social care workers have added to or improved their knowledge by attending training is the critical element, because then there is evidence that they have the knowledge and therefore can apply it in their day to day role.

Something that David does not mention in his letter is the cost of the training, the time, the backfill (cover), the effort, the resources required to even send someone on a training course in the first place, which we all know is huge. Therefore it is even more important in the current climate to enusre that budgets ar well invested in training that delivers the required outcomesand training that has measurable impact on the quality of care.

More information about how we helped many Local Authorities to do exactly this can be found at:
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/

If you would like to read our case studies or talk to our customers, just give us a call.

Are you ready for registration?

2010-02-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

Are you registered with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) ? Will you be ready for your re-registration?

You will need to be recording your Learning and Development / Continuous Professional Development, which you will need to produce for your re-registration.

Click on the link below to get a copy or the Post-registration training and learning recording form you will need.

http://bit.ly/by91px

Skill for Care Berkshire Conference

2010-02-18T01:36:00.001-08:00

Last week we launched our newsest assessment - Manager's Induction Standards at the Skills for Care Berkshire conference and I just wanted to share the feedback we have had from Skills for Care:

Dear Alex

I would like to offer my sincerest thanks for your magnificent contribution to our conference last week.

You were able to provide delegates with a very informative, innovative and interesting workshop.

Without exception, all of those who attended your sessions were either satisfied or very satisfied with the high quality of your presentation and the clarity of the information that you imparted to them. Many commented on the extent of your knowledge and your ability as a presenter.

Overall, it was a workshop which enlightened, informed and inspired those who attended.

You undoubtedly achieved the outcomes which we were hoping for, which was to give delegates an insight into the assessment process and many of them have committed themselves to signing up with you. I will pass the delegate details to you as promised.

The committee feel that the conference was extremely successful and I would like to thank you again for the part you so admirably played in helping to achieve this.

With best wishes

David Shinegold - Event Organiser
Skills for Care (Berkshire)

If you missed the Reading event the next Berkshire Conference is on March 22nd at:

The Centre Conference Venue
Farnham Road
Slough
SL1 4UT

I hope to see you there.

Fifty Thousand Assessments!

2010-02-15T02:56:00.000-08:00

CIS Assessment is proud to announce that last week one of our members took the fifty thousandth (if that is a word) assessment.

Over the past three years we have worked hard to develop a range of online assessments that enable managers and workers to quickly and easily build evidence of knowledge and this year we will be launching both a new updated version of the assessments, but also a range of new modules including:

First Aid
Moving & Handling
Fire Safety
Food Hygiene
Equality & Diversity
New Common Induction Standards

It will be interesting to see how it takes to reach one hundren thousand assessments - so watch this space!

More information and evaluation licences available at www.cis-assessment.co.uk

Skills for Conference - February 11th

2010-02-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

Come and visit us tomorrow at the Skills for Care Berkshire Conference.

We are hosting the Managers Induction Standards Workshops throughout the day and will also have a stand with access to all of the online assessments. Most of the assessments are fully funded for carer organisations in Berkshire, so drop by and pick a username and password if you don't already have one.

It is being held the Hilton Hotel off J11 of the M4 - I hope to see you there.

Medication in the news again

2010-01-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

Once again Medication in Care Settings has been identified in a report funded by the DoH as an area that need to be reviewed, because of the number medication errors.

'Community pharmacists should play a key role in ensuring that vulnerable patients are not disproportionately harmed by medical errors.'

Find out more information at:
https://www.cas.dh.gov.uk/ViewandAcknowledgment/ViewAlert.aspx?AlertID=101328.
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=7

Our assessments are there to support organisations to evidence and check the knowledge of their staff, in order to prevent exactly these kind of mistakes. Visit our site to find out more:

http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/

NEW Common Induction Standards 2010

2010-01-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

So the time has arrived! The NEW Common Induction Standards are out for review, which has been something we have been waiting for and preparing for, for a little while.

The increase to eight standards in our opinion is a good thing and particularly the inclusion of Equality and Diversity as a separate module. It is also good to see the term "service user" disappear.

More information can be found at:
http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/participation/consultations/CISrefresh.aspx
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=1

Welcome Aboard!

2009-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

Everyone at the CIS Assessment would like to welcome Mikey to the technical team.

I know the technical people already have a long list of things that need to be refreshed, so we are looking forward to your induction!

To all our customers and people using the assessments look out for some improvements in the New Year as well some new assessments including the Mandatory Courses, starting with First Aid which will be available soon.

More info as always can be found at http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk

Foster Families Magazine

2009-10-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

In the Autumn issue of Foster Families Magazine the Childrens Workforce Development Council (CWDC) published an article entitled "Are you up to standard?", which was all about the Foster Care Training Support and Development Standards.

The article described how Foster Carers skills, knowledge and expertise can make a fundamental difference to the Children and Young People you support and I am sure you will agree as I do that the CWDC are absolutely right.

In the Winter issue of Foster Families Magazine look out for a new article entitled: "You are up to standard", which describes how we have helped thousands of Foster Carers across England evidence that those exact same skills and expertise can be evidenced quickly and easily using our online assessments.

For more information visit either:
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/ or http://www.fosterfamilies.co.uk/

Workshop yesterday

2009-10-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

Really pleased with the feedback from yesterdays workshop:

"I spent two hours yesterday trying to get out of this workshop, because I have a lot on at the moment, but I am really glad I came, it is a really useful tool"

Thanks go to John Daniels who shared his thoughts at the end of the workshop yesteray because everyone is busy and sometimes fitting training events about new things can be difficult.

The workshops are a fundamental part of what we do in supporting the Local Authorities and Private and Voluntary organisations who use our system, because in approximately two hours we can share how to use the assessments, demonstrate why assessing knowledge is important and enable people manage the system going forward.

Dementia Congress

2009-10-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

In time for the 4th Dementia Congress early next month, CIS Assessment will be launching the latest version of our online assessments based on the Skills for Care Knowledge Sets.

Find more information including the National Dementia Strategy on our reference material pages at: http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=5

Look out for more information in this months copy of Caring Times which will be available during the congress. For more info visit: http://www.careinfo.org/congress/UKDC09brochureLOW.pdf

Medication in Care Homes

2009-10-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of core the principles of online assessment is checking that staff have the knowledge to carry out their role safely, because if a carer has the right knowledge and applies that knowledge in their role it will improve the quality of care that is delivered.

That knowledge is vital when it comes to medication and that is why Skills for Care have produced the knowledge set: http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=7 and why we have produced the corresponding assessment.

http://careandsharetogether.blogspot.com/ as many as 70% of care homes incorreclty administer medication, yet from a CIS Assessment perspective it is something that could so easily be checked, because the knowledge of the member of staff is part of the process.

Foster Care Standards

2009-10-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

CIS Assessment is proud to annouce the launch of assessments based on the Children's Workforce Development Councils (CWDC) - Training Support and Development Standards for Short Break Carers.

The standards can be found in our reference material section:
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=4

The assessments are designed to support carers to evidence that their knowledge meets the new standards and on an on going basis build an evidence portfolio that can be used to evidence continuous professional competence.

Check back soon for more news about a case study coming soon.....

2009-10-02T08:56:00.000-07:00

National Dementia Strategy

Objective 13 - An effective and informed workforce.

Training and Workforce Development is of central importance for working with poeple with Dementia which partly why Skills have produced the Dementia Knowledge Set, so that trainers and managers can check the knowledge of staff.

We recently launched assessments based on our successful online system and have been working on the assessments ever since and so we are proud to announce that in a couple of weeks we will be launching version two of the assessments.

For more information on the National Dementia Strategy and the Knowledge Sets visit:
http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=5

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Deliveringadultsocialcare/Olderpeople/NationalDementiaStrategy/DH_083362

Infection Prevention and Control

2009-09-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.carehomenews.org.uk/index.php/2009/09/better-communication-will-prevent-infections-cqc/

Better communication will prevent infections according to the Care Quality Commission, however the knowledge of staff also plays a crucial role.

Check out the Skills for Care Knowledge Set on Infection Prevention and Control at:

http://www.cis-assessment.co.uk/default.asp?p=rm&rs=6

Residential Care Sector Growth

2009-09-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/09/17/112607/laing-and-buisson-care-home-decline-at-an-end.html

Is this the beginning of the demographic change that everyone has been predicting?

Either way if funding is going to be reduced in 2011-12, identifiying who needs to go on training and evidencing knowledge is going to be even more important.