February 2024 Care News Roundup: Appointments, Research, and Exhibitions

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman appointed

Amerdeep Somal has been appointed as the next Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. She has also been appointed as Chair of the Commission for Local Administration in England, the official body which runs the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman service. She began her role on 1st February 2024.

The ombudsman can investigate individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other public service organisations.

Research paper highlights issues and learnings during pandemic

Research led by Northumbria University academics, working with colleagues from Plymouth Marjon, Birmingham and Newcastle Universities have completed a paper titled “Challenges and improvements associated with transitions between hospitals and care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study with care home and healthcare staff in England”. The objective of this study is to gain insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the safety of transitions between hospitals and care homes.

The paper, published in the journal Age and Ageing, is a qualitative study based on personal testimonies and identifies commonalities and patterns obtained from the interviews. It also finds that good practices and better ways of working were developed as a result, including remote access to healthcare and improvements in joined-up working between sectors. Three themes were developed, ‘new challenges’, ‘dehumanisation’ and ‘better ways of working’ (see figure below).

Lead author of the Age and Ageing paper, Dr Craig Newman, is a Research Fellow based within Northumbria’s Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing. He said: “This research identifies the enormity of the challenges, however, it also highlights that relationships were built between the NHS and care homes with examples of integration and sharing best practice infection control protocols.

Conference and Exhibition season

The 2024 conference and exhibition season will soon be here, commencing on 14th March with the Care England Conference and Exhibition at Westminster. This will be swiftly followed by UK Care Week at the NEC Birmingham, and Care Show London on 24th-25th April at ExCeL London.

At a regional level, the Care Roadshows’ 2024 programme begins at Hampden Park Stadium in Scotland on 16th April, followed by Aintree Racecourse on 14th May and Villa Park Stadium on 16th May.

Visitors to Care Show London can expect to see PredicAire there, both exhibiting on Stand G15 and hosting a panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence on 24th April at 3pm. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest information about our show and exhibition programme.

by PredicAire
13/02/2024
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