In a series of interviews with the regional co-chairs of the Social Care Nursing Advisory Councils (SCNACs) Madeleine Anderson looks at the priorities of each council and how the co-chairs are promoting social care nursing in their local area.
In this third interview, she hears from the co-chairs of the South East council, whose regional priorities are improving clinical competencies and developing a communications plan.
The co-chairs
The South East SCNAC is co-chaired by Zoë Fry and Scarlett MacDonald. Ms Fry is also executive director of the Outstanding Society which oversees the seven regional councils. She previously ran a nursing home and was recognised for her services to social care nursing by being awarded an OBE in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours List.
Ms MacDonald works as commissioning manager at the Caring Homes group and has worked across a range of nursing environments. She previously worked as a home manager at Care UK and as a nursing lecturer at Central Sussex College.
Priority 1: Clinical competencies
The South East is focused on ensuring social care nurses have the right clinical competencies and that they have the necessary clinical skills to deliver appropriate patient care.
The council is working to deliver ‘alignment’ between the skills and experience social care nurses are expected to have and ‘what they are competent on’.
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‘There’s a lot of myths around that,’ Ms MacDonald told Nursing in Practice.
‘The myths come from our colleagues in health not having experience in social care,’ she added.
As part of their work to improve understanding around the exact clinical competencies required of social care nurses, the South East SCNAC is also pushing for more student placements in social care.
‘So, one of the things that’s really important to change that narrative is our students going into placements. By having experience in social care, student nurses have a clearer sense of what would be expected of them when they enter the workplace,’ Ms Macdonald continued.
The South East and London SCNACs are working together on raising the profile of social care nursing, with both recognising the role of student nurse placements in addressing potential misconceptions that can surround the sector.
Both regional councils are working together with the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) and Skills for Care, to clarify the exact competencies expected of different social care roles.
‘For example, if I was a nurse in a learning disability service, what skills would I need to be a great nurse in a learning disability service?
‘That’s a very different skill set from an adult general nurse who works in a classic nursing home, and we need to be accountable in our different roles,’ Ms Macdonald said.
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Priority 2: Communications strategy
The South East SCNAC is also developing a communications strategy to make information about research and training opportunities more centralised and available to social care nurses and wider healthcare staff and systems.
Ms Fry said health and care services should use the opportunity to come together at SCNAC meetings, and to communicate ‘into and out of the councils’.
‘Social care can be so vast, there are so many different kinds of social care nurses, whether it’s domiciliary care, supported living, learning disabilities, or complex home care,’ she explained.
‘So, we want to get that communication right. We want to have a central repository for information for the providers across the South East and work really closely with our colleagues in health as well.’
One way the council is improving its communication strategy is through a ‘task and finish group’ communications plan, which aims to create a central online resource for adult social care nurses to access information about grants and research opportunities from national organisations. Though this is currently still in the works.
Last month, we published our second SCNAC interview with the North East and Yorkshire Council team, who are focusing on championing social care and improving task delegation.
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Also in March, the government announced that the NHS funding given to care homes to provide nursing care will increase by 7.7%.
Launched in 2023, there are seven social care nursing advisory councils across England. Each has two regional priorities to work towards to improve social care as a whole across the country.
