Activity Provision in Care & Support Settings
An invaluable Commissioning Tool
Welcome to ‘Seize The Days’, a model devoted entirely to Activity Provision. It has been created as a platform to recognise good practice and to fundamentally raise the standards of Activity Provision in care and support settings.
Seize The Days is an independent and objective, stand-alone model that Commissioning teams, Services and Families can trust.
We’re here to work with Care and Support services and in addition we have a tool that will rate the strength of their activity programmes.
If we ever needed a reminder, Lockdown has shown us that Activity plays a fundamentally important part in all of our lives and whilst we can start to venture out and enjoy more of what we like, people in residential and supported settings are continually at the mercy of their service when it comes to activities.
Important Question
If you were looking to find a service for your loved one, we believe that you’d choose a service with a positive CQC rating and a service that has a carefully planned and delivered activity programme, one that will give your loved one some enjoyment and one that brings some meaning to their days, something to look forward to.
That’s why we created Seize The Days.
We believe that Seize The Days will grow to become an invaluable commissioning tool in the months and years to come. Acting as a safeguard against poor or mediocre activity provision whilst signposting you to services that can be trusted to deliver high level activity programmes. Seize The Days will give you the confidence to make informed commissioning decisions whilst in possession of accurate and objective information.
Seize The Days Explained
The team behind Seize The Days has over 35 years of experience in Activity Provision. We aim to enhance activity programmes within care and support settings by offering Specialist activity training based around positive engagement, incorporating key elements taken from the field of Therapeutic Recreation and the broader field of recreation planning.
We constantly seek out new and innovative practice and activity solutions to offer to our partners We offer the chance for services to partner with seats of learning to collaborate in projects using the latest thinking which will positively impact on their service. In addition, we have secured preferential rates on key goods and services from suppliers to the field of Activity Provision.
Ratings Model
Seize The Days offers a ratings model for those services who want decision makers to know just how seriously they take their activity programmes and are looking to promote their rating to the market.
Activity programme will be rated on key performance indicators including, but not limited to:
Quality, Quantity, Frequency and Variety. All programmes will be rated on their commitment to achieving outcomes and to what degree they are choice led and person centred. Crucially, programmes will be rated in terms of their benefits from a physiological, psychological, social, cognitive and emotional perspective. Budgets, planning and resources will also be factored into the overall rating.
In order to improve their ratings, services will be encouraged to take up training and coaching opportunities. For instance in the field of activity provision, positive engagement and Positive Behavioural Support amongst others.
Quality of Activity Provision
The quality of Activity provision in care and support settings varies widely. Information gathered from our team suggests that in a significant number of services, the quality of activity provision could be improved upon.
Whilst the cuts to Local Authority budgets have been swingeing, services should not cite lack of funding as a driver for stasis or a reduction in activity provision.
Sound planning and investment led by the will to engage and the required training can negate the need for activities to be a drain on budgets. To balance the argument there are a number of services who place activity firmly at the centre of their thinking, and they are to be applauded. Albeit these are significantly lower in number.
A little research on the CQC website will evidence that services with an outstanding rating tend to have better activity programmes.
Positive Engagement and Activity Training is the Key
At present there is a palpable disconnect between care staff and activities coordinators. Many care homes are experiencing this and Seize The Days aims to address this through positive engagement led activity coaching and training.
It can take just 1 disaffected staff member to close an entire service, which has severe implications on manpower and resources for Social Services and NHS clinical teams should there be a need for re-homing.
It is therefore very much in your interest to know that services value and train their staff in ways that will enhance their enjoyment in work, whilst reducing absenteeism and staff turnover.
Hiring agency to plug gaps in recruitment is a costly business and may have a severe detrimental effect on service users, potentially undoing weeks, months or even years of positive work.
Lower care and support packages
An effective activity programme can improve physical and mental health and significantly moderate challenging behaviour which correlates to a direct positive effect on the cost of care and support packages. Based on a best interest decision this could lead to service users currently in residential care moving to their own tenancy with a reduced care or support package in the fullness of time.
Given the shortage of beds for service users leaving secure and complex services, having the confidence to place service users where they can benefit from a well-planned, resourced, delivered and evaluated choice led person centred activity programme could represent significant savings and peace of mind for Local Authority budgets.
From a service perspective there are a number of tangible benefits to membership of Seize The Days:
- A potential Increase in referrals
- Attraction of Funding, resources and expertise
- Improved Staff skill set and confidence a boost in staff morale to combat absenteeism and accompanying costs
- Reduce a care providers outlay on goods and services
- Showcase the providers great work to Commissioners and the CQC in a new and exciting stand- alone platform
- Have access to the latest thinking and innovations …and lots more
The Growing Importance of Activity
Our experience suggests that when it comes to Local Authority Commissioning for places, activity provision is now a key consideration based on the significant benefits of delivering an effective activity programme. This is backed by the CQC’s commitment to Meaningful Activity as laid out in the National Service Model. *The CQC rewards services that innovate and collaborate, which can be applied to the field of activity provision.
We have the right to live a meaningful life and by the same token…. so do the people in care and support services.
Send a Link
If you become aware of a service with a history of providing effective activity programmes, or perhaps a new service or maybe one that has recently become more “activity focussed”, we’d greatly appreciate it if you would kindly give them the link to this website www.seize-the-days.co.uk
Thank you for time and consideration …meaningful activity is hugely important to all of us, so for your own health and well-being please remember to… Seize The Days!