South London Care Home Pioneer Programme has now reached over 120 care leaders from all 12 South London boroughs!
We recently held a fantastic Celebration Day at Governor’s Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital, to celebrate our latest cohort of Care Home Pioneers!
Our South London Care Home Pioneer Programme, with Health Innovation Network South London (HIN), has now been running for five years; supporting, empowering and enabling care leaders from all different types of care homes across South London.
The 9-month programme consists of workshops, action learning sets, mentor support and service improvement projects, with a goal of developing the South London social care workforce and supporting improvements in quality.
It was great to meet and celebrate the latest Pioneers as they came together to reflect on the impact of their programme, both personally and professionally. They spoke of gaining a deeper understanding of leadership dynamics and of developing their confidence and their resilience to manage challenges in social care.
“Attending the programme is possibly the best thing I have ever done! It has built my confidence so much.” – Pioneer
“The programme has boosted my self-belief. I am so grateful to have been offered the opportunity, and the impact it will have for me and the home. It really made me feel valued.” – Pioneer
The Pioneers also unveiled over 30 posters to the room, showcasing the different service improvement projects they’ve been leading in their care setting. These projects were all designed to support quality and demonstrated the creativity, commitment and skill of these care leaders.
The impressive range of projects included:
- Improved documentation for individuals nearing the end of their lives, enabling staff to provide the best possible care
- Improvements to staff supervision meetings to build confidence and provide additional support
- Education sessions to help improve knowledge of good nutrition and hydration for people with learning disabilities and autism who live in supported living settings
- Introducing electronic record keeping systems for person-centred care plans
- Various initiatives to enhance wellbeing, including sensory rooms, greater activity provision and community engagement activities
It was also great to be joined at Governor’s Hall by representatives from organisations who funded the programme. They engaged with the Pioneers, listened to the poster presentations and affirmed their shared commitment to quality and positive change in the care sector. Also present were Pioneer alumni who previously took part in the programme and were there to welcome the latest graduates into their Network of peer support.
“Listening to the graduates and alumni, I was inspired by the benefits they described from attending the course and of being part of the network. I was impressed by the ideas they had for improving the experience of residents and staff. Indeed, I have acted on the idea from one of the alumni.”
– Director of Commissioning at a Local Authority
“I’m in the really lucky position of visiting the older people’s care homes in our borough, to see first-hand the impact the course has on those attending, and also seeing the effect of sharing these ideas with other staff, as well as often delivering better communication between the home and relatives and improving outcomes for residents. It is one of the best aspects of my job. A real joy.”
– Quality monitoring officer at a Local Authority
Congratulations to all the Pioneers!
Many of the service improvement posters from this cohort are available to see online.
See the posters