Increased resilience, retention and quality – key outcomes of My Home Life England programmes
We are really pleased to share new data from over 200 care leaders, which reveals that participation in My Home Life England programmes has significant impact for care leaders – including an increase in the quality of their management and leadership, improved professional confidence and resilience, greater job satisfaction, higher retention and an improved culture of care in their setting.
We undertook a thematic analysis of 19 end-of-programme reports from our programmes that were delivered between May 1st 2022 to April 30th 2023.
This included reports from 16 cohorts of our flagship MHLE Professional Support and Development Programme. Overall 216 care leaders completed a My Home Life England programme in the timeframe.
The research and evaluation data reveals that care leaders work in an incredibly important, complex, socially significant job, which is mentally, physically and emotionally demanding, and individuals are often left feeling undervalued and overburdened with a multitude of different responsibilities.
By participating in My Home Life England’s programmes, care leaders were able to share their challenges, feel supported, and learn a variety of tools, skills and strategies to support them in the workplace.
- 98% of care leaders reported an increase in the quality of their management and leadership.
- 99% reported improvement in understanding of how to improve the culture of care.
- 91% said that, over the last 12 months, their confidence as a professional had increased.
- 85% reported an increase in job satisfaction.
The impact of the MHLE programme was not only felt by the care leaders, but was also reported to have a wider impact on care teams, the people they cared for, their families and friends, relationships with wider stakeholders, and the overall culture of the care setting itself.
We have published a research report which shares our full findings. It also reveals many of the challenges faced by care leaders across England, including relationships with internal and external individuals, supporting their teams, maintaining personal resilience, growing professional confidence, driving forward innovation, and the lasting impact of COVID-19.
The report ends with a list of recommendations, including the ever-increasing need for the wider health and social care system to recognise the expertise of the sector, and engage with care services as equal trusted partners with important perspectives to share regarding solutions to problems within the system. There is also a need for greater access to regular professional development and independent supervision for care practitioners at all levels, to help them feel valued, process the emotional content of their complex work and to support quality and emotional wellbeing.
Vic Rayner OBE, who authored the report Foreword, said:
“Sustained, evidence-based approaches to leadership are vital for social care, and that is what the My Home Life England programme offers managers all across the social care sector. Now in its 18th year, this report demonstrates that over and again the MHLE programme continues to inspire and develop those front-line leaders. At a point where we are struggling to both attract and retain staff within the sector, this programme evaluation and review gives real tangible insights into ‘what works’ to support both our current and future leaders”.
Tom Owen, Director of My Home Life England, added:
“It continues to be a huge privilege for the My Home Life England team to be working alongside such skilled and creative social care leaders and local commissioners, helping them to work better together to rebuild our care services following the pandemic and deliver quality of life for some of our most vulnerable citizens.”
See the full research report:
DownloadSee the executive summary:
Download
My Home Life England has a 17-year history of working alongside care leaders to support quality of life in their services and is part of the international My Home Life initiative that aims to improve quality of life for people living in care homes and other care settings. My Home Life England is part of City, University of London.
