What is the positive change that has emerged through new collaborations or partnerships during Covid-19 that your project is going to embed?

The COVID pandemic has been a challenge for care homes. The need to protect residents has led to more isolated working for staff.

Solent NHS Trust are committed to developing care home support by integrating with existing local CCG provision which includes training e.g. infection control and support e.g. with PPE procurement. Dedicated project managers have already met and started working with representatives from care homes, CCG’s, NHS services and the Hampshire Care Association.

Most importantly, we would like to rapidly understand and respond to the changing needs of care homes in this new world. We want our training and support processes to meet their current needs in the most effective way.

The Solent Academy of Research and Improvement already has experience of working with care homes on research and is keen to develop this further to use QI methods to identify needs, develop and evaluate education and support methods.

What does your project aim to achieve?

This project aims to work collaboratively with care homes to establish a mechanism for understanding their changing support needs alongside processes for developing and evaluating approaches to meet those needs.

The project will provide:

• An introduction to QI methods for all involved
• A framework for working collaboratively
• Ongoing consultation with care home staff to identify needs
• Consultation with NHS and social care teams to explore opportunities
• A programme that establishes practices to meet needs identified
• Digital resources that allow for flexible involvement from care homes staff e.g. it is envisaged that training sessions could be recorded and hosted in a single easy to access location

Ongoing outcomes from this project will include:

• Care home staff experience of participation
• Reported changes in knowledge, self-efficacy and skill
• Changes in the flow and quality of referrals
• Usage of project resources
• Case studies showing benefits for residents

How will the project be delivered?

The project will be delivered by a project worker from Solent NHS Trust. They will be trained by the Academy and supported by the managers currently overseeing this project.

Our QI training will be supported by our existing Improvement team and training partners NHS Elect. Resource development e.g. videos will be supported by our Academy communications team.

We will provide support and training to NHS services in developing their use of remote training as well as use of on-line resources. We will also seek involvement from our existing patient and public involvement network.

A proportion of the funding will be available to support champion workers from residential care homes to take dedicated time for involvement in this project. The long-term expectation being that these workers would also take on a train-the-trainer role.

A proportion of funding will also be used to develop new digital resources and update existing websites.

How is your project going to share learning?

We will establish an integrated communications plan to ensure that our experience is shared in a timely way as effectively and broadly as possible. We are experienced in using a range of formats for sharing learning all of which will be utilised for this project including:

• Ongoing project promotion and experience sharing via social media e.g. Twitter and Facebook
• Regular feedback will be provided for all project participants including hard copy e.g. posters for on-site promotion
• Project reports and “glossy” single page summaries
• Presentation at local and national conferences
• Videos and infographics
• Blogs and dedicated project pages on the Academy website

Project resources will be made available on an accessible by all website