We have published Guidance for developing a policy for care at home services based on the NHS Scotland Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Management Standards (Oct 2020). These standards are applicable to both health and social care which includes care at home services.
The Care Inspectorate held a consultation event during 2022 to consider with a wide variety of health and social care professionals, the implications of these standards for care at home services. From this event key areas of the standards were highlighted, and a draft policy guide developed to raise awareness of the areas care at home service should consider and support them to put these elements in place. Eight Care at Home services helped us to test out the guidance and their feedback was that it supported them in two ways. Firstly, for those services to develop a policy where none was in place, and secondly where a policy existed to use as a method of evaluation to ensure the content was in line with the pressure ulcer standards.
We would encourage care at home services to take account of the standards and supporting guidance to put in place a robust approach to focusing on a preventative approach so that skin damage is picked up at and early stage and escalated.
We are planning a webinar to support services to implement this guidance. A date for this will be announced shortly.