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 Consultation: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is seeking views on its plans for the next five years as it develops its approach to regulation.
CQC’s Chief Executive, David Behan, said: ‘We’ve radically changed the way we regulate over the last three years – these changes are driving improvement in the quality and safety of care, highlighting good and outstanding care and protecting people from poor care.
Now we need to further develop our approach, adapting to changes in the way health and care services will be provided in the future, while improving our efficiency and effectiveness. This document sets out proposals on how we support the challenges of the Five Year Forward View, the changing nature of services and the emergence of new models of care. The landscape is changing – and we can’t stand still.' Link to the consultation document 'Shaping the future'.
Read the full press release from CQC here and respond to the consultation through the web form or by email to strategyconsultation@cqc.org.uk.
This consultation is open until 14 March 2016.
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Getting the provider view heard in central government - your chance to  have your say!
The Care Provider Alliance frequently hear the view that the provider voice is not heard in central government and other central agencies. This is an opportunity for you, as a provider, to make your views known to all the central agencies of government by completing the provider survey of our contacts with Local Authorities.
Local authorities have commented upon two issues in the recent past. Firstly to understand better how to use their Market Position Statements and what best practice in market shaping looks like.
Secondly asking for guidance to increase understanding of provider costs that should be included in fees to allow an efficient and effective provider to supply quality services and remain sustainable.
If you have views upon what additional guidance is required by your Local Authority or local providers then this is your opportunity to make sure your voice is heard.
The survey has been extended and is available here and is completely confidential. Please make the time to ensure your views are heard.
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Good news! Skills for Care tenders are now open for the new funding year. 
ARC will be submitting our 2016/17 application for a new Workforce Development Funding (WDF) one year contract in the next few weeks.
ARC is now coming to the end of its current contract to distribute Skills for Care WDF. We will be informed of the outcome of our tender during April 2016 and we will inform all our Partners as soon as we know.
We will be contacting all our existing Partners soon to request your funding requirements for 2016/2017, so get your thinking caps on. Although we won't know the outcome of our tender for a while we will need to understand what your needs are likely to be. And even if we are not successful we know there is money available for you so it's a good exercise for you to complete.
If you are not already accessing funding and would like to join our Partnership, please contact us on 01246 541671.
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Course Beetle - Enabling Environments for Communication 
ARC England is very proud to be working alongside Course Beetle to be able to offer this innovative workshop. 'A highly practical day workshop to help organisations and individuals make the adjustments to communication that people with learning disability and / or autism are entitled to expect in order that they experience relationships and environments that facilitate understanding and expression.'
Dates: 23rd March 2016 or 5th May 2016, 9:30 - 4:00pm
Venue: Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre, Staffordshire, ST15 0NL
Cost (*discounts available for ARC members and Real People subscribers):
£120 - full price
£95 - subscribers to the ARC ‘Real People’ Newsletter (just quote RP0116 on the booking form)
£80 - ARC members.
Download the course outline here and to book your place visit the Course Beetle website
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CQC Trade Association feedback -
Lisa Lenton, ARC England Director, attended the CQC Trade Association meeting on 13th January.
The key points are summarised below for your reference:
• Ratings – there has been a slight improvement in the overall Adult Social Care ratings as noted below from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’. Andrea Sutcliffe stated that this could be due to some re-inspection. To date 55% of services have improved their rating upon re-inspection.
Although there has been no major shift in ‘Outstanding’ it was indicated that the National Quality Panel are seeing more ’outstanding’ reports come through. Read more here.
Don’t forget these meetings are an opportunity for you to have a ‘direct line’ into CQC. Please let us know if you have any issues, comments or questions you would like us to raise on your behalf.
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New support model for people with learning disabilities cuts challenging behaviour by 60%
A new approach to support for people with learning disabilities has achieved some remarkable results. By halving challenging behaviour and driving widespread improvements to quality of life, Dimensions’ new support model for people with learning disabilities presents an opportunity for commissioners to achieve step change improvement in quality of life.
Adoption of the Activate methodology has led to:
- A 60% drop in challenging behaviour
- A 50% increase in meaningful activity
- A 50% increase in active support
- A 50% increase in staff job satisfaction
Find out more about the Activate support model here
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Surrey school opens new Autism Centre 
ARC members NAS (National Autistic Society) Cullum Centres are a response to a local need, identified by NAS and Surrey County Council, for specialist support for autistic students who have good academic potential but find it difficult to learn in busy school environments. The centres will improve Surrey's capacity to offer support and education tailor-made for autistic students. This means fewer students will have to go out of county to get the right education, making savings of up to £1.7m a year. Find out more about NAS Cullum Centres in mainstream schools.
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 Linkage Community Trust -
A special 2016 calendar of winning work by young people with additional needs has launched the second annual art and photography competition by the Lincolnshire-based learning disability charity and ARC England member, Linkage.
We would also like to extend a very warm welcome to Linkage's new Chief Executive,Valerie Waby, who joined the organisation in January 2016.
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We want to hear from you!...
 As members of the ARC community we want to be able to share your stories with others - good news stories, events, good practice, tips, advice - let's get sharing!
If you are an ARC member and have any news items you would like to feature in this newsletter, please email me at Esther.Oddy@arcuk.org.uk or telephone 01246 555 043.
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'Think Autism report - progress and positive challenges' - 
blog by Jon Rouse, Director General, Social Care, Department of Health. "More needs to happen, locally and nationally, to effect lasting, meaningful improvements in service provision and life chances." Read more.
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'NHS chief demands political consensus on funding elderly and social care' - Simon  Stevens argues that "one of the main questions in tackling the challenge of how to pay for and look after an ageing population is whether some of the money spent on increasing state pensions should instead be allocated for social care". Read more.
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'What may lie ahead in 2016 for people with learning disabilities?' 
- Dan Parton, Learning Disability Today Editor, looks at the landscape of the year to come in light of more austerity and further
cuts to budgets. Read more.
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ARC training courses and events
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We have been busily working away on our ARC training calendar for workshops available over the next few  months - download the calendar here to view the workshops currently open for bookings and see the ARC website for more details. PLEASE NOTE THAT SPACES ARE LIMITED ON ALL OF OUR COURSES AND DEMAND IS HIGH SO PLEASE BOOK NOW TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT!
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*NEW* Care Certificate Workplace Assessment Workshop
Are your staff confident when it comes to workplace observations and assessments of the Care Certificate?
We have designed this new course to equip your staff with the necessary tools to carry out workplace observations and assessments for the Care Certificate with confidence.
Our experienced trainers will cover in detail how to plan, carry out and record practical assessments, with practical examples and templates to take back to the workplace.
For more details of what the workshop will cover please see the ARC website.
Introductory offer!
Book your place now on this workshop for an introductory price of
£78 (ARC Member) and £89 (Non-member)
We are looking to arrange further courses over the coming months - to register your interest in a workshop for your area, please contact us.
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Supporting Medication - Train the Trainer workshops
Are you meeting the CQC standards in terms of medication management? Train your staff to deliver ARC's Supporting Medication workshop. We currently have three dates across England:
 16th February 2016 - Kent
26th February 2016 - Nottingham
9th March - Birmingham
Cost: £130 (ARC Member) and £149 (Non-member)
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Self-harm and People with Learning Disabilities Awareness Workshop 
People with learning disabilities are thought to self-harm at roughly double the rate of the general population. Our one-day workshop on self-harm awareness is aimed at all staff and managers working with people who do, or may, self-harm, (much self-harm is hidden) and is highly interactive.
We are now taking bookings for the following dates and venues:
3rd February 2016 - The Assembly Rooms, Chesterfield - ONE PLACE LEFT!
5th February 2016 - Next Generation Care, Plymouth
Cost: £78 (ARC Members) and £89 (Non-members)
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Mental Capacity Act / Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding Workshops 
Are you and your team confident when it comes to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards?
During the CQC ‘State of Care launch’, it was revealed: “Safety is our biggest concern – factors include staffing levels, understanding and reporting safeguarding concerns and poor medicines management.” Due to the high demand of the previous workshops, we have added two new dates over the coming months.
25th February 2016 - New Directions, Rugby
3rd March 2016 - The Chaucer Centre, Morden, London
Cost: £78 (ARC Members) and £89 (Non-members)
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Understanding Diversity Workshop 
Ground-breaking research by the Here to Stay Project team showed that in England there could be 220,00 people with learning disabilities from ethnic minority backgrounds.
This new one-day workshop raises awareness and understanding of dealing with the increasing number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds using adult learning disability services.
We currently have one workshop in place and are taking expressions of interest for further workshops across England.
9th March 2016 - Assembly Rooms, Chesterfield
Costs: £78 (ARC Members) and £89 (Non-members)
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Reports, resources and reviews
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NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidance:
For more NICE guidelines, standards and resources see their website.
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The UN Inquiry into the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the UK
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is conducting an inquiry into the impact of the UK Government's policies on people with disabilities in relation to their human rights obligations. This briefing paper provides information on the Committee, details of the inquiry and an overview of the Government's policies in relation to people with disabilities.
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'Learning Disability Health' - Turning Point have launched a new toolkit to help support the health and well-being of people with  learning disabilities. The resource is written and developed by a team of nurses and aims to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of staff in advocating and monitoring the healthcare needs of people with learning disabilities.
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A useful schedule of expected health appointments  for adults with learning disabilities -
produced by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. See more here.
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Proposals for CQC to set fees for all aspects of its inspections: 
Consultation runs until 1st February 2016.
The Department of Health Seeks views on plans to give Care Quality Commission (CQC) powers to set fees for the cost of all aspects of its comprehensive inspections. This proposal is not about changing the CQC’s fee structure or the level of fees that it proposes to charge.
For more information and to respond to the consultation see here.
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CQC 2016 - 2021 Strategy - CQC are holding live Q&As on their online community for providers and professionals to discuss the strategy:
Monday 8 February, 12pm to 1pm
Friday 12 February, 2pm to 3pm
If you are not already a member, you can sign up to CQC's online community here. If you are unable to join the Q&A at these times, you can post questions in advance.
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The National Autistic Society's Professional Conference
1st and 2nd March 2016, Telford International Centre
Conference theme - 'Exploring new concepts and approaches'
For more information and to register your place see here.
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ARC Membership includes free job listing on our website. We are currently advertising the following positions:-
- Autism Support and Care - Support Worker - Sutton-in Ashfield
- Encompass - various positions available in Dorset
- Frontier - Support Worker - Croydon
- Life Path Trust – Training Manager - Coventry
- NCHA – Support Workers – Wells Road – Nottingham
- NCHA – Support Workers – Watson Road – Worksop
- NCHA – Care Assistants – Leicester
- Reach Learning Disability – Care Support Worker vacancies - Nottinghamshire
- ROC - Support Worker - Honiton
To view any of our members' current vacancies, please visit our Vacancy Listing Page
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If you are an ARC member and would like us to advertise your job vacancies here and on our website, please email Esther.Oddy@arcuk.org.uk
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