Is your Care facility ready for cold and flu season?

The seasonal battle against flu is something which all Care Providers will be intimately familiar with, posing challenges both to the health of Care Users and Staff. Providers also risk finding themselves in a position where shifts go unfulfilled, putting additional strain on the staff who are working and risking a reduced quality of Care delivered to the Users.

But now, with the added threat of Covid, the risks are even more significant than at almost any time in the past. So, what can Care Providers and Agencies do to help prepare?

Vaccinations

Government advice is that everyone eligible should receive the annual Flu vaccine, and many front-line social care or health workers may be included with this, as well as Care Users themselves.

This is doubly true with Covid, where vaccinations are proven to improve health outcomes.

Make sure you have adequate PPE

During the height of the pandemic, the availability of essential PPE could not always be guaranteed, despite its importance. Now though there is no excuse. Like most measures, PPE is not a total solution in isolation, and its effectiveness depends largely upon the level of diligence with which safety procedures are followed.

Thankfully there are detailed resources with advice detailing which PPE is required in different situations, where to source it, and disposal procedures.

Make sure you have spare staff ready

Running without any spare capacity for staff may seem more efficient, but it’s often a false economy. As soon as a single person has a personal emergency, illness or even just travel disruption, you may be forced to operate short-handed or employ expensive bank staff.

That’s why Care Hires works with Care Providers to make sure they have excess capacity built into their staffing agreements, all delivered at the same agreed rate. We put this in place to ensure we give you the surge capacity to meet increases in demand, and we actively manage the agency network so the capacity increases commensurate with your business.

With just a few clicks you can arrange new shifts, select the workers to complete them, and verify their timesheets. And with the consolidated billing system Care Hires uses, there’s no additional billing paperwork to deal with.

If you would like to find out more, arrange a free demo and consultation of the