I attended The Care Show 2022 at the NEC for the first time this year and it was great. It was a really good mix of talks from the movers and shakers within the care world, exhibitors and networking. Here are my key takeaways from attending the show.
Day one at The Care Show
Day one included a really interesting talk from Aaron White (Oakland Care) who is leading the way to a more sustainable future in care. I loved the ideas he had which included creating a sustainable garden with Kent Wildlife Trust and it all started from collecting batteries in a black bin.
Next, I met the fabulous social care influencer Adam Purnell who knew everyone and had a fab light up fan (check out The Caring View on Youtube). I attended a really inspiring talk by the WAGS (women achieving greatness in social care) all about the role of women leaders in social care and followed this up with drinks with the same group in the Metropole. Key takeaways included to own your own space, in order to value people professionally you need to know them personally, proactive mentoring is key and none built a legacy by standing still and admiring their own achievements.
Day two at The Care Show
Day two started with an early morning coffee with Ben Miller, a RM who has done amazing things in the recruitment and retention space – see his article on this very topic.
My first talk of the day was whether a voluntary care workers registration is the right approach. There was a debate about which workers this would capture, how it would be funded (should care workers pay?) and what its purpose was (to ensure minimum standards, to make it easier to recruit, to provide care workers with recognition or something else). The consultation is open until 30th November 2022 and the panel are really keen to hear from you, particularly from care workers. The link for feedback is Registration | National Association of Care & Support Workers.
Lunch was spent with the lovely Paula Cashmore hearing about her new venture and then I moved onto a talk all about the new CQC single assessment framework. In a nutshell changes will probably not happen until April 2023 and will include less on the ground visits, more focus on things such as environmental sustainability, best practice and innovation, a less rigid timetable for re visits depending on the rating, and to focus on thinking of all visitors as CQC inspectors. One takeaway was to sign up to the CQC Citizens Lab (Public participation platform of Care Quality Commission | CitizenLab). I also swung by the listening post, a positive new initiative to be a place for those working within social care to go to vent/share/chat.
A packed two days spent learning lots and meeting a wonderful bunch of people. I look forward to delving more into the social care world.
