The sessions, delivered by the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Adult Social Care Commissioning team in partnership with the Black Country Integrated Care Board, are designed around real challenges facing services, using insights from joint quality assurance and contract monitoring work to focus on key themes and emerging trends.
A key focus is to support early intervention and prevention, helping to give services the skills and knowledge they need to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and improve outcomes for residents.
The sessions also bring together expert voices from across the system, including the Care Quality Commission, District Nursing Teams, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, ensuring the training reflects current best practice and regulatory expectations.
The training has been so successful that it is now being rolled out to other adult social care organisations, including homecare, supported living and day opportunities providers.
Councillor Linda Leach, Cabinet Member for Adults, said: “These events create a valuable space for care home providers to learn and develop, share experiences and best practice, and build strong professional networks, all of which is helping to foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and high quality care.
“Feedback from providers has been overwhelmingly positive, with many sharing that they love taking part and value the opportunity to meet others across the care sector, build connections and share learning.”
Bal Johal from Parkdale residential care home said: “The training events provide an opportunity to catch up with other managers from care homes around the city and share our work and any issues which we may be experiencing, as well as meeting with members of the quality assurance and infection control teams.
“The speakers are always a good listen, and we always take away learning and knowledge which helps with our day to day practice. And, most importantly, being able to meet away from our normal environment provides an opportunity to focus on learning without any distractions.”
Victoria Catalano, Home care Manager for Coton Grange, added: “I have learnt so much from the training events, especially from the speakers – I have implemented so much from the Mental Capacity Act session and from the speakers who discussed how they managed to reduce instances of falls.
“I feel these sessions are essential – it’s a chance for managers to come together and share their knowledge and expertise with each other, and to reach out for support.”
