Domiciliary Care Toolkit app for iPhone and iPad

The App is a free resource designed to support domiciliary care workers and their managers. It can also be used by service users and their carers.

The App is divided into four key content areas. These are important areas of learning and development that all domiciliary workers should understand and put into practice to ensure the people they support (service users) receive the high standard of care they deserve. These include;

• Values and Behaviours covering; what are values; what is person centred practice and interactive exercises to test workers understanding; what is the difference between respect and dignity, what are the NISCC Standards of Conduct and Practice for Social Care Workers and scenarios to help explain what these mean in day to day practice.

• Safeguarding covering; what adult safeguarding means, what are the types and signs of abuse; scenarios to explain/test how a worker might know that abuse is happening. This section also includes information on adult safeguarding champions, domestic abuse and safeguarding children.

• Service user health and well-being covering key information to help workers promote the health and wellbeing of the service users. This includes; the dos and don’ts for administration of medication and the NISCC Guidance on Administration of Medication, skin care (including pressure sores), infection control, hand washing, person protective equipment (PPE), safe food handling and why risk assessments are important and should be adhered to.

• Service Areas and Pathways – this is a new section (added in 2016) and includes information on dementia, delirium and end of life care. This section aims to help raise awareness of these important and complex conditions and to provide guidance to improve workers day to day practice.

Every year workers complete mandatory and workplace training around the above topics. If they are not immediately putting this learning and knowledge into practice they may not be able to remember what to do when a situation arises. The App provides the above information in a succinct/bite size format. It provides a quick reference tool to help refresh learning, as and when the worker needs it. This enables the care worker to consider and reflect on the values and types of behaviour required for good and safe practise. It reminds the care worker about the NISCC Standards, about person centred practices etc. The App also includes; scenario based exercises from practise and relevant videos and other information to enhance understanding and improve service delivery.

The content of this App has been updated (2016) to reflect changes in current policy and to bring it up to date.

The App has been developed and produced by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISSC) in partnership with domiciliary care providers; Bryson Care and Extra Care, representatives from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, the Safeguarding Board, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), the DHSSPS/DoH and Dementia Together NI/Delivering Social Care Change project.