Do I have to complete ‘shadow shifts’ if employed as a self-employed carer by an agency?

Providers need to ensure that they comply with Regulation 18 Staffing and that they have staff who are ‘suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced… to make sure that they can meet people’s care and treatment needs’.

Therefore, a provider must be satisfied that each individual care worker, including agency staff, have a suitable level of training, knowledge and experience for the care and support that is being provided to its service users. It will depend upon the local policies of the provider as to how this is achieved, however some may offer shadow shifts as they are a good way of clearly identifying the skill sets of staff members. If you feel that this is not necessary, you should discuss this with the Registered Manager.

About Emily Kerrigan

Emily has a background in quality and compliance with specific expertise in audit. Her previous roles have included working with domiciliary care branches that required improvement and supporting them to action plan and improve their quality and compliance. Working at one of the largest UK domiciliary care providers ensured Emily was exposed to significant numbers of CQC, CIW and Care Inspectorate Scotland inspections. She led internal audits bench marking against regulatory standards , supporting managers in the drive to deliver high quality care and support. Emily has a proven track record in supporting the transformation of branches that require improvement, moving them to compliant and on the journey to outstanding. Read more

Do I have to complete ‘shadow shifts’ if employed as a self-employed carer by an agency?

About Emily Kerrigan

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