Promote professional development Free

In my role it is important to continually improve my knowledge and practices. In health and social care ways of working and legislation as well as good practice are constantly changing. Therefore it is important to keep up to date with training and also any changes in legislation. This will enable me to deliver the best service possible to the tenants I support and also enables me to keep staff upto date with any changes in the way that we work. It also forms part of The codes of practice for social care workers to keep skills and knowledge up to date. I believe that I should take responsibility for my own learning and development. I’m always looking for ways to improve my knowledge and aid my development, I do this by looking for training opportunities and requesting from my line manager to attend such courses. By taking responsibility for my own development it allows me to set myself goals that I know I’m able to achieve. There are sometimes barriers in my personal development due to mainly financial restraints and not enough money in the training budget to enable me to do everything in the time that I would like. Also my role is very hands on so sometimes I have to prioritise which is more important. My personal development or the tenants I support.

My tenants will always come first before my own needs. Also another barrier I have with regard to my personal development is that there are currently no vacancies for me to progress in this region unless the company expands. I’am as always optimistic that this will eventually happen. To aid my development I have volunteered to organise things such as recruitment days. This has allowed me to take an active lead in recruitment within the organisation. The last recruitment day I held was a great success and we managed to fill the majority of our vacancies. Not only that but some of the staff that were selected are entitled to wage incentives and training incentives so I have managed to earn the company over £6000 in incentives for taking on these people. Since this recruitment day I have been asked by my locality manager to organise another recruitment day for a service in west Wales. I thrive with the extra responsibility and I feel it is aiding my development. I also try to take an active role in the referral and assessment process to assist in furthering my knowledge. I have now completed several referral assesments and two of these have resulted in positive placements within my service.

As part of taking an active role in the recruitment process I also complete a one day training room based induction with all new starters. The induction day I devised myself and put a power point presentation together. On this day I cover codes of practice minimum standards professional boundries, Ethos of supported living, Policies and proceedures, Journal and incident writing and also information on The Regard Partnership. The regional director for Wales sat in on my first induction and gave positive feedback on the induction. Also after the induction all staff fill out evaluation forms, All of which have been extremely positive. As always my line manager is very supportive with my personal development and she sets me goals at supervision and appraisals for me to work towards. My manager also is constantly on the look out for training oppertunites for me to assist in my development. At my next supervision I am going to request that between us we draw up an action plan to also aid my development. My manager is a great mentor and is always available for advice or guidance either in person or on the telephone. Between my manager and the locality manager they give me the opportunity to complete tasks that will aid my development.

For example I had to carry out a probation review for a staff member who had been under performing and despite additional training and support still failed to meet the standards expected. As a result I took the lead in carrying out his probation reviews and in terminating his employment. This significantly helped in my own development as I knew this staff member on a personal level outside of work. It taught me how to separate professional and personal feelings. There are always tools to assist in my development both within the organisation and externally. My line manager has managed to source a management and leadership training course externally which I will be attending as part of my development. I have also registered with an employment agency to enable me the opportunity to work with different client groups, This will help me gain a better knowledge within my role. When selecting oppertunites I need to bear in mind the following: Is the training relevant to my role

Is the cost within budget
Is the training mandatory
What do I want to get out of the training
What I can offer the company once training is complete
Is the training beneficial to the tenants and staff team

When setting goals and targets for my own development I need to ensure that timescales are realistic and that my own needs are not impacting on the tenants and the staff that I support. Each training that I attend means that I’m not in the service for a day at a time, Therefore I need to ensure that my workload is still completed and that my absence does not have a negative impact on tenants activites or staff working hours.

I have a sound knowledge of CSSIW minimum standards, mental capacity act, human rights act DOL’S as well as my own organisations polices and proceedures. Part of my induction that I do with new starters explains and goes through the minimum standards/codes of practice. See below: Minimum Standards are set by the Welsh assembly to ensure all service provisions provide a good service to the people we support. These standards are the minimum expectaions that an inspector will look for when inspecting a service. They look at all areas from how we support our tenants to staff training and also service development. The standards are also in place for referral and assessment transition visits through to daily living and end of life care. Codes of practice have been put in place by Care council for Wales for social care workers to adhere to. There are six expectations which are: Protect the rights and promote the interests of service users and carers Strive to establish and maintain the trust of service users and carers Promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm Respect the rights of service users whilst seeking to ensure their behaviour does not harm them or others Uphold public trust and confidence in social care services

Be accountable for the quality of their work and take responsibility for maintaining their knowledge and skills. The mental capacity act was put in place to empower and protect people who may lack capacity to make decisions for themselves. Dol’s forms part of the mental capacity act and is in place to ensure we do not where practical use restrictive ways of working or deprive someone of their liberty. There are exceptions to this and it is normally when there is a risk of harm to the individual or others that restrictive practices can be used. If this is the case then there should be written evidence from your local safegaurding team agreeing the ways of working. All of the above are in place to ensure the way we work gives the best care and support to people we support with the aim to empower, promote independence and offer choice to all the people we support.