If I am setting up as a new adult care service provider and will be both the Registered Manager and Nominated Individual, who will supervise/monitor me?

Answered by Barry Price

I have actually been in this position. But I hear more recently it’s becoming a questionable issue for inspectors.

During a new service registration where I was taking the nominated individual role as well as the registered managers position the inspector asked given the two roles “who would I receive my supervision from”?

I thought I had this in the bag turning to my Directors/Owners stating they would be doing this to which I was challenged “and what experience do they have in social care in order to do this effectively and critique you if they do not know how the sector works and all its little nuances?”

We discussed their long and varied business experience. They accepted that as a Director they would be suitable to discuss finance, plans, development etc but from a care perspective I could mislead them and they would not really get it. The point was taken, well and truly received.

So I went on a bit of a mission. Looking at where my support came from. Was it from the three managers group’s I take part in or the providers forums where I meet regularly with other registered managers, nominated individuals as well as business owners and commissioning teams? Surely to me these are all forms of supervision. I just needed to document discussions.

I looked again at Regulation 18: Staffing and it stated “Staff must receive the support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisals that are necessary for them to carry out their role and responsibilities.” It made no reference as to who by. In fact many websites had supervision guidance which was a wealth of information, but nothing to assist in my situation.

Starting by asking the question in the various groups and behold I was not alone anymore. Lots of others were in my situation and had got quite inventive. Have you joined the QCS group for your sector?

For Domiciliary Care Providers, please join here.

For Residential Care Providers, please join here.

Some posed questions in groups in order to garner feedback including other ideas. Then they completed a reflective learning exercise and kept this in a CPD file. Others had paired up with mentors as the groups had other members offering to be mentors and the take up on this was very good.

A couple had regular group “Peer Practice Supervisions” where they got together discussed Care Practice, Personal and Professional Development, Scenarios and Reflective learning. This had been very well received by inspectors.

Another few had buddied up with another provider in their area an idea that had been given by a commissioner at a provider forum. They took this further and also carried out certain audits for each other operating as an outsider looking in. They felt this worked well as they then knew more about the business model the other was running.

One option was a well-known commissioning team having quarterly business meetings with providers as part of contract monitoring. Again could this also be seen as a form of supervision on how well the business is performing against a set of operation standards. Isn’t that really what supervision is!

The final option came with a price tag. A few people in Group engaged consultants and as part of that agreement they came with a supervision, mentorship element. This again worked well but for some the barrier was cost to others.

All I thought were excellent examples so I sent an email to the registration inspector explaining all the options and was there anyone she would prefer me to adopt. Her answer was as expected. It was for me as a provider to choose and justify the decision. The regulations didn’t state how just that you needed to have.

Pairing up with another provider and meeting with my business owner to complete my supervisions worked well. Not only did I receive critique from a knowledgeable supervisor, my director also learnt lots. Setting up a Supervision folder and using it as a form of CPD file alongside other places where I had sought and received other forms of supervision.

So I think the better answer to your question is not WHO but HOW do you receive supervision when you are doing both roles.

Think outside the box and I hope from the few scenarios above you find an effective solution for you and your business. The only remaining issue is what happens when the your conduct takes a dive, but that’s a different question altogether.

I’m sure once you start looking at your support network the ideas and solutions will present themselves.