The Anticipatory Care Calender
The Anticipatory Care Calendar (ACC) is a simple tool to improve the daily surveillance of health for adults with learning disabilities. It overcomes some of the barriers that can prevent people with learning disabilities accessing health services. Developed in 2006 by the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network, the tool has been implemented in settings offereing care to individuals with learning disabilities. On evaluation it was identified that the tool would also be appropriate in improving the provision of care to adults with dementia in other settings, including care homes. The Lancashire and Cumbia Cancer Network has now joined in a partnership with the Merseyside and Cheshire Cancer Network to roll out the calender across both networks along with the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cancer Network.
It is an innovative approach to daily health assessments designed to alert staff to health changes and provide clear directions about accessing primary care. A “traffic light” system triggers a specified response to unusual observations. A key application is to support social care staff to develop a high standard of health record keeping, monitor health and ensure clients access NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.
The Purpose of the Anticipatory Care Calendar is to…..
- Reduce health inequalities
- Ensure clinical governance is met
- Set out appropriate care pathways
- Improve communication
- Standardise information/documentation
- Record patterns in behaviour and symptoms
- Reduce diagnostic overshadowing
Why is the Anticipatory Care Calendar needed?
People with learning disabilities are:
- Less likely to participate in National Screening Programmes for Breast, Cervical and Bowel cancers
- Often misunderstood as people see the disability and not the person
- More likely to die young and have greater health problems and needs
- More likely to have their health needs ignored by some health professionals
- More likely to face barriers when accessing health care services
How does this benefit people?
The Anticipatory Care Calendar:
- Streamlines pathways of care
- Prompts staff to think about the health of clients daily
- Improves early detection of cancer and other diseases
- Improves screening uptake
- Improves communication amongst health professionals and staff
- Enables health staff to see a visual picture of a person’s health for the first time by analysing changes
From February 2012 the process for using the Anticipatory Care Calendar will be changing. A train the trainer package will be available for managers and senior staff from social care settings. The remainder of staff will access an eLearning programme and will be supported by the staff that have completed the train the trainer programme. Once all staff have completed the training the Acc documents will be released.
The train the trainer programme is a full day’s course whilst the eLearning package should take no more than 2 hours.
Please follow the link below to find out more information and to register for the training
http://www.anticipatorycarecalendar.org/
For more information please contact:
Angela Hargreaves
Email: angela.hargreaves@lsccn.nhs.uk
Telephone: 07769883953