Dawn Stott, a consultant specialising in kindness, resilience, and ethical leadership, discusses the importance of fostering a kind and supportive work culture.     She emphasises the importance of integrating kindness into organisational culture, particularly in recruitment, and using culture questionnaires to tailor training. She is a huge advocate for self-care, mentorship, and psychological safety to foster a supportive work environment. Dawn also talks about her five pillars of kindness which are GREAT - generosity, respect, empathy, action, and trust which are crucial for building resilient, empathetic teams.    Resources: Culture toolkit RM webinar: Leading Induction for a positive workplace culture  Registered manager membership, mentoring offer    

Hear from Adam Purnell, a Quality Assurance Manager at Bayswood Care Home who explains the importance of his role in ensuring compliance with regulations and improving care quality. He shares why knowing the regulations are so vital and how making actions SMART drives real change. He stresses the need for managers to focus on controllable factors, the importance of involving people in the auditing process, adapting audits to meet the needs of the service and how to develop effective action plans.  Resources  Providing evidence to the CQC webinar Managing a service    Developing new managers and deputies guide  

ee talk to Louie Werth, Director of Care Research and CQC feedback expert! Louie discusses the importance of feedback in CQC assessments, how gathering and actioning feedback will improve your service and the quality of care you provide and the one question that the CQC will ask everyone.  He shares how important it is that staff feel confident and prepared to give feedback to the CQC and suggests ways this can be done with regular training and practice. He also talks about how to set up surveys to gather feedback using the CQC quality statements to help structure survey questions, the benefits of conducting shorter surveys more frequently rather than one long survey, undertaking anonymous surveys to encourage honest feedback and the importance of having a separate process for handling complaints and compliments. Resources: Wellbeing Report 2025  Home - Care Research  Managing a service  CQC assessment eLearning 

Listen to Kam Gill, Registered Manager at Walfinch Oxfordshire who talks about her role and involvement in the Oxford registered manager network. She emphasises the importance of connecting with other managers, your team and your local community. Kam highlights initiatives she organises like community events, exercise classes, and cultural activities to help foster local engagement and she shares the benefits of these community connections for both the service and the local residents. She also stresses the significance of recruiting and retaining the right staff, offering personal development plans, and maintaining open communication.    Resources  Regional managers network directory  Social care managers Facebook group  Career and development  

Listen to Nicola Airey and Justine Jones who talk to us about how useful they have found utilising the care workforce pathways within their organisation.  Nicola, Head of Talent Development at the National Care Group, explains how the pathway helps identify staff's career aspirations and development needs, leading to increased professional qualifications and career progression. Justine, Registered Manager at Oak House, shares her positive experience with staff engagement and development through one-to-one career conversations.   Resources  Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification  

Cheryll Champion, an ex CQC inspector working as a quality and compliance lead joins the podcast to talk about what she learnt as when her organisation was inspected under the single assessment framework, how she ensured that it was clear how the evidence linked to quality statement and the importance of knowing the regulations. Cheryll also speaks passionately about creating a culture that enable the people they support and colleagues to be themselves.  Resources Local networks for managers  Creating a positive workplace culture seminar  Care workforce pathway for adult social care: overview - GOV.UK  Home - The Care Workers Charity 

Listen to Lindsay talk about her work for QCS and what she commonly sees in both 'good' and 'outstanding' services.  She gives some great tips on effectively auditing and making improvements. We also talk about her passion project around falls based on best practice research around falls risk assessment and how a 'falls huddle' can make a difference.   Resources Guide to improvement; Learning from accidents and events digital module  External resources on the falls project   Action Falls Train the Trainer Course | Action Falls Program | University of Nottingham Online  Best practice to reduce risk in your care home using the ACTiON FALLS programme | QCS 

We talk to Leah Smith, Chief People Officer at Berkley Care Group about their focus and strategy on neurodiversity. It’s estimated that 15-20% of the social care workforce identify as neurodivergent in some way.  She talks about some of the cost-effective changes they have made to their recruitment processes including providing interview questions in advance and offering video or audio application options and walking interviews. Leah also discusses how this focus has led to a positive impact on the culture of the organisation with improved employee engagement and retention.  In the podcast, Leah refers to a couple of resources which were a book called ‘NeuroTribes: The legacy of autism and how to think smarter about people who think differently’ and a website ‘Neurodiversity at work’.    Resources  Values-based recruitment  A positive culture toolkit for adult social care 

Series 5 of the care exchange has launched with a special live episode chatting to James Bullion from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). James covers many different topics including talking about his role as Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care at the CQC. Listen as he speaks about the CQC’s plans for making improvements, how it is important to learn from things going wrong and how to ensure consistency. Resources The Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care Local authority assessment reports - CQC Go Online: Inspection Toolkit

Our final episode of the current series of the care exchange, we are joined by Zoe Fry OBE from the Outstanding Society.    Hear Pia, Wendy and Zoe reflect on previous episodes and discuss lots of interesting topics including:  Different ways to train leaders and staff   Proactively preparing staff for CQC assessments    Having conversations about LGBTQ+

Listen to Claire Callaghan talking about why her staff never want to leave and how she has not spent a penny on recruitment in years. She credits this to a great recruitment process, a person-centred induction and a ‘listen to’ culture. Claire also talks about their organisational commitment to diversity in the workplace and the support they provide around LGBTQ+, neurodiversity and menopause

Listen to Colin Scott talking about how he has used the Skills for Care LGBTQ+ learning framework in his care home for older people to create a culture where people can be themselves.   Colin is the registered home manager of The Maples Residential Care Home, and he talks about   how he has made changes throughout the service with surprising results and how he has worked to engage people, their families and the staff. Colin also encourages placements and volunteer opportunities for younger people and discusses how this benefits his service  Resources  Confident with difference  LGBTQ+ learning framework  LGBTQ+ Good and practice webinar  LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the workplace course  

Hear from Isabel De La Haye, a recently qualified solicitor who talks a lot about the new CQC assessment and shares her tips on how you can prepare for any forthcoming assessment by understanding your current position. She talks about the importance of checking the factual accuracy of your CQC report and understanding how your rating is created.   Resources: Data Security and Protection eLearning - Digital Care Hub  Digital Care Hub - Run by social care providers for social care providers.   Digital, data and technology (skillsforcare.org.uk)  Integration (skillsforcare.org.uk)  Local networks for managers (skillsforcare.org.uk) 

Maddie talks about evidencing feedback of partnership working with other professionals and the benefits of reflective conversations to the continuous improvement journey.

We chat to Jodie Allen-Cawley, Head of Quality and Health and Safety at Lifeways.    Jodie talks about why co-production is the key to providing quality care and how it works in partnership with the people you provide care to. She explores how the ‘I statements’ and ‘we statements’ align with the new CQC Single Assessment Framework and, as a quality lead, how to evidence personalisation and co-production.   Jodie also shares the huge range of co-production initiatives and processes that are taking place at Lifeways from their quality checkers, to involving people in the recruitment process and embedding co-production as day-to-day business within the culture of the organisation.   “Ensure the people you support are at the heart of everything you do, then build outwards from that.” 

Stephen Forster joins the Care Exchange to talk about his success in recruiting 1000s of care workers. He shares his top tips on attracting workers, including how to create an amazing recruitment journey for each candidate and how to reduce no shows. We also chat about sending top tips to candidates before interview, creating attractive job adverts and value-based retention.  Resources DBS checks (skillsforcare.org.uk)  Values-based recruitment (skillsforcare.org.uk)  Application and selection process (skillsforcare.org.uk) BHI Website (betterhiringinstitute.co.uk) 

For most of us, the answer to the question ‘what is most important to you?’ would be our personal relationships. Join us for a fascinating discussion with Dr Claire Bates about how we can, and should be, supporting people to continue the relationships that are important to them.    Dr Claire Bates, who set up and runs the ‘Supported Loving’ network, talks candidly in this episode about how we should be helping people to have meaningful relationships, including where people want to continue with intimate or sexual relationships, and she asks the question ‘should a double bed be offered as default?’. Claire gives some great advice on how to create open cultures, reassure staff about having honest conversations and debunks some of the myths about what it is ok to say and support people with. Resources   Choice Support | Supported Loving  www.shada.org.uk  www.enhancetheuk.org  A positive culture toolkit for adult social care (skillsforcare.org.uk)  SfC Supporting Personal Relationships Sept21 (skillsforcare.org.uk)  Supporting personal relationships (skillsforcare.org.uk) 

We chat to Samantha Crawley, CEO of Bracebridge Care and Director of The Outstanding Society.   She talks about why registered managers strive for Outstanding, and the impact of the culture of a service on CQC ratings. Samantha also shares some great ideas about how to tackle difficult team dynamics and she how uses an assessment centre approach to help with recruitment. You can also find out why she gives a free audio book subscription to managers in all her homes.   Resources Culture toolkit Registered manager membership S4 E2 Full transcript    

Series 4 Episode 1: What is your favourite chocolate bar? Series 4 kicks off with a fascinating conversation alongside Neil Eastwood, CEO and founder of Care Friends recorded with a live audience!   Listen to Neil talk about the secrets to recruitment including having a narrow and wide focus on attracting job applicants and how to connect with people in your local community. Neil also shares lots of tips on how to improve your recruitment and retention processes including texting, hosting a dog show, reserving parking spaces, welcome cards and even providing a favourite chocolate bar!  Resources Recruitment and retention in adult social care: Secrets of success  Values-based recruitment I Care…Ambassadors  S4 E1 Full transcript

Series 3 Episode 9: With good culture you can achieve anything In the final episode of this series, we are joined by Zoe Fry OBE from the Outstanding Society who is also the host of the ‘Care Insights’ podcast. Together we look back at guests that have featured on both podcasts, and we reflect on the importance of positive leadership, leading by example and having a good workplace culture. We also discuss the benefits of looking outwards and learning from others. Resources S3 E9 full transcript