Audit of Residential Facilities, Final report - Division for Social Policy ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe Department of Social Development is responsible for the development and administration ofthe legislation which impacts on social development services to older persons and residentialfacilities is one of them. The government has a responsibility to ensure that its senior citizens arein environments that maintains or improves the physical, social and psychological well-being ofindividuals who, for a variety of reasons, are not fully able to care for themselves.The purpose of this Audit was to identify the services provided and determine the quality of theseservices whilst also identifying the management systems which are used to run these facilities.The aim is to provide a national baseline study of the current status of residential facilities,focusing primarily on where government interventions should be focused to improve the quality oflife of older persons within these institutions.Umhlaba Development Services was appointed as the service provider by the Department ofSocial Development, with the task of auditing the residential facilities for older persons in SouthAfrica. The report will provide the reader with a review and analysis of 405 homes across thecountry in terms of the following: medical services, social / recreational and outreach services,policies and procedures, management and governance, staff and volunteers, as well as anoverview of the building and facilities. The report provides a quantitative analysis of these areasas well as some anecdotal views of all stakeholders.The following documents formed the basis of this study, namely the Older Persons Act, SA Policyon Older Persons as well as the Guidelines for Frail Care and the National Norms and Standardsregarding acceptable levels of services to older persons and service standards for residentialfacilities. These norms and standards prescribe the acceptable levels of services that should beprovided to older persons and in terms of which services must be monitored and evaluated.Therefore, any person who provides a service to older persons must comply with the norms andstandards. It is important to note that across the provinces only 61% of management and 26% ofstaff knew about the new norms and standards. The lack of knowledge of these norms andstandards was also reflected in the current practices in many of the homes.There were often big differences of opinion between the views of board and management andthat of the staff. In some instances it was clear that this was as a result of a lack ofcommunication between management and staff, in others, it related to grievances that staff had4 | D S D A u d i t o f R e s i d e n t i a l F a c i l i t i e s