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

CHAPTER 5RATING OF OLD AGE HOMESAt a meeting held with the Department of Social Development on the findings of the Audit, it wasrequested that Umhlaba provide the department with a list of homes; that through the auditprocess, were deemed in most need of urgent intervention.This report sets out to identify these homes, as well as the methodology used for this.5.1 MethodologyIn the course of the field work data was collected that reflected the state of the home in manyfacets of its functioning. When the request to rate the homes to reflect those in most need ofsome intervention, Umhlaba identified the following fields held within the data as key toestablishing where the homes needed help. These fields were:-1. An assessment by the field worker where they were asked; Condition rating (What is thevisual impression of this particular facility – does it leave a good impression or is it in astate of neglect and in need of maintenance and repairs?)2. The above was also cross referenced against any comments made about the condition ofthe home?3. Did the home offer 24 hour care and support?4. Did a Doctor visit the facility?5. Did a Nurse visit the facility?6. Did the facility have a policy to deal with Abuse?7. Did the facility have Emergency Procedures?8. How did the staff rate the facility?The data base was then sorted to reflect the responses of the abovementioned questioned andsorted accordingly. Once the home of most need emerged; a scan of the hard copy data andreports was done to ensure that there was consistency between this and the supporting data.This process was followed in each province. It was Umhlaba‟s intention to ensure that byfollowing the process provincially no homes would “fall between the cracks”.The rationale for using the question on the staff rating was that even where the homes seemed tobe in excellent physical condition and functioning very well; if the staff rated the management of69 | 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