The top 10 mistakes poor care plans make and how you can avoid them

When you work in care you’ll probably spend a great deal of time carefully planning and organising your care plans and pathways. So how do you know if they are broad enough, pass a regulatory inspection from CQC and will help your residents get the support they need? In order to help care providers avoid the pitfalls associated with poor care plans, we’ve compiled a list of the ‘Top 10 mistakes poor care plans make’ and a list of methods you can use to avoid making them yourself.

What mistakes do poor care plans make

1. Those in your care don’t have any involvement in their care plans
2. The information within them isn’t specific in setting out the needs of the person in care, the goals you want to achieve and the support required
3. They are too complex or too brief to be useful
4. The information within it is either misleading, non-factual or both
5. They aren’t focused on the holistic needs of the person in care
6. They contain sarcasm, rude or offensive terminology
7. They focus solely on the disabilities of a person rather than their abilities
8. They aren’t evidence-based
9. They contain no clear evidence that any regulatory outcomes are being met
10. They contain no reference or evidence as to when the plan was created, updated or modified  

How can you avoid making the same mistakes with your care plans?

Each of our Top 10 mistakes has their own set of risks and requirements associated with them. We’ll now go into the best ways you can overcome them with your care plans:

• Always involve your residents with their own care plans
• Make sure you question the full set of needs for the resident involved
• Use SMART goal setting
• Keep enough detail for the plans to be useful
• Keep your plans to factual and truthful information
• Make sure you keep your care plans factual and polite
• Use a positive style when recording, don’t focus on negatives
• Evidence why care is being provided and how it meets the person’s needs
• Ensure that you adhere to CQC’s (or alternative) regulatory requirements at all times
• Make sure you set regular intervals for reviews

By using an electronic care management system like Log my Care, you’ll easily be able to overcome pitfalls around recording accuracy and ensure you are only working with the most up to date care plans for your residents. It also will ensure that all care notes are logged with a time/date stamp, so you’re able to incorporate the best evidence as to why you’re providing care in your plans.