By Rami Okasha, Executive Director of Strategy and Improvement

Last week I attended the Activ8: Keep on moving conference – the culmination of the Care Inspectorate’s 18-month Care about Physical Activity improvement programme. The CAPA programme is a great example of how making small changes can improve the quality of care experienced by many older people. The CAPA programme uses tried and tested methods to support more movement, based around what people enjoy doing. 

For the last year and a half, the Care Inspectorate has been working with hundreds of care services across eight local partnerships to promote the message that moving more often is really important. It supports people’s health, makes people happier and more connected, and is often a fulfilling and meaningful way to spend time. As a scrutiny body which supports improvement, the Care Inspectorate is able to use our scrutiny evidence and expertise to improve the quality of care across Scotland.

Care homes, care at home services, day centres and other care services and settings have a responsibility to understand what really matters to the people they support, and encourage and facilitate them to take part in the things they enjoy. As I have visited CAPA projects around Scotland, I have met people whose lives have been changed as a result. From older people being supported to move more to the extent that they move out of a care home into other less intensive accommodation, to older care home residents enjoying activities and hobbies they though they would never do again, simple changes and clear improvement methodology can make a big difference. The CAPA programme is full of powerful, uplifting examples of how an ambitious, person-led approach can really make people happier and healthier. And the evaluation evidence we have commissioned is clear about the impact it is making.

The Active8: conference was an incredible event with around 300 social health and care providers and other professionals, to promote more movement in older people experiencing care. We were delighted to welcome inspirational expert guest speakers from around the world. Dr Sabina Brennan, expert in brain health spoke of the empowering culture she has observed during the CAPA programme, emphasising the importance of collective leadership in care settings. Billie Jordan from New Zealand told her inspirational story of the making of the Hip-Operation dance crew, which boasts the oldest dance troupe members in the world. And scores of people from care settings across Scotland shared their own successes. I was challenged to a game of table tennis – my first in several decades! – by Table Tennis Scotland, who have been working to link up older people with local clubs and table tennis volunteers in different parts of Scotland. For older people who want to continue playing, or try something new, it has the potential to be a powerful model which can bring connection and richness to people’s lives.

I am absolutely delighted that Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, was able to announce over £700K of additional funding from the Scottish Government’s Active Division. This will allow the Care Inspectorate to expand and embed the CAPA programme for another 18 months to support older people in even more care homes and care at home settings across Scotland. We want to spread the CAPA message to every part of Scotland, and ensure supporting physical activity and promoting people’s personal independence becomes the norm. It’s fantastic that we can continue to bring our evidence and expertise to improvement support programmes and we are delighted by this extra support, which will allow even more people to benefit from the amazing success that is CAPA.