MDS

This publication looks at the use of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessment tool. It examines the value of MDS both as an assessment tool under the Single Assessment Process and as a way of determining funding, staffing and specialist reports. The publication reports on three separate projects:

• The Registered Nursing Care Contribution tool: An evaluation of use evaluates the initial implementation of the Registered Nursing Care Contribution (RNCC) tool in a number of care homes. It compares the results of using the well-validated MDS tool and the RNCC tool on the same residents. It also compares RNCC results when people with different backgrounds and experience used the tool.
• Flexible Skills Mix: A model of staffing for a new care development considers a project using the MDS RUG-III scales to determine the time and level of staffing required for individualised care planning in a new mixed development. The resulting flexible staffing model challenges the notion of a statutory staffing notice.
• The specialist nurse project: Enhancing the quality of residents’ care explores how nurses and other specialist staff can work in innovative ways across care homes. The report uses the MDS cognitive scale to determine those people in need of specialist dementia care; the specialist nurse for this project was one with mental health and dementia qualifications and experience.