News

The Wellington Hospital is celebrating the achievement of their Catering Department, who received a Silver CAP award in recognition of the service they provide across The Wellington Hospital campus. The hospital is the first hospital in Central London to earn this recognition. The ‘Continuous Advancement Programme’ Awards are presented by independent assessors, after rigorous inspection, from the…

The catering team at Stafford Grammar School celebrated earlier this year when they won a Gold Cap Award. Here Bursar John Downes explains what the award did for the team and how it has set them up for the future… Not that long ago we decided to bring our catering service in-house to improve the…

By Alan Whelpdale, Headmaster The public concern for the quality of school meals is never far from the headlines these days. Whether it’s Jamie Oliver campaigning in Downing Street or pupils themselves, such as the now famous Martha Payne, blogging about the quality of the food on offer, it’s a spicy topic. That’s why here…

Many schools, care homes and hospitals have made significant improvements to their housekeeping and catering services through our HOTSAP scheme. HOTSAP – the Hotel Services Assessment Programme – is used by clients to financially and qualitatively assess their catering and housekeeping operations. Crucially HOTSAP is not public facing and allows facilities to perfect their housekeeping and…

A new report out today says doctors have an ethical duty to prevent waste in the NHS. The study, by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, claims there are potential cost savings of nearly £2bn through improved practices. Sixteen examples of changes to clinical practice, which have saved money and benefited patients, are highlighted. I…

HOUSEKEEPING staff at the Wellington Hospital were celebrating last night after winning a major national award for cleanliness. The UK’s largest independent hospital won a Gold CAP Award following an unannounced inspection into quality and standards. The CAP Awards (the Continuous Advancement Programme) measure the quality of cleaning and housekeeping in healthcare facilities across the…

TODAY’S announcement of the new Care Quality Commission ratings system is more likely to succeed if a culture of consistency is at its heart. The decision to rate homes on a sliding scale, so that residents and their loved ones can discriminate easily between local providers, is a smart move. And asking if a particular…

One of the crucial factors in the success of every great team or workforce is having the right skills in place. That’s why every fortnight at CAP we send our clients and members ‘A Skill Awareness of the Week’ as part of an on-going programme to help them learn specific skills crucial to working in…

July saw CAP Award Assessment Visits being completed across Scotland and England. What were the Client experiences? Here are a few Client words on the CAP Award Programme: – “The assessment visit was very beneficial in highlighting areas that were falling short of operational expectations. There was a good rapport between the Assessor and the…

Simon Harrison is a leading healthcare management consultant currently acting as Executive Chairman with the Executive Care Group, which runs 27 elderly care facilities across the UK. Simon is often drafted in to healthcare organisations to guide them through challenging periods of change or to help them improve their core service offering. Here he gives…