What does it mean to be a Leader in Adult Care?
- Holly S
- Mar 11
- 5 min read
What does it mean to be a Leader in Adult Care?
The leader in adult care is a multifaceted senior leader and senior manager of a care setting, who is responsible for delivering all aspects of the statutory and legal requirements of the work by the care organisation.
Who is a Leader in Adult Care?
Within the care setting, the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care is the person whose role involves leading and managing all the activities delivered by the whole organisation.
In smaller care organisations, the regulated activity is managed by the Registered Manager, who is the Leader in adult care in that organisation.
The term, leader in adult care, also applies to senior leaders and senior managers or business owners who have director level responsibility for the quality and safety of care, and for meeting the fundamental standards are fit and proper to carry out this important role.
For NHS bodies, the director level responsibility for the quality and safety of care applies to executive and non-executive, permanent, interim and associate positions, making them leaders in adult care in their particular area of responsibility.
This level of responsibility also applies to equivalent director posts in other providers, including trustees of charitable bodies and members of the governing bodies of unincorporated associations, and local authority providers.
Typical job titles of the Leader in Adult Care at Level 5
Depending on the organisation, the Leader in Adult Care may have any of the following job tiles including:
Registered manager,
Nominated Individual,
Director,
Assistant Director,
Unit manager,
Service manager
and more
Areas of Work of the Leader in Adult Care
Leaders in Adult Care usually work in regulated care organisations including the following types of care settings regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC):
Residential care homes
Nursing care homes,
Domiciliary care agencies
Extra care housing services
Hospital care, including NHS hospitals and independent hospitals
Primary healthcare including NHS GP Surgeries, urgent care services, 111 services, and primary care out-of-hours services
Community healthcare settings, including hospital at home, end-of-life care and hospices
Independent single healthcare services including dialysis, endoscopy, refractive eye surgery, termination of pregnancy, diagnostic and screening, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, blood and transplant services, services for people with learning disabilities and substance misuse services.
Independent doctors including independent or private clinics, independent or private GP practices, online primary health care, slimming clinics, aesthetic and plastic surgery clinics
Dental services including dental surgeries, dental services that visit people in their homes, out-of-hours emergency dental services
Community day centres, including those providing diagnostic or screening procedures, or treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
Supported living services
Ambulance services and other clinical healthcare settings.
Health and justice services, including adult prisons, and immigration removal services
Children's services where CQC works in partnership with other inspectorates to inspect health services for children including children's care homes
Defence medical services whereby CQC works with the Defence Medical Services Regulator (DMSR) to inspect defence medical treatment facilities.
Other secure settings whereby CQC carry out joint inspections with HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and other inspectorates
And any other type of service that delivers regulated care activities.
What does the Leader in Adult Care do?
The Leader in Adult Care delivers both leadership and management activities to ensure the success of the care organisation.
Leadership activities of the leader in adult care include:
Decide overall direction
Influence people to achieve goals
Facilitate decisions
Align people
Strive for effectiveness
Look for opportunities to improve the organisation
Encourage change
Management activities of the leader in adult care include:
Detailed planning
Create systems and processes
Make decisions regarding their area of responsibility
Organise people
Encourage people to perform
Ensure resources are appropriate and available
Aim for efficiency
React to change
Responsibilities of the Leader in Adult Care
The role of the Leader in Adult Care involves a wide range of responsibilities and challenges to ensure that the organisation provides care services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs, as well as being well-led, as required by law.
The Leader in Adult Care job role is responsible for managing the main functional areas of the care organisation, including:
Meeting legal and regulatory requirements of both care organisations and also as an employer.
Administrative activities of the entire organisation, including communications, document management, and information governance issues of GDPR.
Financial management of the organisation's cash flow; pays bills, invoices customers; pays wages; monitors budgets, and ensures that the organisation can meet their financial obligations.
Human resources management including creating a governance framework, recruiting staff; arranging staff training, supervision and appraisal, administering grievance and disciplinary procedures, and other human resource policies and procedures.
Operations management including overseeing the design and creation of new services; ensuring efficient and effective use of all resources and equipment; meeting clients’ requirements for delivery of services, including interagency working.
Quality Assurance of performance, and overseeing continuous improvement and ensuring consistent regulatory compliance of the care given, and embedding the appropriate values and training of staff with established standards and regulations.
Marketing and Business Development: publicising and advertising services; providing updates on social media platforms; producing internal and external communication, maintaining relationships with organisations that commission and fund care services.
And more
Daily Activities of the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care
The Leader in Adult Care guides and inspires the whole organisation and their teams to make positive differences to someone’s life when the individual is faced with physical, practical, social, emotional, psychological or intellectual challenges.
The leader of the care team develops and implements a values-based culture at a service or unit level.
The Leader in adult care oversees management activities in their organisation and teams, being responsible for business development, financial control, organisational resilience and continuity as well as for managing risk and leading on organisational change.
the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care job role has a large element of leadership, whether with other care workers and networks or in leading the service itself. A successful leader in adult care will have met all the requirements.
Professional Development as a Level 5 Leader in Adult Care
For further learning and development see the recognised qualifications for Level 5 leadership and management in adult care:
Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care (RQF) (England) is the Ofqual-recognised qualification approved by CQC and Skills For Care as the required qualification for Registered Managers, Directors, Owners, Nominated Individuals, and other types of senior leaders and managers of care services.
For more information, click through the link
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