Case Management Standards Consultation: Your input is needed!

The Institute of Registered Case Managers is consulting on draft standards and we are keen to ensure that vocational practitioners have the opportunity to contribute to this important work.

Please do review the draft standards, respond to the consultation and share with colleagues.The VRAThe Management group of the Institute of Registered Case Managers are pleased to share with you this consultation on IRCM's proposed standards.‍

Development of the StandardsIn 2014, representatives of the British Association of Brain Injury and Complex Case Management  (BABICM), the Case Management Society of the UK (CMSUK) and the Vocational Rehabilitation Association (VRA) published the first version of the Case Management Framework.

The aims of the framework were to define the general skills and knowledge base that all case managers should possess in order to deliver high quality case management services to their rehabilitation clients.  This framework was designed to sit alongside the individual member groups own requirements for membership, and to be the first step in developing a structured approach to quality service delivery and the pathway to reach this. It was acknowledged that this did not replace specific requirements of the membership organisations within their scope of practice and two rcognise was acknowledgement of the considerable work that each of the membership organisations had undertaken, and continue to undertake, in production of individual frameworks and guidelines.

The Case Management Framework summarises a range of criteria that represent case management experiences, knowledge and skills.  The framework is divided into practice levels, representing increments of experience and expertise.  The framework represents a continuum of inter-related skills, experience and knowledge from which people early in their career can build upon to become case managers as well as demonstrating expertise by those with an extensive background in service delivery.

For a register of case managers to be meaningful, it necessitates the development of a minimum standard and a means to measure the competence and behaviour of registrants.  In the development of the attached standards, consideration has been given to the developed competency framework alongside the published work of Dr Sue Lukersmith and the development of the Case Management Taxonomy (Lukersmith S., Fernandez A., Millington M., and Salvador-Carulla L.  The brain injury case management taxonomy (BICM-T): a classification of community-based case management interventions for a common language.  Disability and Health Journal 2015).The Standards and Competency Framework have been carefully mapped against each other, and against the quality standards of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).  The minimum standards consist of standards around practice, ethics and professionalism.  We aim to develop a register that will protect the public by promoting quality case management, and enabling autonomy and accountability for case managers.

‍Purpose of this consultation

‍A significant proportion of current case managers and purchasers of services acknowledged that this is a critical point in the development of the register, and we are in the process of considering the entry requirements for registration which will be framed on these minimum standards.  Already much time, effort and research of other similar registers has influenced the contents of this draft of the standards. We also recognise the importance of consulting stakeholders at this point, as we did when developing the Framework.  This consultation is designed around the questionnaire below and we welcome your comments particularly in this regard as they relate to the technical standards.

‍Please submit your responses by 5pm on Tuesday 14 December in order that these can be given due consideration.

 Next developments:

‍Work is ongoing in respect to the criteria for and process of registration and your views at this stage will be considered in this process as well.  This work is complex and we are keen that registration is as inclusive as possible.  Your input is highly valued and we shall continue to consult with you at key points in the process.

Please keep in touch through our website and our regular ‘check-in’ webinars.  The membership organisations are represented on the management group and also continue to value your ideas.Kind regardsAngela Kerr, Karen Burgin, Deborah Edwards, Carole Chantler, Jackie Dean, Vicki Gilman, Nicci Irwin, Chris Parker

The IRCM Management GroupDraft standardsRespond to the consultation