By Nick Mann | 22 November 2011
The Care Quality Commission will carry out spot inspections of 250 home care providers next year to root out ‘bad practice’ in the sector, it was announced today.
Beginning in April, the ‘themed’ inspections will focus on the respect, care and welfare of people who receive care services in their own homes, as well as the support given to staff. They will be carried out by CQC inspectors working alongside professional experts, such as nurses and senior carers, and ‘experts by experience’ – people who have a personal experience of using home care services. The inspections will run in addition to the CQC’s existing programme.
As well reporting on each home care provider, the regulator will produce a national report of its findings on quality and safety.
These inspections follow a pilot programme, where the CQC trialled various methods to make sure its inspectors clearly hear the views of people who use the services and their families.
CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower said: ‘Home care is one of the most difficult areas of care to monitor. Often the people who use the services find themselves in vulnerable circumstances and the operation of home care is not as transparent as care in hospitals and other sectors because the interactions happen behind closed doors in people’s homes. That is why we want to focus on this sector of social care in this way.’
Bower explained that the inspections were particularly important given the ‘challenges’ to care provision created by issues such as council budget cuts, which could ‘increase risks of unsafe care’.
Care services minister Paul Burstow added: ‘The CQC’s programme of unannounced inspections for home care providers is part of a key coalition government policy of shining a light on poor care and rooting out bad practice. The lessons are already being learned from similar inspections in hospitals and care homes.
‘I am determined that everyone should get the best possible care, whether they are in hospital, a care home or their own home.’
The inspection programme will be supported by an advisory group, with members drawn from a range of organisations including the Equality & Human Rights Commission, Age UK, the United Kingdom Homecare Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
The EHRC said it hoped the inspections would help to address some of the concerns raised in its own inquiry into home care, which is due to be published tomorrow.
A spokesman for the watchdog said: ‘We believe this move by the CQC could be an important first step in addressing some of the concerns raised by our inquiry into home care, being published tomorrow.
‘It reveals disturbing evidence that the poor treatment of many older people is threatening their human rights and concerns about how threats to these rights are detected.’
The Care Quality Commission will carry out spot inspections of 250 home care providers next year to root out ‘bad practice’ in the sector, it was announced today.
Beginning in April, the ‘themed’ inspections will focus on the respect, care and welfare of people who receive care services in their own homes, as well as the support given to staff. They will be carried out by CQC inspectors working alongside professional experts, such as nurses and senior carers, and ‘experts by experience’ – people who have a personal experience of using home care services. The inspections will run in addition to the CQC’s existing programme.
As well reporting on each home care provider, the regulator will produce a national report of its findings on quality and safety.
These inspections follow a pilot programme, where the CQC trialled various methods to make sure its inspectors clearly hear the views of people who use the services and their families.
CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower said: ‘Home care is one of the most difficult areas of care to monitor. Often the people who use the services find themselves in vulnerable circumstances and the operation of home care is not as transparent as care in hospitals and other sectors because the interactions happen behind closed doors in people’s homes. That is why we want to focus on this sector of social care in this way.’
Bower explained that the inspections were particularly important given the ‘challenges’ to care provision created by issues such as council budget cuts, which could ‘increase risks of unsafe care’.
Care services minister Paul Burstow added: ‘The CQC’s programme of unannounced inspections for home care providers is part of a key coalition government policy of shining a light on poor care and rooting out bad practice. The lessons are already being learned from similar inspections in hospitals and care homes.
‘I am determined that everyone should get the best possible care, whether they are in hospital, a care home or their own home.’
The inspection programme will be supported by an advisory group, with members drawn from a range of organisations including the Equality & Human Rights Commission, Age UK, the United Kingdom Homecare Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
The EHRC said it hoped the inspections would help to address some of the concerns raised in its own inquiry into home care, which is due to be published tomorrow.
A spokesman for the watchdog said: ‘We believe this move by the CQC could be an important first step in addressing some of the concerns raised by our inquiry into home care, being published tomorrow.
‘It reveals disturbing evidence that the poor treatment of many older people is threatening their human rights and concerns about how threats to these rights are detected.’
