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17/05/10 - Will the new coalition government reform the inspection of care homes? asks John Burton Head of ACM<
With the appointment of Andrew Lansley as Health Secretary and Paul Burstow as Minister of State, will we at last get an effective inspection regime for care homes?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) was an expensive mistake. The £millions wasted on it are a minor consideration when compared with the disastrous results that it has produced for residents of care homes. Incompetent inspections have resulted in closing good homes while leaving some of the worst homes to continue their neglect and abuse.
In the first year of CQC's operation, care home that should never have been registered have been; dangerous and abusive care homes have been rated as adequate or good; and genuinely good care homes have been put out of business by CQC. In too many cases, homes are 'not yet rated' and there is no inspection report available on the CQC website. The regulator sends out positive reports to prospective residents or their relatives on homes that hit the headlines for serious abuse, neglect or criminality. The reports say that the homes under investigation have 'managed issues well' and 'provide good outcomes', and that 'we have not received any information . . . that gives cause for concern'.
Inspectors visit homes less frequently than they ever did. Some homes have not been inspected for more than three years, yet residents are paying about £100 a year to CQC for inspection. However much CQC claim to be improving inspection and 'listening to people who use the service', the reality is the regulator relies increasingly on the information provided by the care homes themselves. To provide this information managers have to spend days feeding CQC with information, and those days are ones that take managers away from their real job (working with residents and staff). The manager fills in an Annual Quality Assurance Assessment and CQC conduct an Annual Service Review . . . on a computer, in an office, without even setting foot in the home.
The current inspection regime is
incompetent, unreliable and inaccurate - unfairly critical of some homes and dangerously lenient with others
too bureaucratic and reliant on paperwork rather than practice
very poor value for money
The Association of Care Managers calls for a new approach to regulation and inspection of adult social care:
> Prioritise the quality of care and the rights and safety of the people who use the services – this is the primary purpose of inspection
> Inspect services at least once a year
> Inspectors should be locally based and known – and accessible - to the public and users of the services
> Inspection reports should be written for the public
>Inspectors should respond to and investigate complaints, and be willing and available to visit the service without notice and at any time
> Inspectors should understand how the services work, have experience as managers, and be willing (when appropriate) to help services to improve
> People who use services should have a formal and influential voice in the assessment of care.
> The Association of Care Managers (ACM) (www.caremanagers.org.uk) represents people who manage direct social care in the UK.
> ACM campaigns for the experience, commitment and ideas of care managers to influence policy.
> ACM supports care managers and shares good practice, but never defends bad practice.
ACM - managing care with integrity and commitment
Source: Association of Care Managers
