9th January 2012 / Posted in: Care Quality Commission (CQC), Management, Operational management
At the beginning of October Panorama revealed that over 150,000 social care workers are paid less than the minimum wage. The care industry employs over 2m people in the UK. It’s physically and mentally tough work, those receiving care are dependent on carers for many of their basic needs yet it’s poorly paid. Many are paid the minimum wage, many little more, and a significant number are paid less as their employers exploit loop holes.
In November the media announced that Dr Foster had published a report which revealed that the death rates in NHS hospitals in England are higher at the weekend. Their report showed a correlation between highest mortality rates and the fewest senior doctors available.
Last month concerns were voiced as to whether the Government should do more to monitor the finances of companies operating in the care home sector needs following the collapse of Southern Cross earlier this year.
The regulatory body in England - the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has developed a document - the Essential Standards of Quality and Safety - which is used to evaluate whether registered health and social care providers in England are compliant with section 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Standards against which providers are evaluated include:
According to their website the CQC state that their job is ‘to check whether hospitals, care homes and care services are meeting government standards.’ Comparing these standards with the events reported in the press suggest that the CQC aren’t doing their job, and the failings at Castlebeck hospital in relation to mistreatment of residents have resulted in an investigation by officials at the Department of Health and NHS Management.
Whilst the regulated health and social care providers have exacting standards they are required to meet, how does the CQC demonstrate it meets standards required by a regulator? Previous healthcare regulators of the independent healthcare sector - the Healthcare Commission and National Care Standards Commission struggled with service standards and inconsistency between inspectors. Is Castlebeck just the tip of the iceberg and has anything be learned by the mistakes of the CQC’s predecessors?
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23rd November 2011 / Posted in: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Since April 2010 the provision of health and social care in England and Wales has been governed by the Health & Social Care Act 2008 - in other words it is, to all intents and purposes, already in effect, even although the appointed regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has allowed NHS GP practices until April 2013 to formally register as providers. This delay doesn’t in any way absolve GP practices from their responsibilities under the Act.
It is remarkable therefore that delaying the registration by 12 months from April 2012 has seen a number of GP practices bury their heads in the sand and put off preparing for registration. The penny hasn’t dropped that registration with the CQC doesn’t mark the point at which they have to comply with the legislation - they should have been doing it since it came into force in April 2010.
The Act applies to all providers of health and social care in England and Wales and its purpose in it’s simplest terms is to provide one set of standards that applies to all providers of health and social care thereby enabling the end user to compare services from NHS and independent providers and to ensure they receive a consistent standard of care.
Like any Act of Parliament once it receives Royal Assent anyone to whom it applies has to abide by the legislation, even although they are not required to register until April 2013. As an example, some people think the Official Secrets Act applies to those who are required to sign it. But in fact it applies to everyone, whether you have signed it or not, in the same way that we are all required by the Road Traffic Act of 1988 to wear seat belts, even although we have not signed that Act.
In the same way Health & Social Care Act, NHS GP practices have been required to provide services in line with the requirements of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 since its introduction in April 2010.
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