Health Secretary unveils new inspection regime for care homes and providers

A new inspection regime will be imposed on care homes and their providers from October, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.

He said those that treated vulnerable and old people without dignity and respect would be “put on an unprecedented turnaround programme”, with ratings published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

It will be modelled on the ‘special measures’ regime used for failing hospitals following the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust scandal.

From April 2015, services rated as inadequate by the CQC face being put into special measures and given a limited time period to make improvements, after which the CQC could close them if they continue to fail.

CQC chief inspector of adult social care Andrea Sutcliffe said: “I am determined that CQC will shine a spotlight on poor care and make it clear that abuse and neglect is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“Of course we want services to improve, but where standards are repeatedly falling short, we will call time on poor care.”

She said the existing inspection system only looked at whether homes met a basic set of standards, leaving the public without a detailed picture of their quality.

The new system would judge whether residents receive safe and effective care tailored to their needs, are being treated with dignity and respect, and looked after by skilled, compassionate staff.

Hunt said: “There are thousands of care homes and homecare services providing excellent care and this new ratings system will allow people and their families to make clear choices.

“But there are still too many care homes that I wouldn’t be happy to see my own parents or grandparents in."

He added: “We have shown the special measures process works and care turn around poor-performing hospitals and we can do the same for adult social care.”

Meanwhile the Public Accounts Committee has warned of a “great adult social care squeeze”. Its report, Adult Social Care in England, said demand was far outstripping available funding.

Committee chair Margaret Hodge said: “The Government’s agenda to change and improve adult social care, most notably through the Care Act, is rightly ambitious.

“However, it simply does not know whether the care system has the capacity to become more efficient and spend less while continuing to absorb this increasing need for care.”

The committee was “particularly concerned that local authorities have cut costs, partly by paying lower fees to providers of care, which has led to very low pay for care workers, low skill levels within the workforce, and inevitably poorer levels of service for users”, she added.

Whitehall departments should set out how they intend to support local authorities and the wider adult care sector, to collaborate, share and learn from good practice, the report said.

It also called on the Government to quantify the new burdens the Care Act will introduce for local authorities, take account of the impact of driving down providers’ fees and assess the implications of the growing burden on informal carers and the extra cost they place on benefits.

Mark Smulian