HOW THE RATINGS SYSTEM WORKS
bodies but bemoans an absence of “intelligent regulation. It’s a tunnel vision approach rather than a holistic and intelligent report.
“We are moving to a world where if it isn’t written down, it hasn’t been done.
“When I go around the homes, staff will be sitting in the lounge trying to write up a report. Then a resident will say they need the toilet. Hopefully they will go and take them rather than stay and fill in the paperwork. But the CQC sees an incomplete care plan and then the home gets a ‘requires improvement’.” He also takes issue with the CQC categories, arguing: “There is not anything between ‘good’ and ‘requires improvement’. Where is the ‘satisfactory’ label?”
Jewish Care is piloting touch screen technology in a bid to cut down on paperwork. If successful, many manpower hours will be saved.
“Our staff are torn between meeting the needs of the CQC and the individual residents and that is ridiculous. At the end of the day, we are in the business of care and not administration.”
The charity also has to deal with the consequences of ever-tightening council budgets. And although Chancellor
THE Care Quality Commission is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England, aiming to ensure services are high quality, safe, effective and compassionate.
Its inspectors make assessments in five categories — safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness and well-led. There are four possible outcomes in every category— outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
For an outstanding overall rating, a home has to be found outstanding in at least two elements with the remaining marked as good. A good overall rating will generally be achieved if no more than one category requires improvement and no aspect is graded as inadequate.
If the CQC finds that a home requires improvement in two or more categories, that will also be
Philip Hammond has pledged a further £2 billion towards adult social care, “how that gets spent, nobody knows”, Mr Morris says.
For local authority-funded residents, the council contribution is barely half the true care cost of around £1,000 weekly. “We never want to get into a situation where we’re limiting the number of people we help, or saying to the most vulnerable people: ‘You can’t come into our homes.’
“We are not in a crisis situation. It the overall rating. Where care is judged to be inadequate, special measures are introduced.
Homes with an overall rating of requires improvement will be revisited within a year. Inspectors will return to a facility deemed inadequate and in special measures within six months. The CQC has the ultimate sanction of closing a home, although there is an appeals process.
isn’t good but it’s manageable. We can work through this with the support of the community.”
Families of clients are consulted regularly. “At Rubens House there were a number of relatives who were quick to comment on the good work at the home,” Mr Morris adds.
“As with anything in life, there are always going to be people who are happy and people who have concerns and we have to deal with every one of those.”