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Mr Burstow told the House of Commons he wanted to see justice for future victims of abuse and their families. He said he did not want a repeat of the Winterbourne View care scandal for which he claimed there had been ‘no corporate accountability’.

Former care minister urges care home penalties

Companies who own care homes where abuse has been carried out should face unlimited fi nes and criminal sanctions, former minister Paul Burstow has demanded. Following the Winterbourne View case where six people were jailed for their role in abuse, Mr Burstow, the Liberal Democrat former care minister until the last government reshuffl e in September, has argued for new laws to ensure care providers are held criminally accountable for abuse and neglect.

Industry analysts aim to fi ll the care stars ratings void

Care industry analysts Laing and Buisson aim to fi ll the gap left by the ending of the Care Quality Commission’s star rating system.

The company has launched the new Care Compliance Monitor. It pools headline data from the CQC’s inspection reports presenting a digested view of facilities’ performance as marked against the fi ve main inspection ‘chapters’ of the essential standards of quality and safety:

■ Standards of treating people with respect and involving them in their care

■ Standards of providing care, treatment and support which meets people’s needs

■ Standards of caring for people safely and protecting them from harm

■ Standards of staffi ng ■ Standards of management

March/April 2013 | Care Home Management 9

His proposals, which would need government support if they are to become law, include:

Amending existing legislation to make a corporate body guilty of an offence if the way in which its activities are managed by its board or senior management neglects or is a substantial element in the existence and/or possibility of abuse or neglect Offences should be punishable by unlimited fi nes, remedial orders and publicity orders

Those with relevant information about suspected abuse or neglect must supply information to Adult Safeguarding Boards if requested to do so.

Mr Burstow said “no stone should

Presenting the results of these inspections as a series of ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ marks in fi ve corresponding columns, the total number of compliant chapters are given, providing an easily comparable quality marking. With results for every home across England, alongside details on group ownership of these homes and the local authorities into which these facilities fall, the data provided by the Care Compliance Monitor can be easily manipulated in order to present a series of league tables which can display: ■ Best to worse performing care groups in England, split into providers of homes for older people or physically disabled people and providers of homes for younger adults with learning disabilities/mental health problems

■ Best to worse performing individual homes

be left unturned” when it came to protecting vulnerable people and reputable owners had “nothing to fear” from his proposed legislation. “When things go wrong, when terrible abuse and neglect takes place, the public expect those who take the fee to be held to account,” he said. “This new law would act as a deterrent. It would force weak boards of directors to pull their socks up.”

Gary Fitzgerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, which is supporting the plans, said: “While it is right that abusing care workers should feel the full impact of the courts and sentencing, it is equally important that those who employ and direct those workers should also face justice.”

Norman Lamb, who took over Mr

Burstow’s role at the Department of Health, said he would be announcing proposals to address this gap in the law on effective corporate accountability in the spring.

■ Local authority where the best performing/worse performing homes are located

■ Overall performance by sector or provider: for profi t, not-for-profi t, local authority and NHS

Laing and Buisson operations director Justin Merritt commented: “The CQC’s star ratings, despite a rather rocky entrance, became a tool against which many providers marked themselves, leading to healthy competition in bettering one’s portfolio of care facilities. “It’s been a long time since there was an easy way in which to make those kinds of comparisons. The Care Compliance Monitor can now deliver an at-a-glance set of league tables in which providers can see how well they fare in the larger social care picture.”