NEWS


CQC ROUND UP CQC INSPECTORS TO ‘MUM TEST’ CARE HOMES


The CQC has confirmed its new system of rating care homes in England will incorporate the ‘Mum test’. Inspectors will be asked to consider whether they would be happy for a loved one to use care services before deciding on a rating.


Specialist teams, including trained members of the public who have been dubbed ‘Experts by Experience’, will inspect services, unannounced, against a series of ‘user-centred’ criteria – are they


safe, caring, effective, responsive to their needs, and well-led?


CQC will then rate these services as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate, so that the public has clear information to help them make choices about their care.


CQC has issued one handbook covering its regulation of residential adult social care (care homes, with and without nursing) and another covering its regulation of community adult social


care (including services that care for people in their own homes).


Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb called the move a “turning point” for the care sector: “Gone is the tick-box exercise for inspecting care homes and home care – now we are listening to the views of the people who rely on these services and have tougher checks to make sure they are getting safe, compassionate care from staff who are supported by good managers.”


DEMENTIA SUFFERERS ‘AT RISK OF POOR CARE’


All dementia sufferers in England can expect to experience poor care as they move between care homes and hospitals, says a damning report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).


In ‘Cracks in the Pathway’, the CQC considered four key areas at 129 care homes and 20 hospital across England: how people’s care needs were assessed; how care was planned and delivered; how providers worked together and how the quality of care was monitored.


In about 29% of care homes and 56% of hospitals, the CQC found assessments were not comprehensive in identifying all of a person’s care needs. Inspectors found variable or poor care in about 34% of care homes and 42% of hospitals.


The report says the variation in how care is assessed, planned, delivered and monitored by hospitals and care homes puts people living with dementia at risk of experiencing poor care.


It found that when people are admitted to hospital via A&E there is too much focus on physical health needs and little consideration given to a person’s emotional and psychological needs. Poor sharing of information between different institutions and a lack of understanding and knowledge of dementia care by staff were also brought to light by the review.


One of several steps the CQC has promised to make in response to the report is to appoint a national specialist adviser for dementia care.


RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES OUTPERFORM NURSING HOMES


People living in nursing homes tend to receive much poorer care than those living in residential care homes, says a new report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).


State of Care gives CQC’s perspective on the state of health and adult social care in England in 2013/14. It offers a view of the sector across more than 40,000 health and care services.


In the report, the CQC highlights that its inspections over the past year


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have found frontline staff delivering excellent care. However, it says the variation in the quality and safety of care is ‘too wide and unacceptable’.


Out of the inspected services, social care organisations received the highest number of warning notices (1,149). NHS healthcare organisations followed, with 71 notices being issued to these services.


The CQC also found that the care provided by care homes with a


registered manager in place was substantially better than in homes that had not had a registered manager for six months or more.


Among areas for improvement in the social care sector, the CQC identified the need to encourage more nurses to work in care homes. In 2013/14, one in five nursing homes did not have enough staff on duty to ensure residents received good, safe care.


www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


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