Fifteen Minutes of Care

There has been a lot in the news recently about the state of residential care homes, with some appalling stories of abuse and neglect, and yet most of the focus in adult health and social care policy is about encouraging care at home, not in a home.

So how do we monitor what is happening when vulnerable people receive care at home?  Not very well at all if you listen to a rather tense exchange between MPs on the Health Committee and the care industry regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

This follows on from disturbing findings from the Equality and Human Rights Commission who are conducting a major inquiry into care at home for older people which is due to report in November.

Health Select Committee

So back to the questioning of the Care Quality Commission on the 28th June by the Parliamentary health committee who were taking evidence from a number of health and social care regulators.

To get the full flavour of the cross-questioning it is worth looking at the VIDEO of the committee proceedings. What is reproduced here is some of the transcript of the exchanges. The full transcript can be found on the UK Parliament Website.

Inquiry into regulation of care for older people

Social Care Alba is always looking for ways to reflect the views of service users, carers and staff.  We have recently made our submission to the Health and Sport Committee inquiry into regulation of older people.  If you would like to contribute to the inquiry from your own personal experience of from those closest to you then the information below may help.

Stephen


Call for evidence

The Health and Sport Committee will undertake a short inquiry into the regulation of care for older people. The inquiry will focus on addressing one key question:

Does the regulatory system ensure care services for older people are providing good quality and appropriate care?

To inform the inquiry, the Committee is seeking views on the following questions:

1. Can we be confident that the regulatory system is picking up on care services where the quality of care is poor? 
2. Are there any particular weaknesses in the current system? 
3. Does the system adequately take into account the views of service users? 
4. Does the registration and regulatory system provide an appropriate basis for the regulation, inspection and enforcement of integrated social and NHS care in the community?

The closing date for written submissions is Wednesday 24 August 2011. Owing to the timescale required to process and analyse evidence, late submissions will only be accepted with the advance agreement of the clerk to the committee. Responses should be no more than four sides of A4 in length. We welcome written evidence in English, Gaelic or any other language.

Responses should be sent, where possible, electronically in Word format to the following address:

healthandsport.committee@scottish.parliament.uk


You may also make hard copy written submissions to:

Health and Sport Committee
T3.60
Scottish Parliament
EH99 1SP

What happens next?


The Committee will consider all submissions received and identify issues emerging from the evidence which it wishes to investigate further through oral evidence sessions.  A list of organisations and individuals participating in oral evidence sessions will be published on the Committee agenda papers in advance of the relevant meeting.

Should you require alternative formats of this document or further information or assistance in making a written submission to the Committee, please do not hesitate to contact the Clerking team (0131 348 5410).

An insiders perspective of Southern Cross

Before starting Social Care Alba, I worked as a Manager with the Care Commission for 9 years.  Over that time I led a team of Officers who regulated some Southern Cross care homes.  I am often asked, was the writing on the wall for Southern Cross, and my answer is always NO.  It is true that a number of Southern Cross care homes had performed poorly over a long period.  For those that are interested just search for Southern Cross inspection reports on www.scswis.com

The main areas which required improvement being the number and quality of staff within homes, and their detrimental effect upon care and support.  However, hard work on the part of Care Commission staff did see improvements, even if this was sometimes by means of enforcement.

So are its financial difficulties responsible for its poor performance?  NO, whilst some things do cost money, such as employing staff, the quality of their work does not.  We need to focus on one simple question:

IS THE QUALITY OF CARE AND SUPPORT ACCEPTABLE?

You decide, what quality of service are you willing to accept?  Then take a look at other providers grades, you may be shocked.  Southern Cross is by no means unique, the quality of care provision across the country varies considerably.  Whilst there are some excellent innovative providers from the private, voluntary and local authority sectors there are equally some very poor services.

I am proud of the contribution I and my colleagues made to improve care in Scotland, and now I hope to do even more with Social Care Alba.  Not everything needs to be a bad news story, there are lots of people just like you and me that are working to make things better. Give us your support and together we can have a National Care Service to be proud of.

For more info visit www.Social-Care.org

International Children's Games 2011

We are happy to announce our official support of the International Children's Games 2011. These will be held in Lanarkshire in August and will see children from 80 different countries competing in a variety of sporting events.