On the 10th March, the BBC News featured a report on care home regulation by Mark Easton. His angle was ‘localism’, but the CQC claim that the report included a number of inaccuracies about regulation.
For example, Mark Easton said:
“Regular national inspection of care homes ended last October”. This is clearly not true – the new system came into force in October, and this involves assessments and inspections of homes.
“English care home regulation relies on relatives and residents alerting the authorities to problems.” Again, not true. We stress the importance of the views of relatives and residents as one of our many sources of information about homes. And we still visit homes as part of our regulatory activity.
“It will be down to councils and communities to keep an eye on standards”. Councils and communities have important roles to play, as do providers. But it is CQC’s job to monitor compliance with standards.
The introduction to the report said campaigners have expressed fears that “shifting responsibility to local communities will lead to a decline in standards”. Responsiblity remains with CQC, but the engagement of local communities is to be welcomed.
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