UK Report - Nothing New

We have the tools already

This week's parliamentary report on elder abuse reflects poorly on the CSCI, which should have dealt with these issues years ago.

Paul Ridout August 17, 2007 9:00 AM (The Guardian UK)

The care sector has always had a small minority of providers delivering a poor, sometimes degrading service - so the joint committee on human rights' findings will come as little surprise to many.

This is a heavily regulated sector. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is currently the body charged with regulating the sector (it will become part of the super-regulator Ofcare in 2009) and so, in terms of blame, the buck stops there. CSCI inspects against rigorous regulations and standards covering every aspect of care from admission assessments and daily activities to care delivery and complaints. It can even prosecute breaches. That there are still abuses reflects poorly on CSCI (and its predecessor, NCSC) who have had about five and a half years to address these issues.

Interestingly, CSCI recently hailed the adoption of its new enforcement policy. This was greeted with some bemusement in the sector, as many thought isn't that what CSCI should have been doing all along? Many will draw the same conclusion now.

I want to stress that the vast majority of care homes provide a really good service, committed to the dignified care of older people. We should work harder to identify the small minority of bad providers and either bring them up to scratch or remove them from the sector. CSCI has all the power and resource it needs - it just needs to get better at using them properly and effectively in the interests of the people who matter - the service users.

Today's joint committee report tells us nothing new. It fails to make any meaningful criticism of the regulatory body in this country and that is what has been missing from this debate in the last 24 hours - the fact is that the regulatory tools already exist to tackle the substandard care that we all find so unacceptable.



Abridged - Source: The Guardian