Old and vulnerable people need to be engaged with the way their care is delivered, Care Inspectorate warns

The Care Inspectorate has warned that it is ‘essential’ to involve older people in key decisions about the care they receive.

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny and improvement body for care services in Scotland, with the role of regulating and inspecting services.

Speaking at the watchdog's recent conference, 'Caring for the Rising Population of Older People in Scotland: Care, Protection and Partnerships', chief executive Annette Bruton called for carers to make sure that service users are involved in key decisions relating to their own care.

In a joint speech with David Tares, who volunteers as a lay assessor for the care standards watchdog, Ms Bruton described a need for a greater emphasis on an approach known as ‘involvement’, where people in care homes or users of care services are properly engaged in the delivery of their own care.

Ms Bruton said: "Scotland, like many countries, faces a growing population of older people. More people will need support to live out their older days in dignity. That poses a challenge for families, government, charities and the many professionals who care for people but one thing is essential: people who receive care must help plan how it is delivered.”

The speech comes as the Care Inspectorate release new figures showing that only half of all care services in Scotland are graded as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ for their standards of involvement.

Ms Bruton reflected on the findings, saying: "There are examples of great practice for all to see. Our inspections show that over half of the care services in Scotland scored our top grades for involving people, and the numbers are rising.”

"Social care cannot be something that happens to you when you grow old or if you are vulnerable. The best care is something people plan, design and deliver together.”

With 56 per cent of care homes inspected by Decmeber 2012 achieving the highest grades, the results highlight a four per cent increase in care services being awarded ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ for their involvement services since December 2011.

However, Ms Bruton has called for further improvement to these statistics, and argues that measuring involvement is a key indicator of quality within care settings.

"Our inspectors will continue to measure how well services involve people in the delivery of their own care. It’s not just the right thing to do – it is essential to deliver high-quality care that reflects people's needs and promotes their rights. Scotland cannot afford to get it wrong."

David Tares is a lay assessor for the Care Inspectorate, whose role is to accompany inspectors during care visits to ensure that inspections are focused on the well-being of the service user.

Lay Assessors also provide an objective perspective to inspections in order to drive quality improvements.

During the speech at the conference in Edinburgh, Mr Tares said: "I volunteer as a lay assessor with the Care Inspectorate, meaning I join inspection teams when they go into a care home or supported housing. I think having a disabled person coming in and talking to residents really breaks down barriers.

He continued: "If we want to improve the care people receive, there is one sure fire way to do. It’s to involve people in decisions about their lives. In too many care services, people are not consulted about what happens to them.

"It is really important because often the views of people running care services are radically different from the views of the people who use them. I think it is great that the Care Inspectorate genuinely looks at this when they are out on inspection and reports on what they find.

"At the end of the day, everybody knows what is best for them. We are the experts about ourselves and our lives.”

Describing the future challenges facing the care sector, Ms Bruton said: "In the coming decades, my sense is that we will see many more care-at-home services. That poses new challenges for involving people – and new challenges for delivery partners and regulators to ensure quality – which will be unmet unless involvement is at the heart of the agenda.”

Mr Tares concluded: "And as the population gets older, there won’t be money to waste on getting care services wrong. Most services are really good, but the biggest reason for something going wrong is that somebody somewhere didn’t ask."