Local authorities need scrutiny on care issues, ministers told

Front bench Government support to end 15-minute home care visits has been welcomed by care sector organisations, but there is an increasing disillusionment that local councils are not subject to the same checks as care providers.

Last week saw both Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Care and Support Services Minister Norman Lamb speak out separately against short home care visits, but their proposed measures included no indication that local authorities will receive any pressure from regulatory bodies to change.

Des Kelly, executive director of the National Care Forum (NCF), goes as far to say that any blame for wrongdoing, under the current system, is shifted unfairly from service commissioners to providers.

He comments: “It seems as if the scrutiny by CQC will be on providers rather than the local authorities who commission the service. Taken alongside the decision to remove the power of the Care Quality Commission to inspect local authority commissioners this seems a curiously regressive action. The scrapping of regular performance assessment of councils by the regulator in favour of sector-led approaches using peer review is completely inequitable. It is one rule for commissioners and another for providers.”

Mr Kelly continues: “It seems to reinforce the idea that care providers cannot be trusted on quality improvement. Good quality care provision cannot be entirely separated from the quality of what is commissioned or procured.

“Despite active engagement by provider associations, and providers, with partnership initiatives such as ‘Think Local Act Personal’ and the DH initiated work on market position statements, which both seek to assist in shaping the provision of care and support services by a co-produced approach, this decision feels like a backward step. Providers have also shown their commitment to transparency and openness by supporting the development of information on the Provider Quality Profile portal. Once again providers are being treated as though they are outside the system rather than genuine partners.”