Are special measures really what the care sector needs?

It was announced recently that care homes will soon be subject to the same failure regime as hospitals. Following a decision by the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, care homes will see a system of special measures introduced for those deemed to be failing.

From April 2015, homes judged as ‘inadequate’ following inspections, will be given a short time frame to turn themselves around. If they fail to improve, the CQC will have the power to close the home.

This is a significant development for all those involved in providing and receiving care who, until now, have been given longer periods of time to turn around under-performing services. Andrea Sutcliffe, the CQC’s chief inspector of social care, said extending the failure regime to the care sector would “drive up standards”.

The move has been cautiously welcomed by the sector. Charities and campaigning groups have generally been supportive of the policy, which they hope will reduce instances of abuse and poor care. Both the National Care Association and the Patients Association welcomed the news as a positive step, but expressed concerns about how it would be implemented it practice.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, commented, “It is important that this special measures regime is developed in partnership with the care sector”, as well as raising the question of how services were to cope with the financial pressures of being in special measures.

Many of the reactions highlighted that lack of funding the social care sector currently receives, (especially when compared to the budgets commanded by the NHS), and how many believe that standards can only be driven up if the system receives adequate funding. “The enormous disparity in resources between the two sectors”, as Professor Green describes it, mean that these new measures will place even greater pressure on a system which is already struggling.

Unlike NHS trusts, which have access to extra resources and various forms of external support when placed in special measures, if remains to be seen how care homes are to transform service provision on restricted budgets. Many of the details of this scheme are clearly yet to be ironed out.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, also voiced doubts as to the efficacy of the scheme; “these measures - welcome though they are - will not tackle the underlying failings of the system - its undertrained and underpaid workforce.”

Being able to invest in staff training and retention has been a common theme in this week’s discussions. Although the majority of care home staff provide fantastic care on a daily basis, without the resources to properly invest in a competent, skilled and properly remunerated work force, we cannot begin to tackle the issues which lead to lapses in care.

New measures and safeguards to root out homes not providing adequate quality of care should of course be welcomed, but until the adult social care system as a whole receives greater Government investment, wholesale change will be hard to achieve. To create the system that our loved ones deserve, reforms such as this must come hand in hand with a new approach to funding.