Government to 'take action' to improve 'culture of feedback' for care homes

People entering care should be ‘empowered’ to make informed decisions to protect them from unfair practices, says the Government, which stresses residents should also be 'aware of bodies outside care homes' that can assist with feedback and complaints.

Promising to ‘take action to improve signposting’ to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the Department of Health & Social Care said it will work with a new Government-led forum to improve the handling of care home feedback across the adult social care sector.

Improving the ’culture of feedback’

The Department will work with the forum called the ‘Complaints Improvement Partnership for health and social care’ to carry out a review of advocacy services for care home residents and ‘improve the culture of feedback’ by considering the role of ‘feedback champions’ as recommended by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The Government made its comments in its response to the CMA’s final report of its study of the care homes market (published 30 November 2017).

The CMA report identified that those requiring care needed greater support in choosing a care home and greater protection once resident in the home. The CMA also called the current model of service provision in the care sector unsustainable - highlighting that the sector is not positioned to attract investment to meet future needs.

The new ‘complaints forum’ is managed by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and Healthwatch England which are scheduled to publish a statement by 1 April on what people should expect from care providers and commissioners, in response to their complaints and other feedback.

The two bodies’ efforts build on the work of Quality Matters (launched last July) which looks at acting on feedback including complaints and praise.

Stronger regulations

In its response to the CMA report, the Government said it would also take ‘immediate action’ to improve consumer protection in the care home sector by drafting stronger regulations requiring care homes to:

- Notify the regulator when a resident is evicted. - Publish fee information for self-funders online including what is included in them (such as upfront fees and hidden costs).

- Provide a copy of the contract and T&Cs to residents and their loved ones at an early stage of the decision-making process.

- Ensure providers use a standard template in summarising their most important T&Cs.

- Protect residents’ deposits in full against the risk of insolvency

'Robust' accreditation scheme

The Government also said it would ‘support industry to develop model contracts and will explore developing a robust accreditation scheme to embed good practice’.

Care England, which represents independent care homes, welcomes greater transparency in the care sector but does not believe that an accreditation scheme will do anything other than add administrative burden without seeing benefits for people.

It wants to see the Government working more closely with the care sector to see the changes without imposing a complex process around accreditation.

The Department also highlighted it was 'aware of the concerns highlighted by the CMA that [care home] top-ups may be being agreed inappropriately and without local authority knowledge and that individuals contracting directly with providers for top-ups are doing so on less favourable terms than if the local authority was involved'.

The Government said it will determine how guidance on care home top-ups can be strengthened by this October.

Care England argues much of the Government’s response pushes any action back until the publication this Summer of its long-awaited social care green paper, claiming we are no further forward on issues relating to funding and market confidence in meeting the care needs of vulnerable people across England.

Care England’s chief executive Martin Green said: “There is too much within this response on which the Government stays silent. Accepting the CMA’s analysis that there needs to be investor confidence across the adult social care market is not the same as taking the action necessary to fund adult social care services properly.

"In the meantime, care homes continue to close and contracts are being handed back. If the Government cannot address the current crisis in social care then the Green Paper will have little relevance.”

To read the Government's response to the CMA’s report visit:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/685315/cma-care-homes-market-study-final-report-government-response.pdf