Mik's "Words from the Care Face" 2

Blog 2 – How many inspectors do we need?

Our The issues we face report was developed from a series of conversations with Registered Managers and people providing care and support services. It is designed to provide a voice for the sector based on the actual experiences of those who work in it. 

Providers find themselves inspected by CQC, local authority quality assurance or contract compliance teams and at times Healthwatch. All of these bodies have slightly different approaches and report on their findings. Providers are told public money is tight and experience this in their day to day operations and yet there is funding for three different bodies to come in and effectively do the same job.

Often these organisations have slightly different thoughts about what they want to see and yet providers who are already busy can’t be running parallel systems. They need to be running a single set of systems.

Would it not be better to have a single inspection body (potentially with representatives from these different stakeholders) and one agreed approach?

Would it also not be better for the regulator(s) to provide documents and templates which they agree represent Best Practice and which providers can use as a baseline and adapt them to meet their own requirements? Then people don’t have to second guess what’s wanted and to keep reinventing the wheel.

Providers appreciate having inspectors who they can talk to and who can offer them advice. Would it be better to have an ongoing and supportive relationship between services and their regulator(s) so that inspections can reflect a more thorough and ongoing assessment of a service rather than the current ‘snapshot’?

What are your thoughts?

If you are interested in looking at the full ‘The issues we face’ report, you can download a copy here.