Caring Times

Mandatory vaccinations in the Health and Social Care sector

The Government has consulted on and proposed that the law will be changed so that a provider of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care home which provides accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care, can only deploy staff who have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination. This may be welcomed news …

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Letters of Intent – A serious threat from the CQC – as published in Caring Times

Over the past 2 to 3 years we have witnessed an increasing distaste from the CQC for any form of challenge to their decisions in relation to care services.  Added to this the CQC have shown a strong preference to follow registration and enforcement action based on their own devised practices and procedures rather than …

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CQC’s draft consultation strategy for 2021 and smarter regulation – has much changed?

As published in Caring Times – February 2021 On 7 January 2021, CQC published a formal consultation paper on its new draft strategy that it aims to implement over the next five years. CQC acknowledged that the pandemic has forced the health and social care sector to think differently and stated that the purpose of …

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Will CQC cross the threshold post-COVID-19? As published in Caring Times September 2020

The CQC’s regulatory regime has historically centred around a schedule of inspections of providers to assure itself of the quality of care offered.  It seems apparent that following the decision to suspend inspections in March 2020 that the CQC will be looking to move away from its historic model of inspections for inspections’ sake.  Its …

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Complaints Handling Process – in line with current guidance? As published in Caring Times – May 2020

 The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) conducted a ‘Care Homes Market Study’  in 2018 and found that many service users and those acting on their behalf found it difficult to complain to care homes and regarded the complaints processes as unclear, complicated and confusing. As a result of this study, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute …

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Further Guidance on Suspension of Ratings: Providers should be wary – Caring Times – February 2020

In last month’s edition of Caring Times, I wrote about the CQC’s power to suspend a provider’s rating when it had concerns that the current rating was possibly no longer reflective of the care being provided to service users. I had highlighted my concern that the only information available to providers was a sentence in …

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Suspension of Ratings: Is this CQC being transparent or underhand? As published in Caring Times December 2019

Between April and July 2019, CQC suspended 4 providers’ ratings. “Their rating was suspended? Don’t you mean their registration was suspended?” I hear you ask? A little known option available to CQC, which has made its way into the Provider Guidance on ‘How CQC monitors, inspects and regulates adult social care services,’ allows CQC to …

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Deprivation of Liberties: when will we get it right? As published in Caring Times – November 2018

Promoting and safeguarding a person’s autonomy is a fundamental right, which is entrenched in national/international legal systems. Therefore, to infringe on such rights it is imperative that great consideration and thought is given to developing legislation which protect such rights. The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill (“Proposed Bill”), will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (“DoLS”) in …

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Challenging CQC’s Evidence Base – as published in Caring Times

CQC appointed its new Chief Executive to the Board, Ian Trenholm.  He is due to take over the role in July 2018 when Sir David Behan leaves.  Mr Trenholm started his career in the police service before moving on to roles including Chief Operating Officer at Defra and Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of …

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Caring for the carers: culture is crucial – As published in Caring Times

At Ridouts, we advise providers about how they can challenge draft inspection reports, Warning Notices, Notices of Proposals and Decisions – we challenge CQC’s findings; the incorrect facts; and the incorrect interpretation of facts and judgments.  In addition, we are often asked how a provider can counter what staff have told CQC during an inspection …

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