WELCOME TO RIDOUTS SOLICITORS

Ridouts is a niche practice of outstanding health and social care lawyers. We pride ourselves on offering clarity and common sense advice when our clients need it most. In a field dominated by generalists and big firms, you'll find it refreshing to deal with lawyers who know your sector as well as you do.

OUR FIRM

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Our Services

Ridouts is exclusively a champion for health and social care providers. We do not want to compromise our position or yours and therefore do not act for regulators, service users or commissioners. We understand the bigger picture. Balancing regulatory requirements and political pressures alongside delivering safe and high quality care can be a challenge. We understand those challenges and work to get the best results for you, whatever your circumstances. Our clients include care homes, children's homes, GP practices, dental practices, domiciliary care agencies, supported living services, independent and NHS hospitals, to name a few.

Services
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About Us

Ridouts is a law firm built upon talent and experience for the single purpose of providing services tailored to the needs of health and social care providers. Ridouts is uniquely placed to obtain the best possible outcome to a range of regulatory and operational issues and is the obvious choice for providers who face them. Ridouts’ experience is that specialist commercial and legal support provided in a timely manner can avoid great loss at relatively low cost.

About Us

How we can help


Ridouts is a health and social care legal practice uniquely placed to obtain the best possible outcome for our clients. Ridouts' experience is that specialist legal support can avoid great loss at relatively low cost.
 

Who we can help


 We assist all providers of health and social care services. This includes care homes, domiciliary care agencies, children's homes, NHS hospitals, GP practices, dentists and independent hospitals and special schools.

Where we can help


 Ridouts is based in London but we travel across England, Wales and Scotland assisting our clients with a variety of regulatory and operational issues. We are well placed to assist at very short notice and are able to assemble a team to help deal with any type of crisis.

LATEST NEWS

September 20, 2018 The RIdout Report. GreenFlower
CQC confirm their ‘State of Care’ 2017/18 is due to be published shortly Today CQC have confirmed that their ‘State of Care’ 2017/18 is due to be published shortly. For those that do not know the State of Care is CQC’s annual assessment of health and so ..
September 19, 2018 The RIdout Report. RedMarble
Recent analysis finds one in every five care homes not good enough A recent analysis undertaken by the BBC has found that one in five care homes in England is rated as not good enough. Nearly 3,000 of England’s 14,975 care homes are currently rate ..
September 17, 2018 Our Case Studies. Red honey comb
Ridouts notices increase in urgent enforcement action Recently we have noticed an increase in CQC’s use of urgent enforcement action. Providers need to be aware that when CQC use these powers stakeholders will be expected to act quick ..
September 14, 2018 The RIdout Report. GreenLeafSwirl
Retainment of UK nurses remains a key issue in social care New research has found that a shortage of UK nurses, lack of government funding and a winter crisis has put extraordinary levels of pressure on the NHS. Concerns are mounting for w ..

THE RIDOUT REPORT

August 17, 2018 The RIdout Report. Flower.
Ridout Report August 2018 – Not Registering the Right Support The House of Commons recently debated the future of the Transforming Care programme[1]. Concerns were raised that the Programme was unlikely to realise the ambitions set out in the ..
August 16, 2018 The RIdout Report. Windy Dandelions.
Ridout Report August 2018 – Not Registering the Right Support The House of Commons recently debated the future of the Transforming Care programme[1]. Concerns were raised that the Programme was unlikely to realise the ambitions set out in the ..
July 6, 2018 The RIdout Report. TreeStump
The sector considers online prescribing The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has just launched a consultation requesting views on changes to their 2015 guidance for pharmacy services, specially for those services pr ..
June 8, 2018 The RIdout Report. Flower.
The CMA sets its sights on care home fees after death – what does it mean for providers? On 31 May 2018 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published advice to UK care home providers on charging fees after a resident’s death. The advice is based upon the Consum ..
April 13, 2018 The RIdout Report. GreenFlower
Back to Basics – Challenging CQC Inspection Reports Since the introduction of the CQC rating system in 2014 there have been various revisions of CQC’s guidance to providers on how it monitors, inspects and regulates adult social car ..
March 5, 2018 The RIdout Report. Spiderweb
Fight or Flight: How would you react to CQC enforcement? In recent months we at Ridouts have seen a significant increase in the Care Quality Commission’s use of enforcement action. Providers are approaching us seeking explanations for th ..
February 8, 2018 The RIdout Report. Spider water drop
Winter Pressures- A Partial Solution As first published in the HSJ Insight and Influence Channel. We are in mid-Winter.  We were told the NHS was never better prepared.  A significant ‘flu “epidemic”, relatively unusu ..
January 5, 2018 The RIdout Report. RedMarble
Can technology make the CQC more intelligent? CQC’s Strategy for 2016 to 2021 sets out four priorities it will focus on in order to achieve a more targeted, responsive and collaborative approach to regulation, so more people g ..
December 11, 2017 The RIdout Report. LeafPatern
Is CQC’s focus of inspection properly aligned? CQC claim to now have a handle on the quality of care provision provided in the UK; however this is on the presumption that the inspections it conducts provide it with accurate con ..

ARTICLES & PUBLICATIONS

September 6, 2018 The RIdout Report. Flower.
Could Improvements post-inspection now be reported on in CQC reports? (as published in Healthcare Business – September 2018) CQC inspections have, for years, been considered a “snap-shot” of a home/location on the day of the inspection.  CQC rock up, take a view of what they find, and then write a report ..
September 6, 2018 The RIdout Report. Windy Dandelions.
Paul Ridout expresses his concern to the Health Service Journal about CQC’s recent Tribunal success in appeal against its refusal to increase number of beds for people with learning difficulties On 24 August 2018 the HSJ wrote: The care quality watchdog has won an appeal to stop a private care provider increasing the number of beds for people with learning disabilities. Th ..
August 31, 2018 The RIdout Report. Spider water drop
Care Talk – Understanding Financial Abuse Within the Safeguarding Sphere A highly common safeguarding challenge within a care home is financial abuse. It has been a subject of news reports this year and remains a critical one within the media, Governmen ..
July 24, 2018 The RIdout Report. TreeStump
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 ..
July 18, 2018 The RIdout Report. Ice Frozen
A Landmark Ruling for Providers – Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake and Shannon v Rampersad [2018] – workers are not working when asleep by contractual consent The magnitude of the Court of Appeal judgment in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake and Shannon v Rampersad [2018] EWCA Civ 164 should not be underestimated by health and socia ..
July 17, 2018 The RIdout Report. Pollen
Would Video Assistant Referees improve CQC’s process of inspections? As published on Health Service Journal’s Insight and Influence Channel The 2018 Football World Cup was the first in history where live Video Assistant Referees (VAR) were brought in with the ambition of improving the quality or refereeing decisions.   ..
July 16, 2018 The Ridout Report. Green swirl grass image.
An important lesson in Legionella management and large company fines BUPA has been fined £3million following the death of a service user who contracted Legionnaires’ disease and died. This Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution is significant ..
July 11, 2018 The RIdout Report. Ice Frozen
Does CQC’s Amended Guidance Require Improvement? As published in Healthcare Business Magazine July 2018 Last month CQC announced that they had updated their guidance on “How CQC monitors inspects and regulates adult social care services”. This document replaced the old Provider handb ..
July 10, 2018 The RIdout Report. GreenLeafSwirl
Modern Slavery and what it means for providers There has been a lot of media coverage on modern slavery and human trafficking in recent times, both criminal offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (‘the Act’).  It is importa ..

Testimonials

We have been telling everyone how satisfied we are with Ridouts…. I much prefer Ridouts’ approach [compared to other lawyers] in liaising with the CQC directly and immediately challenging correspondence when necessary. At a time when the CQC legal department has very little money to fight costly judicial reviews and have no appetite for the courts to expand the FAC process through case law, I think the 50-50 or even the 60-40 against decisions are likely to go the clients’ way with Ridouts' approach.

Medium Sized Care Home Provider - South of England - Managing Director
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Ridouts supply training to our customers on the regulation and inspection of adult social care. The training is extremely popular, and the feedback from customers has been excellent. We have found that Ridouts provided an excellent, professional service. The standard of the presentations are very high, and the material is presented in an accessible way to help providers understand their legal obligations. Ridouts also write for our Quality & Compliance magazine, and their articles are very popular with our customers due to their practical and timely content.

Sarah Muggeridge - Forum Business Media (Editor of Quality and Compliance magazine)
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Having recently needed the help and support of Ridouts, I was very pleased with the professional and yet personal way they dealt with us. Neil and Caroline in particular were invaluable in helping us to navigate our way through the problem and by advising on the relevant legislation and our best course of action. Their expertise and experience was certainly what we needed at that time.

Sharon O’Connor - Managing Director, Mimosa Healthcare Limited
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I would highly recommend the specialist expertise and energetic support which Ridouts provide in advising on regulatory issues. This is a relatively new and extremely complex area for healthcare providers, where the stakes could not be higher. The reliable timely advice my organisation received was of great value.

Alan Whittle - Chief Executive, Basildon and Thurrock NHS Trust
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Ridouts deliver and quickly. I've found them to offer a very good service, very knowledgeable and professional.

Renos Sideras - Chief Executive, CuroCare
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Queen Ann Care has always found Ridouts to be professional and efficient specialists in their area of expertise. They understand the problems the care manager / owner are having and can quickly reassure and help to direct through the correct channels. I have found them always to be polite and responsive with immediate suggestions on how the matter can and will be dealt with. They understand the service user and in all their advice and information the service user is at the centre.

Pamela Kelly - Manager, Queen Ann Care
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On experiencing severe compliance difficulties at the care home, we were in despair. We were threatened with losing our contracts with social services and at this very trying time, we were extremely lucky to come across Ridouts, whose services we immediately engaged. They completely understood our problems and made us feel as though there was “light at the end of the tunnel.” With a highly professional and friendly approach, Ridouts tackled the council head on and fought our corner whilst ensuring that we had the appropriate compliance advice. As a result, with the help of Ridouts and especially Jonny, we managed to save the contracts and turn the Home around. Thank-you Ridouts for all your help, we will never forget it!

The Langdales Group
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Paul Ridout, without doubt, is a highly skilled lawyer with in-depth knowledge of the care industry. I cannot praise him enough for the support and loyalty he gave me in times of extremes at the ipse dixit stance of social services and the Care Quality Commission. Without his expertice we would have floundered. As a result of his endeavours we now enjoy an excellent relationship with our partners in care and in partiular with our local Social Services team. I commend him and his practice colleagues to you. Thank you Ridouts

Michael Paling - The Old Vicarage

Twitter feeds

Reports show since 2015 Ofsted has lost two thirds of its inspectors. Our Colleague Anna reflects on the high staff turnover & wonders if, newer less experienced inspectors, will have an adverse impact on clients #ofsted #highstaffturnover #inspectiontreadmill

Yesterday from Ridouts's Twitter via Twitter Web Client