UK’s Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care) announced on Monday 17th January that it would introduce regulations that extend vaccination as a condition of deployment beyond residential care settings to any other Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activity in health and social care, subject to certain exemptions and conditions. This will come …
As its 2021-2025 strategy has developed, the CQC forewarned us that it would be taking a more flexible approach to inspection activity and ratings. We have been a vocal critic of some of the rigidities of the past regime, but increased flexibility in regulation is not without its pitfalls, and we have been waiting patiently …
A New Approach for CQC Inspectors, Draft Inspection Reports and Ratings Read More »
Emollient Creams – Riskier than you might think? A large care provider was required to pay a staggering £1,041,500 earlier this month, comprising a fine of £937,500 and prosecution costs of £104,000, after pleading guilty to an offence under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. A service user, who was a smoker and used …
In its latest publication on the 21 December 2021 the CQC has announced that it will finally begin to inspect care homes rated ‘Requires Improvement’. This means that up to 14% of care homes in the UK (3,271) care homes will now be subject to inspections once again. As part of a wider amendment to …
CQC finally set to inspect ‘Requires Improvement’ rated care homes Read More »
The Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) has announced a further delay to the public consultation on the draft regulations and draft Code of Practice for the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Liberty Protection Safeguards (“LPS”). The DHSC had intended to launch the consultation in the summer of 2021 but said that due …
Further Delays to the Implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards Read More »
In July I wrote about mandatory vaccinations in the Health and Social Care sector. At that time the new regulations were recently approved changing the law whereby 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 …
UPDATE: Mandatory Vaccinations in the Health and Social Care Sector Read More »
Give yourself the capacity to care for your carers who care for your service users. The government has been strong on the rhetoric that increased cash will be made available to social care. The snag is that they propose to make these funds available to local authorities without strings that require the cash to be …
With CQC enforcement on the rise it is more important than ever for Providers to understand exactly what powers the CQC has, the impact this can have on their services and how they can challenge the CQC if they find themselves the subject of enforcement action. The CQC has a wide range of enforcement powers …
CQC Enforcement Action is on the Rise: Are You Prepared? Read More »
The CQC is very quick to tell providers how they are not meeting the regulations or what they are doing wrong but rarely, if at all, do we hear stories of the CQC saying, “If you do x, you’ll be deemed to be meeting the regulations”. An example which is common, is that of staffing …
Is the CQC exacerbating the current state of care? Read More »
The CQC annual report published on the 22nd October 2021 has highlighted the pandemics effects on the industry, which has exacerbated the inequalities in care. The report analyses the additional strain on carers which has intensified during the pandemic, including the increasing burden now placed on volunteers. Carers UK estimated in June 2020 that an …
Ridouts is a team of specialist health and social care lawyers, providing dedicated legal advice for care homes, GP practices, children’s homes, dental practices, domiciliary and home care agencies, supported and independent living services and both private and NHS hospitals.
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