There has been recent media attention in relation to sexual safety of service users in care homes following the case of CQC v Hillgreen Care Limited [2018], where the provider was fined £300,000 for failing in its duty to protect service users in its care, exposing them to the risk of sexual abuse. District Judge […]

Much to the surprise of people who thought there would be no reform or parliamentary time for the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLs) legislation, the past year has proved that is not the case. In July we saw the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill introduced. This Bill abolished the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, by deleting Mental […]

Imagine if you will a world where public and private providers of health and social care are dealt with an even hand.  A world where private providers of care are given the support and room to offer good quality care to their service users.  A world where inspections and ratings are not excessively relied upon […]

CQC has completed its first cycle of inspections under its new inspection regime. But, what now? How have inspections impacted the adult social care sector? The Kings Fund and Alliance Manchester Business School (“AMBS”) have produced a report evaluating the CQC’s approach to inspecting and rating health and social care providers. The findings of the […]

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 Building the Right Support strategy before it ends in 2019. These ambitions are to develop more community services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism, who […]

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 Building the Right Support strategy before it ends in 2019. These ambitions are to develop more community services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism, who […]

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 provided on the internet or at a distance. The consultation process will run for 8 weeks, until 21 August 2018, and we strongly urge all providers within this specific sector […]

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 Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) and Consumer Protection for Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs). The CRA applies a test of fairness to terms in a […]

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 care services which impact how CQC makes judgements and how providers can challenge these. It is important for providers to challenge factual inaccuracies and misleading comments […]