The Scottish Association of Social Work (SASW – part of BASW) has offered a cautious welcome for plans to tighten the care home inspection framework after the minister for health in Holyrood announced a plan for statutory unannounced inspections for all homes.
Speaking in the Scottish parliament on 15 September the minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said regulations will be introduced to specify a minimum requirement for annual inspections. Ms Sturgeon also explained that the body responsible for carrying out the inspections would be known as the Care Inspectorate, a new working name for the former Social Care and Social Work Inspection Scotland (SCSWI).
Giving oral evidence to the Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament, SASW manager Ruth Stark broadly supported the move but said policymakers needed to be aware of the resource implications of tightening regulations.
She told MSPs: “The complication with regulating everyone who provides home care will be the cost. We do not have a mechanism for doing it cheaply. That is a political thistle that the committee will have to wrestle with.”
Her remarks echoed separate written evidence SASW submitted in August in which the Association emphasised the numbers of inspectors needed to make a tougher regime effective: ‘There have to be enough regulators and inspectors and there have to be enough unannounced visits to make sure that services are providing the quality of care that is required.’
In the oral and written evidence SASW supported the move to highlight underperforming homes but also emphasised the need for more investment in care services and a safer environment for whistleblowing.
‘We consider that the key to good quality services is in making sure that the right conditions exist in the first place to prevent harm being caused by poor quality care provided by inadequate resourcing,’ the written evidence stated.
‘They have to listen carefully to residents, relatives and friends, staff and managers. They have to listen for the signs that all is not well. People will speak out louder when they feel safe. We are looking forward to continuing our dialogue with the regulators about how complaints and whistleblowers are heard.’
Announcing the proposed new inspection framework Ms Sturgeon said annual visits would be a minimum requirement and that the newly titled Care Inspectorate would be able to increase the number of times they visit a care home over a year should they be concerned about its performance.
The Care Inspectorate has taken on the functions of The Social Work Inspection Agency, the Care Commission (with the exception of independent healthcare regulation) and HMIE’s functions in respect of the inspection of child protection and the development of children services inspection.
The minister also addressed concerns over the collapse of Southern Cross, which she hoped the reforms may help prevent in future. “I recognise that until the transfer of former Southern Cross homes to the new operators is complete that there will be anxiety and concern. But I want to reassure people that we will continue to work with both Southern Cross and the landlords, as well as COSLA and the inspectorate to ensure we get the best result for all Scottish residents.”