Letter in Daily Telegraph: 3rd January 2012

There is a disappointing letter in today’s Daily Telegraph signed by 72 organisations involved in social care mainly in the voluntary sector.


The letter talks about the threat to the provision of social care unless a concensus can be reached around the funding of long term care.

We believe that one of the biggest threats to the future of social care is the failure to care and support for the care home sector.

Care homes are an essential part of the continuum of care, caring as they do for the frailest and most vulnerable older people.

That failure to support the care home sector in the coming year could cause even more instability to social care than anything else and that instability could put more pressure on the NHS than it could tolerate.

Our message for the New Year to the Government and the 72 organisations that signed today’s letter is “It is imperative that the CARE HOME Sector is recognised as part of the solution to this funding conundrum. Splitting the sector will weaken the impact and fail the frail and elderly population we serve".

Social Care in the News

Despite the holidays, there has been a great deal in the press and on the TV and radio about social care.

Yesterday it was about the government announcement of 150 million new money for domiciliary care - good for domiciliary care, but what about residential care which is suffering very badly too?

Meeting: the National Skills Academy for Social Care

Yesterday afternoon I went to a meeting at the National Skills Academy for Social Care, looking at the role of the Registered Care Manager. It was really interesting to focus on this key role in Social Care and the Academy will be issuing a short questionnaire about the role of the Registered Manager in due course which we will of course circulate to everyone.

Meeting with the Minister / Our Seminars in Brighton and Croydon

This evening, Nadra and I are having dinner with the Minister, Paul Burstow MP. 

I had a really helpful meeting with him last week. It was an opportunity to speak about our ideas for making care homes a resource for the whole community.

Last week we also held 2 National Care Association seminars. These were well attended and we were able to consult with members about the Care Quality Commission’s consultation on changes to inspection and enforcement.

We are now writing our response and will let our members see it as soon as possible.

Age UK Conference & Day Care

Yesterday I spoke at a conference in Shrewsbury organised by Age UK Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

It was a wonderful Conference and I was asked to speak about choosing a care home. This is always something I enjoy doing.

One of the key questions I was asked afterwards was from a lady who lives in sheltered housing in Shropshire where consultations are going on about the warden service being removed.

We know this is going on up and down the Country and this reminded me of the number of times I have heard recently about day centres being close down.

If this is happening in your area, have you thought about providing some day care within your own care home?

I am writing an information sheet for members about this at the moment and it will be emailed to members within the next 2 weeks.

Bureaucracy!

I spoke at a care conference in York yesterday afternoon. The delegates had had a long day but the majority of them stayed to the very end of the Conference.

The thing that struck me both as I was speaking and when people spoke to me afterwards is their concern that the sheer volume of bureaucracy and paperwork is taking them away from their caring responsibilities.

We all know that there has to be proper recording of essential paperwork but …… I know that care providers too often feel that they are being asked to complete paperwork for no good reason.

I am going to a meeting with Cynthia Bower the Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission at the beginning of December and I will raise this issue with her then.

If you have any examples of being required to keep records unnecessarily please let me know.

CQC Inspections

I would be very interested to hear from anyone what is happening with inspections at the moment. Are you still being asked by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to complete Provider Compliance Assessments (PCAs) of some of the Essential Standards? I know that other people are having unannounced inspections. I would be really pleased to hear what is happening in your area.

The unannounced inspections (instead of being asked to complete PCAs) are part of the current CQC consultation which ends at the beginning of December. You can take part in the consultation. For more information click here.

Am off to speak at a conference in York this afternoon.