The CQC's perspective

Dame Jo Williams has recently been appointed as the chairwoman of the Care Quality Commission.


In an interview with the Independent she says that she's worried that public sector cuts at council level will result in less money being paid to care homes which will lead to lower standards.  


She says that the CQC is going to start using automated methods of scanning information in from newspapers and the net to alert them to problems.  Full article here: 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/dire-state-of-care-homes-for-the-elderly-is-only-going-to-get-worse-says-top-inspector-2195530.html

There is another way

A letter from Libby Smith In response to Johann Hari's article suggests a "mutual" alternative to the current private equity funded model of care home provision:

"Johann Hari's plan for improving the lives of elderly people in care homes is good, but how long do we think it'll take for government to put it into action? Another solution could be for residents to own and manage their own care homes by setting up peer-led social enterprises, co-ops, mutuals, etc. Groups of like-minded people could club together, buy their own property and employ the care, cleaning and cooking staff they need.

They would choose how small or large their homes would be, who they live with, whether pets are allowed, etc. If they own the property, the costs would probably compare favourably with commercial care homes. But this would work better if people took the plunge before they actually needed care. As members die, their places would be bought by younger members, perhaps friends of existing members.

And yes, people would deteriorate physically and mentally, but not all of them and not all at the same time. So people needing care would be surrounded by friends more able-bodied or able-minded, and some would have their spouses, reducing the need for care workers simply to watch over residents."

Full text here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-perspectives-on-the-palestine-papers-2196494.html

Johann Hari's 10 point plan for change

The newspapers are so full of people moaning about things that it's really encouraging to see that Johann Hari has produced a 10 point plan for how to improve quality of care

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/the-plan-to-solve-our-care-home-crisis-2194213.html

A banker's point of view

Private equity companies are eyeing up the collapsing Southern Cross group of care homes.  Stuart Quint from 3i is quoted in an article in the Observer "We are on the look-out for opportunities, particular where we can charge a premium for specialist services in areas such as learning difficulties, dementia, brain injuries and Huntington's disease."

Full article here http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/23/southern-cross-care-homes-private-equity

Meanwhile my local council (Haringey) is planning to close all of its care homes by 2013 which will mean that all care in Haringey will be provided by the private sector
http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/news/age_matters_director_warns_of_transplantation_shock_for_old_folk_moved_out_of_homes_in_haringey_1_771271

CQC inspections cut by 75%

Johann Hari writes in The Independent newspaper about his experience of finding acceptable care for his Grandmother:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-my-grandmother-deserved-a-better-ending-than-this-2184337.html

He notes that the Government's new "light touch regulation" has cut the number of Care Home inspections to a quarter of what they were.  This is in line with our experience at CareHomeMap.co.uk.  We used to upload inspection reports every three months but these are no longer available and we have not uploaded any updates since August 2010.

The CQC web site has almost no information on it now - it's hard to see how this is a step forward.

We are hoping that users of CareHomeMap.co.uk will make more use of the user rating functions so that we can start to build an up to date picture of care quality.