Issue - meetings

To receive a presentation on the work of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Jane Ray (Care Quality Commission (CQC) Compliance Manager) and Nercan Culleton (CQC Inspector) introduced the work of CQC, the regulator for health and social care, which merged three inspectorates -  Healthcare Commission (HCC), Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and Mental Health Act Commission.

Ms Ray’s team inspected Mental Health for Enfield and Haringey and some social care services. A programme of reviews had started with Haringey PCT wards on St Anne’s site (and other non-Haringey sites) and some adult care services being inspected.  The order in which services were inspected was determined by a variety of sources including if a partner such as the Local Involvement Network (LINk) had a concern about a particular service, this service would be one of the first to be inspected.

In response to the Committee’s questions the following was noted:

• CQC would continue to inspect care homes although reporting would be more focused on a set of outcomes including quality of care, medication being administered was in line with service user records, nutritional needs were being met, residents received assistance when they requested it as well as interviews with staff and service users’ families.  Additional aspects of care could be inspected; often in response to issues raised about a service.
• CQC was involving LINks before large inspections were taking place although it was recognised that discretion was required to ensure that a service was not made aware that inspectors would be visiting.
• Services were inspected every 2 years but more regularly if a service was failing to improve.
• It was not CQC’s role to comment on efficiency savings being made by local authorities although it will monitor the services that were closing to ensure people were adequately cared for during transitional periods.

The Committee agreed that the Chair would write to the Care Quality Commission suggesting that services inspected by Haringey CQC teams were aligned with NHS configurations rather than different CQC teams working across different sectors.  The Committee suggested that CQC inspectors be more systematic in seeking out the experiences of families and carers (Action No. 189).

RESOLVED to note the presentation about the work of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).