Regulators for Standards in Health and Social Care
The health and social care sector is heavily regulated to protect people from the risk of harm from the delivery of, and to maintain and raise standards in health and social care.
Making sure statutory regulations offer the most effective and well-adjusted means of delivering a public protection function is at the core of any decision to regulate a profession.
There are several bodies that are responsible for regulating a variety of aspects within the health and social care sector. Many of whom have specific legislation and power over the HSE (Health and Safety Executive, Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety). This article will give you a more detailed overview of the UK’s regulators for health and social care and what they do.
CQC - Care Regulator, England
The regulator for the health and social care sector in England is the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They are responsible for ensuring the quality and safety of care in a variety of settings, including hospitals, dentists, and care homes, alongside care given in people’s own homes.
To ensure the needs of the service users are at the heart of care and support planning, during inspections, the CQC will pay a lot of attention to the safety of services based on things that are important to people. CQC inspectors make their decision by assessing the provider's services against the following five questions:
- Are they safe? – Protection from abuse and avoidable harm.
- Are they effective? - Care, treatment and support lead to good outcomes.
- Are they caring? – Staff involve and treat people with compassion.
- Are they responsive to people’s needs? - Services are organised.
- Are they well-led? – The leadership, management and governance ensure high-quality care.
These 5 questions are sometimes referred to as the 5 domains or the CQC 5 Standards.
When following these standards, some of the mistakes service providers make include not having a good system in place, inadequate risk assessments, a flimsy complaint reporting procedure, no evidence of actions to improve individuals’ care and a lack of staff supervision and training.
If you want to learn more, our introduction to the CQC article: What is the CQC, will give you more in-depth information about who they are and what they do.
What is the Care Inspectorate Scotland?
Care Inspectorate Scotland, formerly known as the Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, is the care regulator of health and care management in Scotland and is responsible for inspecting care services and maintaining standards of care.
They do so by inspecting care services to ensure they’re meeting the right standards and working with care providers to help them improve the service they provide. Their overall aim is to ensure everyone is getting a high-quality and safe standard of care that meets all of their needs.
The Care Inspectorate will also carry out joint inspections alongside other regulators to monitor how well organisations in the local area are working to support both adults and children. This upholds the high standards and expectations that are expected from social work services. The health and social care standards in Scotland’s health and social care sector are underpinned by five principles:
- Dignity and respect
- Compassion
- Be included
- Responsive care
- Support and wellbeing
The principles themselves aren’t standards or outcomes, but they should reflect the way that everyone expects to be treated. Once a service is assessed, the inspection reports for every care service in Scotland will be published online. In July 2018, a new framework for inspections of care was introduced reflecting the ambition of the new standards. Learn more about the new Health and Social Care Standards for care homes in Scotland.
If a care service isn’t registered with the Care Inspectorate, then it won’t be allowed to operate. Around 14,000 care services are regulated by them, including:
- Care homes for children, adults and older people
- Care at home/domiciliary care
- Housing support
- Childminders
- Children’s nurseries
- Playgrounds and out-of-school clubs
Specialist services like daycare, adoption and fostering agencies, nurse agencies, and more are also regulated by the Care Inspectorate.
The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001
In 2001, the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act was passed, with the aim to improve standards within social care services. The act meant that many more care staff and services were scrutinised and had to conform to established standards. If a care service or individual didn’t comply with the act and associated regulations, they could get de-registered and will no longer be able to provide services.
What is the Care Inspectorate Wales?
Established in 2002, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW), now known as the Care Inspectorate Wales, was formed as part of reforms responsible for protecting and promoting the quality of life and independence of vulnerable adults and children. They also promote coordination between health and social care and the establishment of the Care Council to set standards, improve performance and regulate the workforce.
The Care Inspectorate Wales is responsible for regulating and inspecting a wide range of services throughout Wales that take care of both young and old people. They will review these services at a national and local level, so the public can be informed if the services are up to standard. Suggestions are also made to improve the services and safeguard the interests of the service users and their carers. Regulated services consist of:
- Children’s homes
- Services for children (under 8)
- Domiciliary care agencies
- Nurses’ agencies
- Adult placement schemes
- Care homes and nursing homes
- Independent fostering agencies
- Voluntary adoption agencies
Professional assessments and judgements about social care, early years and social services are made using the following care planning regulations:
- Registration – The service is registered.
- Inspection – The service is inspected and reports get published.
- Complaints – Complaints are investigated those that can’t be fixed by the providers’ complaints procedure are dealt with.
- Compliance – Supported with regulations.
- Enforcement – Action is taken to ensure the requirements of the Care Standards Act and associated regulations are being met.
The findings of their assessments are published in a report, which will become available online in the Care Inspectorate Wales publications section. You can learn more about what a registered care provider must do by law to meet the National Minimum Standards and provide care in Wales here.
Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016
Received by Royal Assent and becoming law on 18 January 2016, the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act was put in place to improve the quality of health and social services and protect those who need them. You can download an easy-read summary of the act Act here. The Act offers the following:
- It reforms the regulation of social care in Wales by placing people who receive care and support at its core.
- It remodels the regulation of the social care workforce.
- It adjusts the inspection of local authority social services functions.
- It provides robust response to the lessons learned from previous failures in the system.
Care planning regulations also lead to the renaming of the Care Council for Wales and the Social Services Improvement Agency to Social Care Wales – a statutory body with regulatory powers.
RQIA - Care Regulator, Northern Ireland
The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) is responsible for inspecting and monitoring the quality and availability of health and social care services in Northern Ireland. They also encourage improvements in the quality of those services through assessments. Their main role is to ensure that Northern Ireland has accessible, well-managed health and social care services that meet standards.
Every year, the RQIA inspects approximately 1,500 health and social care services, including around 500 nursing and residential care homes and domiciliary care and nursing agencies. Through their inspections, reviews and audits, they assure the quality of care and challenges of poor practice, while promoting improvement and safeguarding the rights of service users.
Many of the inspections carried out by the RQIA are unannounced and they can occur any time or any day. The inspectors will look for evidence that the care being provided is:
- Safe
- Effective
- Compassionate
- Well-led
They will check that the service is delivering care that is in line with all of the standards, best practices and legislation that applies. Previous reports of complaints, whistleblowing and any other intelligence that has been shared with the RQIA will be reviewed before an inspection, as it prompts them to check out any concerns when inspecting a service. Reports for their inspections can be found on their website.
Adopting your strategy
Having an effective governance framework in place will allow you to plan out and track your strategy as well as the best way to deliver it. Regulatory performance should consist of:
- Robust audits
- Mock inspections
- Notification management
- Complaints
- Compliments
- Action management, and more
So evidencing your compliance journey and the changes you have implemented along the way is essential to outline your evidence and strategy to regulators.
You should have a clear demonstration of the areas that you identified for improvements and have appropriate evidence of the implementation of these improvements (either progress or completion). Being organised and having this documentation will be the difference between getting the rating you want or the rating that you’ve been trying to avoid.
How We Can Help You
To summarise, there are different regulators for each part of the UK. They have their own rules and standards that they expect care facilities and staff to live up to, but their goals are the same, to ensure the safety and health of those in their care. As a care provider, it’s your responsibility to meet these standards to protect both your team and your service users, alongside the reputation of the facility.
Fortunately, there are things you can do to make this easier. At The Access Group, we strive to form partnerships with our clients to help them understand the full benefits of using our software. With Access Care Compliance, you can monitor, design and implement your care strategy to ensure that you get the rating you deserve.
From mock inspections and audits and action plans to forms and dashboards, everything you need to take the leg work out of compliance and boost your rating will be conveniently located in one place. When merged with your information, Access Care Compliance will identify your key areas of improvement and ensure you’re evidencing your compliance as you go, preparing you for inspection.
Book a demo or contact us about care compliance today and start reliably recording, tracking and interrogating performance across all your care services.
