CQC highlights flaws in contemporary home care services

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has announced several alarming issues that are affecting the delivery of good home care services in the UK.

The announcements came in light of an extensive review of home care services, which concluded that although good care was being delivered, a minority of people were being negatively affected by inadequate care work practises.

In light of the announcement, professionals working in the caring profession are urged to contact Quality Compliance Systems (QCS). This London-based organisation offers help and support to all ensure that all aspects of care planning meet the required standards.

The CQC began its review of home care service in England in April 2012. On February 13, 2012, the CQC, which is designed to regulate, inspect and review all adult social care service in the public, private and voluntary sectors in England, announced that although 74% of the 250 services the organisation inspected are conforming to all five of the national standards, there are several concerns.

One of the leading concerns that the review uncovered was that, on several occasions, people receiving care were visited by complete strangers without any prior warning. Not only were many vulnerable people visited by carers that they did not know, but the visits were also sometimes fairly heavily delayed or even cancelled without notice.

Another blatantly unacceptable and worryingly frequently performed practise that the QCS uncovered in its report was that risks associated with an individual’s medical conditions or care, were not always assessed. Not only this, but many care plans went untouched and had not been updated for several years.

The report also provided evidence that several care services in England did not have systems in place that monitor the quality and effectiveness of care plans.

Referring to the imperativeness that everyone should be treated with respect and as an individual, David Behan, the chief executive of CQC, said:”People have a right to expect to be treated as an individual, to be able to exercise choice, and to make sure their carers are aware of their specific needs. We have found plenty of evidence of this however we also found elements of poor care which happen too often.”

One of Quality Compliance Systems’ leading aims is to eradicate this type of poor planning and practises within the care sector. The QCS delivers a care planning management scheme to help ensure that all adult social care workers deliver quality and straight-forward care plans that focus on the individual rather than just a ‘number.’

The QCS offers a novel approach to home care management and provides an online service that can be personally tailored to cater for an organisation’s individual requirements via its website at http://www.ukqcs.co.uk.