Long-term care insurance is reluctant to cover
home care, rather than care in residential or care homes, as the sector is
unregulated. This will change so insurers may have to consider putting more onus
on the cheaper care in the home.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will carry out
an inspection programme of providers of home care services from April 2012 and
will cover about 250 providers of domiciliary care services.
As well as producing an inspection report for
each individual provider, CQC will also produce a national report that sets out
findings about quality and safety in these themed inspections.
These inspections follow a pilot programme of 30
inspections of domiciliary care services, where CQC has been trialling
different methods to make sure inspectors clearly hear the views of people who
use the services and their families.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has
published a report on home care services that reveals disturbing evidence that
the poor treatment of many older people is threatening their human rights.
Cynthia Bower of CQC says, "Home care is one of the most difficult areas
of care to monitor. Often the people who use home care services find themselves
in vulnerable circumstances and the operation of home care is not as
transparent as care in hospitals and other sectors because the interactions
happen behind closed doors in people's homes. In the reviews we will focus on
dignity and respect, the safeguarding of people in vulnerable circumstances,
and how well supported and trained home care staff are to undertake these most
important care tasks."
Long term care news: 13 December 2011
