CQC Compliance Quality Assurance
Care & Client Management

Residential care is the provision of accommodation and care in premises which are not the service user’s historic home, in contrast to home care or domiciliary care, in which care is provided within the service user’s own home. There are blurred margins between the two services, for instance where a service user has moved from their historic, independent, home to accommodation which may be self-contained but aggregated into a block of similar accommodation, and from which they purchase care delivered by staff who come into their home from the outside..

Background:

Residential care has a very long history, and has developed both its accommodation and care elements as society has developed, and tastes and expected standards of service have moved on.

The earliest recent codification of residential care came as a result of the National Assistance Act 1948, which gave local government the responsibility for the registration and inspection of residential care, and nursing homes, which at the time were seen as distinct and separate services. Between 1948 and 1984, registration and inspection standards were not coordinated nationally, and little if any training was provided for inspectors. The 1984 Nursing Homes Act brought further changes and improved registration standards for Nursing Homes at a national level.

The Current Regulatory Landscape for Residential Care

The genesis of the current residential care landscape was the Care Standards Act 2000, which for the first time brought into being common standards throughout England and Wales, and a national registration and inspection service. This was further enhanced by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 which set the essential standards. The current regulators are the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) in Wales, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) in Northern Ireland, and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (SCRC) (Care Commission) in Scotland.

See our 'Useful Organisations' for details of care sector regulatory bodies (past and present).

In recent years the public commissioners and purchasers of care have responded to changing tastes and placed increasing emphasis on keeping people requiring care in their own homes and providing care to them, and less emphasis on referring such people to residential care.

"In July 2010 there were 18191 care homes in England, of which 9316 were services for older people. There are approximately 21500 care homes in the UK in total."

Residential care covers a wide variety of services, but it is possible to break most of it down into certain functional groups:

• Residential homes
• Residential homes with nursing
• Residential homes, dementia
• Residential homes with nursing, dementia
• Residential homes, learning disability
• Residential homes with nursing, learning disability
• Residential homes, mental health
• Residential homes with nursing, mental health

There are a number of other specialisations, such as alcohol and/or drug dependency (or substance abuse). The current CQC categories used on their web site include:

• Old age only
• Dementia Care (EMI)
• Physical disability
• Sensory impairment
• Learning disability
• With Nursing
• Mental health
• Alcohol dependency
• Drug dependency
• No medical intervention (e.g. religious reasons)

In the past there have been somewhat artificial segregation of the various residential services, but in England at least under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, registration and inspection are focussed on the needs of the individual service users, and the ability of the service provider to respond adequately to those needs. Local Authorities have mainly withdrawn from direct residential provision, and most provision is not provided by either private providers or voluntary bodies.

Compliance Documentation, Procedures, Policies & Care Plans

The QCS Care Management System provides a comprehensive set of policies, procedures and forms to support the management of residential services. The System has been created with variations to suit the requirements of all of the residential care types listed above, and each package is customised to the service. By following long established personalised care planning systems and documentation the QCS system focuses the user on each service user’s individual needs and encourages and supports the users of the system to produce service-user focussed outcomes.

Using this individual focussed approach, as opposed to the institutional focus, our system supports the user to deliver highly flexible service user oriented services, while using a common suite of related tools. By not having to artificially administer different service variations using different management systems, the QCS system allows the user to seamlessly vary their care and support to meet the changing needs of individuals, and changes to the client group over time.

QCS is a trusted brand - all new customers are assigned a dedicated account manager and our customer care team provides a supporting telephone service to help with any enquiries you might have. See for yourself with a Free No Obligation Trial: