Care Quality Commission brings in extra advice on adult social care

Published: 13 May 2010 Page last updated: 12 May 2022
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13 May 2010

The Care Quality Commission announced today that it has brought in two advisors to add to its experience and expertise in adult social care and to help develop its relationship with the sector.

Bill Hodson has been appointed as national advisor on adult social care, working at both policy and operational levels. He will provide advice on best practice, contribute to policy decisions and strengthen partnerships with stakeholders and other organisations. He joins a small team of national advisors who have current or recent practice experience at a senior level in health and social care. His appointment is initially for a year and he will spend one day a week on his CQC work.

Mr Hodson has more than 30 years' experience of social care, housing and corporate governance in local authority roles. Until recently he was director of housing and adult social services for the City of York Council, and a member of the national executive of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).

Barbara Laing is helping the commission in the run-up to the registration of adult social care providers under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. Over the next six months, working two days a week for CQC, she will offer an additional channel of communication with providers while assessing what is working well in the registration process and advising the commission on what could be done better.

Ms Laing worked for 14 years for Anchor, England's largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care to older people, where latterly she was responsible for its 30,000 rented and leasehold properties. Previously she ran the organisation's portfolio of 100 residential and nursing homes. Before that she spent 20 years in social care with Birmingham City Council.

CQC chief executive Cynthia Bower said: "I'm very pleased that both Bill and Barbara are able to get involved with our work. I'm confident that their experience in senior roles within the adult social care sector will enable them to make substantial contributions to our relationships with providers and commissioning bodies.

"The arrangement with Barbara mirrors the one we had with Sir Neil McKay, chief executive at the East of England Strategic Health Authority, whom we brought in to lend his expertise in the period leading up to the registration of NHS trusts from 1 April. His feedback was very constructive and we used it to improve our engagement and information sharing with trusts and the wider public."

Bill Hodson's starting point in his new role is to talk to a range of stakeholders and take stock of what they would like to see from CQC. He sees good regulation as an essential part of the improvement agenda.

He said: "The commission genuinely doesn't want to just use its regulatory powers as a big stick to beat commissioners and providers with, but to work with them on improving services. It wants to get the balance right, and I'm sure this positive approach will be welcomed by the sector."

Mr Hodson says the regulator's role is central to the development of partnerships between social care and health services.

"I think CQC is aware that it has a unique position in terms of promoting more integrated forms of delivery, and is looking at how best to take advantage of this.

"As personalisation increases, more people will be living independently and we'll all need to make sure that the transition is managed across both health and social care."

Barbara Laing says CQC has asked her to look objectively at how well the process of registering adult social care providers is progressing, and to flag up problems and suggest solutions. She feels it will help that she has experience of both the commercial environment and the public sector.

Ms Laing will have discussions with the trade associations and will also be looking for other ways to engage with providers, especially the smaller ones and those that are coming into registration for the first time, such as some drug treatment residential centres and supported living services.

"Smaller providers obviously don't have the infrastructure of the big corporates and it's quite a challenge for them to think about how they can work within the new registration standards to achieve improvements," she said. "I want to find out how CQC can help them to do this."

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

About the CQC: Snippet for press releases

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.


We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.


We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.