Christmas cheer!
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission.
This is my last blog of 2014 — a time to look back on the year. It would be difficult to pick one highlight — such a lot has happened.
We have developed, tested and now rolled out our new inspection approach. The first ratings of services were published in October and to date we have rated 172 adult social care services as Good, 56 as Requires Improvement and 17 as Inadequate. There will be a lot more to come in 2015.
At the heart of all this activity is a passion for social care and a commitment to make sure that people use services that are safe, caring, effective, responsive to their needs and well-led. Throughout the year we have seen some great care and support but we have also found some very poor services which have needed decisive action.
Poor care
One example of that poor care recently was Merok Park. Following concerns raised by Surrey County Council, our inspectors found residents living in shocking conditions — an overpowering stench of urine, a broken lift trapping people on the first floor, only cold water for bathing, not enough staff on duty who were unable to care for people properly, and providers who failed to take these issues seriously. We work very hard to get services to improve because we know that closing a care home involves disruption and risk for residents. But in this situation we were left with no option despite the efforts of my team, the local authority and clinical commissioning group. The CQC board discussed this in our public session last week and you can watch it here from 20 minutes onwards.
Across the country inspectors are working with local agencies to resolve some really difficult problems. We try to ensure people’s safety where they are but when that cannot happen and there is an immediate risk to the residents, we have to take action working with local authorities and clinical commissioning groups who have the responsibility to find new accommodation.
I was interviewed by The Sunday Telegraph as part of their Justice for the Elderly Campaign (though I wish they’d said ‘older people’ instead) and I was asked how I felt when we found such poor care. You can read the full interview here but in summary I said I was distressed because of the awful impact on the people being cared for; angry that providers (and sometimes commissioners) have allowed things to deteriorate so badly; and frustrated that it means we only ever talk about bad social care when we know that there are some brilliant services with committed, dedicated staff doing a great job.
Better care
I was recently invited to visit two different sets of services that did a lot to restore my faith in the positive effect services can have.
First were two services run by Nouvita: Lavender Lodge and Greenwood Cottage are residential homes for adults with learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorder based in St Albans.
Both homes have had their problems in the past and have new managers. One of them contacted me via Twitter to say how proud she was of the progress they had made and would I like to visit. I am so glad I said yes. These two managers have made such a difference and are having a positive impact on the lives of people living in the homes. In both, residents chatted with me, proudly showed me round and pointed out the new decorations they had chosen, told me what they were doing for Christmas and how much they enjoyed living there. There were lots of individual stories of progress and achievement.
Then in Sheffield and Rotherham I visited services for older people, some living with dementia, managed by Amore Care. I was there at the invitation of Steve Amos, their lead on dementia who organises a training programme for staff called Creative Minds. Again, these services have had some issues in the past but are making a real effort to improve as their Chief Executive and Director of Operations explained to me.
Two highlights from the day: first, the Christmas Cake Bake-Off — not just the tasty cakes but the portfolios from each of the homes explaining how residents and staff had been involved in the planning, shopping, baking and decorating of the cakes; but the best was meeting a 99 years-old lady who just wanted to hold my hand and chat quietly for 20 minutes. It’s rare for me to have the opportunity to make such a connection and it is a memory of the day I will cherish.
Thank you
As well as a time for reflection, Christmas is a good time to say thank you. I have three groups I want to thank:
First, staff at CQC who have worked so hard and have achieved so much. There is still more to do of course, but I am confident we are building a great team.
Second, all of our experts by experience, providers, commissioners and partners who have worked with us throughout the year. We may not always agree but we are stronger for our co-production focus.
Finally, staff throughout adult social care who will be looking after and supporting hundreds of thousands of people over the festive season, like they do every day of the year.
Christmas cheer
A great Christmas song video from the Justice for LB campaign in memory of Connor Sparrowhawk.
A virtual Christmas card snapped by Sarah Reed at our Experts by Experience co-production event last week and photoshopped by Mat Silk:
That’s it folks! I wish you all a peaceful and relaxing festive season — until we meet again in 2015!
Originally published at www.cqc.org.uk.
