Sir Stephen Bubb has today published his 12-month report Time for Change – The Challenge Ahead, looking at the actions taken so far and calling on partners, including CQC, to demonstrate how they are helping to reduce the reliance on hospital-based settings for people with learning disabilities.
CQC is a member of the Transforming Care Delivery Board, which was set up to improve services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism by developing community services as an alternative to inpatient care for people who are currently in hospital or who are at risk of being admitted to hospital.
Last week, as part of this commitment to the board, we published a policy statement on registration for providers supporting people with learning disabilities.
In future, our registration managers and inspectors will use this statement to guide their registration assessments of services for people with learning disabilities. This will mean that providers seeking registration will need to develop their services in line with Building the Right Support. We will not consider applications from providers who seek to register an inappropriate assessment and treatment unit or hospital, care home or location for independent living.
Also as part of our commitment to the board, we have further developed our methods for inspection of services for people with learning disabilities. We have worked with partners to clearly mark out enforcement routes for failing providers and we are already looking at how its inspections of GP surgeries and general hospitals can give greater prominence to the quality of care that people with learning disabilities receive, including for their physical health.
And as part of our ongoing strategy consultation, which seeks views on how regulation should develop over the next five years, we have set out proposals to explore how care services across an area are meeting the needs of people with mental health issues or a learning disability in GP and acute hospital settings.
Dr Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (lead for mental health), said:
"We are committed to making sure that people receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care. We will use our powers to ensure that we only register those new services for people with learning disabilities that are consistent with the new model and that all services for people with learning disabilities that we regulate are of a good quality.
"We will continue to deliver on our promises to the Transformation Board and will continue work with partners to help achieve the best outcomes for people with learning disabilities.
Our policy statement on the future registration of services for people with learning disabilities applies to three key areas of registration:
- Applying to provide regulated activity in specialist hospital provision, such as an assessment and treatment unit for people with learning disabilities.
- Applying to provide regulated activity in other services specifically for people with learning disabilities.
- Applying to vary the provide's conditions of registration by adding or removing a location, or increasing the number of places provided at a location.
We are committed to making sure that people receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care. We will use our powers to ensure that we only register those new services for people with learning disabilities that are consistent with the new model and that all services for people with learning disabilities that we regulate are of a good quality.
Dr Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (lead for mental health)