Commission welcomes OFT report
CSCI, 26/05/2005 

David Behan, Chief Inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), has welcomed the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) report on care homes and pledged that the Commission will give "careful consideration" to its recommendations. 

He said: "We welcome this important and challenging report from the OFT which addresses a number of critical issues about the way older people are treated at a time of their lives that can often be stressful. 

"CSCI contributed fully to the OFT study and, indeed, raised some of the issues that it has considered, particularly the uncertainties affecting people who fund their own care. We will now give careful consideration to the recommendations in the report that are relevant to our work. 

"The OFT's findings underline the validity of the programme that CSCI has undertaken to modernise regulation and inspection. 

"We have changed the emphasis of our inspections so that we are concentrating more on asking residents about the quality of care they receive and whether it meets their needs, rather than concentrating on checking policies and procedures - so moving the focus from paperwork to people." 

To help people make more informed choices about care homes, said Mr Behan, the Commission: 

had simplified its inspection reports to make them easier to understand; 
published all inspection reports on the Commission's website, along with a host of other useful information; 
produced a growing range of printed information material, including a leaflet on what people should look for when they are choosing a care home. 
He went on: "We support the concept of a 'one-stop shop' for information and advice and would be keen to discuss how this might best be achieved with the Government, care home providers and other interested parties. In the past year the Commission has received more than 15,000 requests from people seeking information on issues relating to care homes. We have a dedicated customer service team to deal with enquiries. 

"With regard to the investigation of complaints about regulated care providers, we agree there is a need for greater clarity in the process and in the respective responsibilities of providers and CSCI, and we are currently reviewing the procedures. 

"As well as our regulatory work with providers, the Commission's responsibility for assessing council services for older people makes us well-placed to influence improvements in the ways that councils communicate with people, including the provision of guidance on funding issues."