Articles

Exemption From CQC Regulation Does Not Necessarily Mean Poor Live-In Care Service Agency Claims

02/09/2014

Speaking with the Guardian Peter Seldon, CEO of UK-based live-in care agency Consultus commented that his agency has delivered good service despite being unregistered and not subject to CQC regulation.

Under CQC’s current regulations, live-in care agencies that do not provide ongoing direction or control of the service are exempted from inspection of the healthcare watchdog. For an agency to be required for registration, it must be performing functions relative to the control of care service, such as, monitoring of carers’ activities, reviewing of care plans, or organising workers’ rota.  

CQC’s interpretation of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 is often criticised as a loophole that opens up thousands of elderly to abuse in their own homes.

2013 data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) says 45% of 112,000 cases of elderly abuse in England per year happened in care homes and only 38% took place in residences of elderlies. Yet no data to date has been collected regarding the exact number of abuses committed by live-in care workers of unregistered agencies.

It is estimated that there are up to 40 agencies in England that provide live-in carers and one out of three of these agencies are unregistered.

Seldon said that Consultus has been providing service for more than 50 years and they only had a single case of misconduct among its carers. A big part of their agency’s success, according to Seldon, is the strong ties it maintains with their clients’ families.

But Seldon says their agency welcomes registration as coming within the ambit of CQC’s regulation would enable them to show their strengths to potential clients. Other agencies share Consultus’ views because being registered would mean their service will be inspected and rated under new CQC system that is emerging.