CARE HOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
On pages 9 & 10 under the headings:
- 'The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care';
- 'The Scottish Social Services Council'; and
- 'How the standards and regulations work together'
replace the existing text with revised text below:
The Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care
The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 ('the Act') set up the Care Commission, which registers and inspects all the services regulated under the Act, taking account of the national care standards issued by Scottish Ministers. The Care Commission has its headquarters in Dundee, with regional offices across the country. It will assess applications from people who want to provide registered services. It will inspect the services to make sure that they are meeting the regulations and in doing so will take account of the national care standards. You can find out more about the Care Commission and what it does from its website ( www.carecommission.com).
The Scottish Social Services Council
The Act created the Scottish Social Services Council ('the Council') which was established on 1 October 2001. It also has its headquarters in Dundee. The Council has the duty of promoting high standards of conduct and practice among social services workers, and in their education and training. To deliver its overall aims of protecting service users and carers and securing the confidence of the public in social services, the Council has been given five main tasks. These are: to establish registers of key groups of social services staff; to publish codes of practice for all social services staff and their employers; to regulate the conduct of registered workers; to regulate the training and education of the workforce; to undertake the functions of the National Training Organisation for the Personal Social Services. The Council has issued codes of practice for social service workers and employers of social service workers. These describe the standards of conduct and practice within which they should work. The codes are available from the Council website ( www.sssc.uk.com).
How standards and regulations work together
The Act gives Scottish Ministers the power to publish standards which the Care Commission must take into account when making its decisions. It also gives Scottish Ministers the power to make regulations imposing requirements in relation to care services.
The standards will be taken into account by the Care Commission in making any decision about applications for registration (including varying or removing a condition that may have been imposed on the registration of the service). All providers must provide a statement of function and purpose when they are applying to register their service. On the basis of that statement, the Care Commission will determine which standards will apply to the service that the provider is offering.
The standards will be used to monitor the quality of services and their compliance with the Act and the regulations. If, at inspection, or at other times, for example, as a result of the Care Commission looking into a complaint, there are concerns about the service, the Care Commission will take the standards into account in any decision on whether to take enforcement action and what action to take.
If the standards were not being fully met, the Care Commission would note this in the inspection report and require the service manager to address this. The Care Commission could impose an additional condition on the service's registration if the provider persistently, substantially or seriously failed to meet the standards or breached a regulation. If the provider does not then meet the condition, the Care Commission could issue an improvement notice detailing the required improvement to be made and the timescale for this. Alternatively, the Care Commission could move straight to an improvement notice. The Care Commission would move to cancel the registration of any service if the improvement notice does not achieve the desired result. In extreme cases (i.e. where there is serious risk to a person's life, health or wellbeing) the Care Commission could take immediate steps to cancel the registration of any service without issuing an improvement notice.
Regulations are mandatory. In some cases not meeting a regulation will be an offence. This means a provider may be subject to prosecution. Not meeting or breaching any regulation is a serious matter.
Decisions by the Care Commission on what to do when standards or regulations are not met will take into account all the relevant circumstances and be proportionate.
You can get information on these regulations from the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, which is available from the Stationery Office Bookshop. You can also see the Act on-line (see Annex B for the address).
You can also see the Scottish Statutory Instruments for the Regulation of Care Regulations 2002 on-line (see Annex B for the address).
CARE HOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
- On Page 23, Standard 5: Management and staffing arrangements
- Points 5.8 & 5.9 have been revised.
- Replace the existing text with the revised text and footnotes below:
5.8 You know that at least 50% [1] of the staff directly caring for you are either trained to at least SVQ2 level or equivalent or are working towards achieving the relevant qualification required for registration with the SSSC [2].
5.9 You know that the service has a staff development strategy and an effective yearly training plan for all its staff. For staff caring for you directly, this focuses on them achieving the qualifications required for registration with the SSSC [3].
Footnotes:
[1] Calculation of the 50% includes registered nurses employed by the service where they are working as direct care staff. Nurses are included in the 50% as they are required to be registered with their regulatory body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to practise as nurses. The level of qualification to gain registration is significantly higher than SVQ 2.
[2] Information on the SSSC is given in the Introduction and on its relevant registration requirements in Annex C.
[3] The last sentence does not include registered nurses, who must be registered with their regulatory body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and must maintain their standards and registration every 3 years.
CARE HOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
- On Page 58, Annex B
- Revised text:
The Regulation of Care ( Scotland ) Act 2001
The Act establishes a new system of care service regulation including the registration and inspection of care services which takes account of national care standards. The Act also creates two new national, independent bodies, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, to regulate care services, and the Scottish Social Services Council, to regulate the social service workforce and to promote and regulate its education and training.
You can visit these websites for information:
· Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001
www.scotland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2001/20010008.htm
· Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 Statutory Instruments
www.scotland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/s-200201.htm
CARE HOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
ANNEX C
Information on SSSC Registration
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) has set the qualification requirements and the timescales for different groups of workers to be registered with the SSSC. This includes:
- registration of Heads of residential adult and day care services - commencing in December 2005; and
- registration of all adult residential care workers - commencing in 2006/2007.
Heads of residential and adult day care - are workers designated as the 'Fit Person' to act as a manager of a care service for the purposes of regulation of services by the Care Commission.
Adult residential care workers - since there are a wide range of job titles used in adult residential care the SSSC has categorised the parts of the Register for adult residential care workers on the basis of job functions. Therefore, there will be a part of the Register for each of the following categories of adult residential care workers:
Support workers are workers who have delegated responsibility for providing care and support to adults using residential care.
Practitioners are workers who provide care and who have responsibilities for co-ordinating the implementation of care plans. This may include holding key worker responsibilities.
Supervisors are workers who have responsibilities for supervising staff and for overseeing and monitoring the implementation of care plans.
The SSSC may register workers without the relevant qualification subject to the condition that they meet all other criteria for registration and that they gain the qualification within a specified period of time, normally the first three years of the registration period. Access to registration will have to be gradual in order to allow sufficient time for workers to access and achieve the required qualifications.
There is a range of qualifications that can meet the requirement for registration. To obtain a copy of the full list go to www.sssc.uk.com or telephone 01382 207101 or email enquiries@sssc.uk.com
CARE HOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
- Comments page added to the standards:
COMMENTS
If you would like to comment on these standards you can visit our website and send a message through our mailbox:
www.scotland.gov.uk/health/standardsandsponsorship
You can also contact us at:
Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch
Community Care Division
Health Department
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Tel: 0131 244 3520
Fax: 0131 244 4005