CQC to scrutinise council commissioning in review of health care in care homes

The Care Quality Commission this week launched a review of health care in care homes that is in part designed to improve the commissioning and procurement practice of local authorities and Primary Care Trusts.

The Commission said it wanted to ensure that residents “have equal and appropriate access to personalised health services that uphold their human rights”.

The other objectives of the review are to improve choice, access to health care and quality of health care services for people living in care homes, and raise issues at a national level about policy.

The CQC said it would look at how:

• Care is planned and assessed
• Health is promoted
• People are referred to NHS services
• Health services charge for treatment
• Consent issues are addressed, and
• Healthcare treatment is delivered in partnership with other services.

Its investigation will look, amongst other things, at the role of PCTs and councils as commissioners.

The two-stage review will see the Commission first identify the areas of the country most at risk of poor performance using existing national data.

The CQC will then assess the 10% of areas most at risk of poor performance, gathering evidence from PCTs, councils and GPs. It will visit a sample of care homes before publishing local assessment reports and a national report.