monitoring social care

[TinaT]

It was of great interest Danny, thanks for posting it. What I would like to have is people's views on the wording of the petition before I post it on the website. From what I've just read then a legal limit on minimum staffing is a vital component. I know staff at Ken's care home are sometimes well below the numbers they should be and that resident's care suffers as a consequence. Does anyone think I've missed out anything or it is not clearly worded or could be worded better??

TinaT

 

[Contrary Mary]

Tina, I think your petition is very well worded but, seeing Jimbo's post about online petitions, made me double check that website, as I recalled seeing that there were some changes afoot. This is the new website

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_066327

It looks as though any petition will have to wait a little while until the new system is up and running.

 

[TinaT]

Thanks Mary,

I'll take a look see at what is happening. I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to put it on Facebook to ask if others would sign.

xxTinaT

 

[jimbo 111]

Tina, I think your petition is very well worded but, seeing Jimbo's post about online petitions, made me double check that website, as I recalled seeing that there were some changes afoot. This is the new website

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_066327

It looks as though any petition will have to wait a little while until the new system is up and running.

I am sorry if the information I gave was out of date , I gave the address of the No 10website which did not make it clear that the petitions had been suspended
It is clear by the frustration and anger shown by families and carers that the toothless authorities are not answering the problems recognised by the people who are at the grasroots , sticky end .
This not only affects such as members of TP and Alzheimers sufferers it affects all people who have family in care whatever their illness.
The number must be in thousands+ and if it were possible to join together all thse people to petition publicly the government to listen to the people instead of setting up fancy named committees who make sure they cover their own backsides , perhaps then we should see improvement in the care of the vulnerable
I hope, wether through members of TP or some other way , that some positive progress can be made instead of the constant problem where so much gets said but solittle progress is made
I really hope this subject does not disappear into the Graveyard of' Raisng Awareness'
it deserves better
jimbo 111

 

[sunny]

I think it also time just to remember the
Dementia Action Alliance because action is what is needed - even Southern Cross are given a mention.

http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk/info/1/participating_organisations

Also Anchor are campaigning for a Minister for Older People in their Grey Pride Nationwide Campaign details on their website.

 

[TinaT]

I get an occasional news letter from the dementia organisation. When the petition website is up and running, I will e mail them to ask their members to sign.

I would imagine that Talking Point members would be willing to sign such a petition too although there hasn't been much response to this thread.

xxTinaT

 

[Tender Face]

I've drafted the following to be used as an online petition at the website which Jimbo has kindly supplied.

There is deep public concern that current legislation governing the monitoring of social care is inadequate as it does not ensure quality of care given in residential care homes.

Hello Tina.

Can I just pick up on this? and a teeny weeny observation that you filter this to relate to 'adult social care'.

Social care for children and young adults in the UK comes under the remit of OFSTED (as I know you will know) including residential care, staffing ratios etc not just in the educational sector ..... so my personal ‘tack’ would be to ask why - when OFSTED supports all and potentially vulnerable young people – does the CQC not support potentially vulnerable adults in the same way? Indeed, why are there not all the statutory ‘instruments’ to back up CQC as our government supports OFSTED and its inspections and procedures? Does no one matter once they are past school age?????

If children and young people need certain staffing quotas (whether they are classed as having ‘special needs’/disabilities etc ...... ) why should it be any different because someone has mental/physical health needs above the age of 18? (Let alone our elderly/frail and very vulnerable some of whom have very specific needs including for 1:1 care?) If their services need a certain quota of inspections etc ... why are we discriminating against others in society?

It rather stinks of inequality in society to me, and we can’t be having that now, can we?

Hope you understand where I am coming from .... just trying to look at it from a slightly different angle ... sometimes when I am pursuing a particular issue – I know I need to ‘change tactics’ and instead of simply stating ‘this is inadequate’ – look at a parallel which DOES function and ask that the same standards are aspired to? (Not to mention throwing in a few ‘buzzwords’ like equality, diversity, discrimination etc!)

Just thoughts. Well done picking up the cudgel!

Love, Karen, x

 

[lin1]

THANKYOU for starting this highly important subject on this thread .
And for researching and putting links here

I will be joining the online petitions as im sure my dad will when I tell him about it later today
I also think putting something on Facebook is a good idea , I read in a magazine yesterday that half the population of the world goes on FB .

I will be sending an email to my MP on my views of adult social care or rather the lack of it , plus my views on cqc having had its few teeth extracted .
I will also be contacting AZ society head office
Will let you know here on any replies i recieve .

I hope one day very soon we will have care for our elderly , sick and vulnerable people that we as a nation we can be proud of .

 

[TinaT]

Thanks Lyn & Karen for your contributions here.

Karen your contribution just shows how another pair of eyes can spot something which the original writer has taken for granted! Because in my mind I was writing about adult social care, I didn't explicitly put this in. I have amended it to read:

There is deep public concern that current legislation governing the monitoring of adult social care is inadequate as it does not ensure quality of care given in residential care homes. I ask that the government urgently investigate the level of staffing, training and resources for such establishments and sets minimum legal standards which apply to every care home in the country. I also ask that the CQC which is the government body responsible for complaints procedures is given legal powers to ensure that such minimum standards are met and also has the power to deal with relatives’ complaints within a set time limit and in a clear, transparent and proper manner.

Name:

E mail address:



Lyn - I'm waiting a few days before I put the petition on line as I really would like to hear from other carers about the wording, just to make sure it properly covers what we want the government to look at and to make sure the site Jimbo mentioned is now up and running.

If you could pass on the message by posting on facebook yourselves or any other social site I would also be most grateful, as we need thousands and thousands of people to sign before there will be any official government response. I would also like to finally once the petition has had a good airing to bring it to the attention of the media, tv, radio, newspapers etc., having had recent experience of how powerful the media is in furthering such a good cause.

Incidentally, I have wind that Ken's care home is again up for closure. Can write about this at a later date.

xxTinaT

 

[JPG1]

Tina,

Thank you for this initiative – I’m sure everyone here appreciates your efforts to raise the standards of Adult Social Care.

Going back to the reply you received from Andrew Lansley’s correspondence department: it resembles each and every reply I’ve ever read from any of these ‘bodies’, because they have a unit that writes letters divorced from the coalface. I could almost guess the name of the signature on the bottom!

If you’ve got the energy to do so, you could challenge this one line alone : "Unlike its predecessors, the CQC does not have responsibility for individual complaints and will not usually intervene in individual incident." The CQC’s predecessor, CSCI, never had any responsibility for individual complaints and was never required to intervene in any individual incident.

If you would like me to dig out the CSCI letter that quoted that reference to me, I’m happy to do so (might take me a weekend to find it!!). And I could also put you in touch with a Legal Researcher who has been asking questions as to that one too.

“...and will add them to the intelligence it gathers about providers on its quality and risk profiles, which can act as a prompt for regulatory action ...” There are a few people who have FOI requests in, asking for information about the ‘number of concerns’ required before the CQC acts.

If the DoH is still giving out such an incorrect impression, it’s hardly surprising that we mere mortals also had that impression that the CSCI involved itself in individual incidents. It never has done – although it gave the impression that it did.



If you haven’t been there already, here’s the link to the ‘now closed’ petitions re. Health, wellbeing and care, which give an idea of the way some of them have worked in the past, and the number of signatures achieved too – plus the responses to the petitions:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/list/closed?cat=557

You can enter any phrase, such as ‘residential care’ into the ‘search petitions’ box – and see what comes up. Remember to click on the ‘closed’ tab, once you’ve searched because there are no open petitions now.

My first suggestions on the wording of the petiton:

“...... the monitoring of Adult Social Care is inadequate and does not ensure ....”

and change “I ask” to “We ask ....”

It seems that the online petition site won’t be up and running until July, so if we keep bumping up this thread, so that it doesn’t vanish off the end, you’ll hopefully get more suggestions. I’ll think about it a bit more, if that’s ok.

Thanks again, Tina, for such an important thread.

 

[Jancis]

Hope you understand where I am coming from .... just trying to look at it from a slightly different angle ... sometimes when I am pursuing a particular issue – I know I need to ‘change tactics’ and instead of simply stating ‘this is inadequate’ – look at a parallel which DOES function and ask that the same standards are aspired to?

Hi, sorry for late reply to this thread, I would love to get involved but have some catching up to do as I am not as well informed as most of you here. Having read Karen's point above about looking at a parallel I recall imac talking about the Care Commission in Scotland (now its called "scswis" (not very memorable)) and it seemed from her experience that it works much better than the CQC in the rest of the UK?

 

[danny]

Hi Tina, I`m sorry for popping in to your thread but I just want to make sure that you are aware and have read the standards that all care providers must comply with.


These standards are the Essential Standards of Quality and Safety.They are available on the CQC web site but here is a direct link from another web page.http://www.rcpa.org.uk/downloads/gu...ntial-standards-of-quality-and-safety-424.htm


All care providers should comply with all these standards.

However,I must admit that as a care provider myslf,there is an awful lot of hard work involved ensuring these standards are met in regards to filling out compliance tools on line etc, these on line tools on the CQC web site are only for guidance and are not mandatory.

If an inspector has a concern from a care provider he may ask for evidence of compliance from that particular standard causing concern.

However,whilst all this evidence is purely down to management systems etc,the only real method of ensuring standards are being met is inspecting services and speaking with relatives/service users and the staff.

Until the new system came into place my dom care agency used to have an inspector with us for two days, in that time he went through all our systems,talked with staff and spent a day visiting service users.

Don`t know if this helps but it is good reading.

 

[sunny]

I am just wondering whether instead of only signing on line petitions to submit to politicians whether it would be much better if we all put ourselves forward out in the real world and be elected as THE politicians - all of us have very practical experience of the issues.

The only way to get into the hen coop is to be the fox.

 

[TinaT]

Wow, it was marvelous to log on this afternoon and to see so many posts!! So very heartening and each and every post was informative and supportive - thanks everyone who has posted.

My initial post on this thread was about submitting a report to the CQC. Every single part of the report which our local LINKs organisation submitted directly referred to the 16 core principles and in fact they formed the heading for each section of the report. The CQC criticised this fact!!! They wanted our LINKs Enter and View team to fix on only one aspect of care - ie: food and nutrition and instead of a detailed report on our findings based on the 16 core principles, to inspect using 'spot check' type quickie reports on only one area!

This was not what the LINKs organisation is for. LINKs is an organisation which is guided by local people and the home we inspected was causing concern to some members of our local public. What use would it have been to concentrate on food when there were many other problematic issues?

Because of such a negative response to what had been an enormous amount of work on my part arranging training for the 16 core principles and the number of people who had willingly given up their time to do this, I was disgusted by the CQC response to our report.

LINKs are not there to do 'spot checks' but to represent the local public on areas of concern in adult health and social care. Because of this I have resigned from the leadership of our enter and view team. I feel I just cannot continue to direct such time and effort to this and receive such responses from the government bodies involved in using such reports.

After wasting my time as a governor of a local mental health trust for two years where I was merely there to 'tick boxes' , then trying hard to work through the LINKs organisation, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.

Hence my trying the 'political' route. I'm a bit long in the tooth to stand as a parliamentary candidate and by the time I understood all of the ins and outs of how parliament works, I would be useless.

But I feel passionately that our most vulnerable adults are being badly let down and a petition seems at least an option to get people together to express their views to parliament.

I might just be going down one more blind ally but we will see.

xxTinaT

 

[Tender Face]

Now Sunny has set me thinking – and you can all laugh at me for being old-fashioned .... but is there value to ‘paper petitions’ still? Just thinking, I know I have signed up to allsorts, and seem to be regularly ‘firing off emails’ – which probably get opened, skimmed and forgotten about .... I always think a ‘thud’ of paper on someone’s desk demands more attention? I noted from one link someone gave, petitions can still be hand delivered to ‘No 10’ (Don’t tempt me!!!!)

Just pondering how many people would be so keen for this kind of campaign to succeed would never access a PC and how it could reach them ... do people still do the old fashioned ‘clip-board’ stuff? – because I would happily stand outside my local hospital targetting visitors ..... the local ‘community centre’ (if the government doesn’t cutback anymore and actually close it down!) the local shopping centre – or anywhere else someone can think enough ‘traffic’ of people could be motivated to support a petition for something will affect every adult one way or another at sometime in their lives (unless they think they are going to be blissfully lucky never to need help or hospitalisation etc and die peacefully at 102 living independently and healthily without ever having needed support!) ...... no idea how realistic that may be – and even if it would negate an online petition running in tandem - but I thought I’d throw the thought in anyway .....

Tina, I doubt your time has ever been wasted. You might not always have achieved the precise results you have hoped for – but I am certain, if nothing else, you will have made few people ‘sit up and think’ along the way (squirming embarrassingly, hopefully!) and that in itself may well be ‘making a difference’.

Love Karen, x

 

[Jancis]

Hi all,
Have you seen the cover story in the Sunday Times Magazine today "The Killing Wards" about the Mid Staffordshire's public inquiry (also available on www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/stafford?

 

[JPG1]

Hi all,
Have you seen the cover story in the Sunday Times Magazine today "The Killing Wards" about the Mid Staffordshire's public inquiry (also available on www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/stafford?

Yes, Jancis, have read that one! The Times and Sunday Times online are now hidden behind a pay wall.

The "Hospitals reclassified patients to hide soaring death rates" = hospitals in the West Midlands covered up high death rates by classifying an improbable number of patients as terminally ill." At the time, the Chief Exec of West Midlands stategic health authority was Cynthia Bower. She is now head of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).


Did you read this article "Insurers give cash to patients to use NHS" = private patients are being given cash bribes of up to £8K by medical insurance companies to switch to the NHS for expensive treatment. BUPA is apparently paying private patients £100 for every day of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or cancer surgery they have on the NHS. Having been scanned, had biopsies and so being diagnosed more quickly in the first place via their 'private consultants' (the same 'cons' who are also working for the NHS, usually), the patients then switch to the NHS for the expensive treatment, and jump the queue.

There are quite a few 'interesting' and relevant-to-care articles in the Sunday Times today! Plus quite a few about the way in which this 'poor' country of ours, that same one that is doling out crippling cuts in services to people who are in need, but can hand out £bns to the rich (millionaires worth, for example, £27million!) from the public purse to pay their legal fees when they've chosen to use the most expensive QCs to fight their case - and mostly resulting in the case being dropped.

And can hand out £1.6 million to prisoners by way of 'compensation' - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13918358

A non-dom financier made £60m from the taxpayer. Just the one non-dom!

Terry Pratchett is there too, but I wouldn't say he's interesting any longer. The article about Andrew Lansley's father's interesting!



Sometimes, you have to say they really are now taking the p...!!

 

[TinaT]

From your posts it is easy to see that there is a need to reform the CQC. How to get the politicians to recognise this is another matter.

Karen I love your idea of a paper petition. Trouble is we would need people from up and down the country to stand outside supermarkets etc., and get signatures. Way beyond my connections to organise this!

Just seen a SAGA representative on channel 4 news suggesting that pensioners take out an insurance policy to pay for their future care. This was first mooted a couple of years ago. Not sure how I can take an insurance policy out and pay for it. There was no mention of how much the policy would cost each month. The rep also suggested that we could agree to half the monies raised from selling our house which, together with the insurance we've agreed to pay, would leave us with a little something to leave as an inheritance if we need full time care. I'm struggling to keep my car going and will let it go once there is no need to visit Ken. I know my future is very bleak whichever way up things are suggested and there would be nothing left for anyone to inherit!

Perhaps if I had been able to complete my retirement plans and not have to give up work to care for Ken, things would be very different.

xxTinaT

 

[TinaT]

I've sent the following to my local newspaper for the letters page:

Pensioners will be shoulder to shoulder with the Public Sector strikers. What can those going on strike because of the changes in the public sector pension expect when they retire?
One in three pensioners will be living in fuel poverty i.e. more than 10% of the weekly income going on paying for fuel. Pensioners already pay a larger percentage of income spent on VAT than any other section of the population.
Already pensioners who can no longer look after themselves are asked to pay on average £35,000 per year for care. Legislation governing the monitoring of adult social care has been weakened by the current government and does not ensure quality of care given in residential care homes. There is no government legislation on the minimum level of staffing, training and resources. The level of social care, built up so painstakingly over the last forty or so years, is now handed over to the private sector where profit is king!
The current government’s proposal to change pensions from RPI to CPI will mean the loss of £32,000 over ten years if pensioner partners' combined pensions are over £12, 000 per year.
Just to put things into perspective, the right for a decent state run pension is not just for those in the public sector, it is for everyone. At the recent National Pensioners’ Convention held in Blackpool, the Secretary of State for Pensions, Steve Webb was quizzed on the £41 Billion surplus in the pension pot. He said it is capital and cannot be used for paying pensions. If not for pensions then what is it for? This capital is pensioner’s money that we have already paid all of our working lives in order to pay for our retirement. If the coalition gets its way by combining income tax with national insurance what happens to the present pension surplus? Will this be paid out as a ‘bonus’? I doubt it!
More pensioners who are fortunate enough to be in reasonable health will be looking for work to make ends meet and will be competing at the end of their lives with youngsters at the beginning of their lives! Pensioners were once called bed blockers; now they are called job blockers.
We are all in it together, some more than others. One in four of future pensioners will be living below the official poverty level if the present government’s draconian policies succeed. The strike is justified not just for the public sector but for all of us and today’s pensioners will be standing shoulder to shoulder with you.

Anyone who would like to use it, please do so, modify it and change to suit their own point of view, it would be marvelous publicity bringing aspects of social care to the attention of the public.

xxTinaT

 

[Tender Face]

Tina – forgive me – I am not quite clear where pensions issues directly correlate to concerns to issues around social care monitoring and inspection? (Whether we’ve got a spare £35k knocking about or not!) It's a social issue, sure ..... apologies if I am being extraordinarily 'thick' this evening.

Karen, x