There is so much confusion about whether The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires care providers to obtain references for persons employed to provide a regulated activity. But, it is really simple - you don't need to obtain… read more

CQC requirements regarding “references”

In this time of national crisis the whole country needs to work together to keep us safe. Care Consultants UK is an association of some of the UK's leading social care consultants and lawyers. We have decided that in order to best help the social care sector we should… read more

Care Consultants collaborate to support the Care Sector

Some time ago I wrote a spreadsheet to calculate staffing levels in a care home, it works based on the average number of minutes of care the person requires care for key activities. If you think that it would be useful you are welcome to use it…
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Dependency based staffing levels calculator for care homes

All health and social care providers have to comply with the Accessible Information Standard. The Provider Information Request issued by the CQC asks about the AIS and how the social care provider has implemented this into practice. To support my clients with raising… read more

Implementing the Accessible Information Standard (AIS)

I have developed a checklist for my own care service and for use when I am supporting care providers with compliance. This includes what I consider to be the key compliance criteria to ensure that care and support plans meet people’s needs in the way they prefer and… read more

Care plan and risk assessment checklist

Every care provider knows that they have a legal responsibility to ensure that their staff team are competent to undertake the work expected of them. Yet, often little thought is given to some key questions relating to competence. These questions are:- • What is…
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Staff Competence

This is one of the key areas that gets criticised in inspection reports time and time again. Legislation requires that:- • People using a service have care or treatment that is personalised specifically for them. • Providers work in partnership with the person •…
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Care planning

This article explores another common mistake made by care providers, that of mental capacity assessments and consent. Despite the Mental Capacity Act 2005 having been in force for 11 years many people working in the care sector fail to demonstrate that they understand… read more

Mental Capacity and Consent

This is the third in my series looking at the common mistakes made by care providers and how to avoid these. This series is based upon many observations that I have made whilst undertaking mock inspections and service audits of care services over the last decade or… read more

Unsafe premises

This is the second in my series of articles about common pitfalls of compliance. This one focuses on a specific aspect of medication administration, that of the timing of medication. The following legislation places responsibilities on care providers to administer…
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Medication timings

For years, policies and procedures have inhabited dusty  shelves or the darkest recesses of computer systems, written by some long departed person or purchased and from one of many suppliers of model documents (and then ignored).  This approach renders the polices… read more

Policies and Procedures

Adrian Poole and Tim Dallinger ponder the laws around working time, how they are likely to evolve and what care providers need to do to stay on top of developments. … read more

Is Time Being Called on Working Time? 

This is a direct quote from a CQC inspection report for a care home rated as inadequate

There was a lack of visible presence from the management team in the service. Managers remained in their offices for the majority of the inspection… read more

Registered managers - get out of your office

In the 21st century the social care sector seems to have always faced funding challenges. But the current circumstances and cost of living crisis place the sector in significant jeopardy. This has resulted in many services struggling to make ends meet and that has a consequential impact on quality-of-service provision.… read more

Cost of living crises and social care

In May 2021, the CQC published guidance on culturally appropriate care, in this article I will focus on how this links to the regulations and key lines of enquiry (KLOES) and look at culturally appropriate care in practice.… read more

Culturally appropriate care