Care home industry – legal updates

CARE HOME INDUSTRY – LEGAL UPDATES

As of 2023, the care home industry is undergoing significant legal updates to improve the quality of care provided to residents. These changes have been made in response to growing concerns over the treatment of elderly individuals and vulnerable adults in care homes. So, what updates are we seeing?

NEW SINGLE FRAMEWORK ASSESSMENT

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have announced they will be implementing a new Single Assessment Framework to regulate health and adult social care as part of its new strategy to provide consistency across services. The new strategy will strive to reduce health inequalities and to drive improvements for people who use services, and aim to deliver a more dynamic, data-led method of assessment with a focus on people’s experiences, safety cultures and care integration.

The CQC have always had three assessment frameworks for hospitals, adult social care and primary medical services. Now, the Single Assessment Framework has been developed to streamline and simplify the assessment process. The framework will include new Quality Statements which will be used to gather evidence when assessing providers. The Quality Statements will replace the Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOEs) which have previously been used to assess care providers and services.

The changes to the regulation of care homes require all care homes to be registered with the CQC and meet certain minimum standards of care. This includes ensuring that care homes have sufficient staffing levels, adequate training and support for staff, and appropriate equipment and facilities to meet residents’ needs.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

One of the major legal updates over the last year, in the care home industry is the introduction of the CQC new inspection regime. Under this regime, care homes will be assessed on their ability to provide safe, effective, and responsive care, as well as their leadership and management. The CQC will also be using new technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to identify potential risks and areas for improvement in care homes.

LIBERTY PROTECTION SAFEGUARDS

Another important legal update is the introduction of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), which replaces the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) as the legal framework for ensuring that individuals who lack capacity are not deprived of their liberty without appropriate safeguards in place. The LPS is designed to be more streamlined and person-centred than the previous framework, ensuring that individuals’ rights and freedoms are protected.

ROBUST SAFEGUARDING POLICIES

In addition, the government has implemented new regulations to protect residents from abuse and neglect. Care homes are now required to have robust safeguarding policies in place and to report any incidents of abuse or neglect to the relevant authorities. The government has also introduced new measures to improve the recruitment and training of care home staff, including mandatory background checks and training on safeguarding and the prevention of abuse.

END-OF-LIFE CARE

Finally, the government has introduced new measures to improve the quality of end-of-life care in care homes. This includes providing additional funding for palliative care and increasing the availability of specialist palliative care services. The government has also introduced new guidelines for end-of-life care, ensuring that residents are treated with dignity and respect and receive appropriate support to manage pain and other symptoms.

The legal updates in the care home industry represent a significant step forward in improving the quality of care provided to residents. These changes have been designed to ensure that care homes are safe, effective, and responsive to residents’ needs, and that vulnerable individuals are protected from abuse and neglect. While there is still work to be done to improve the quality of care in the UK’s care homes, these legal updates represent an important step in the right direction.

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