Safeguarding: commissioning care homes

Abstract

Purpose

The Report on the Consultation on the Review of No Secrets, published by the Department of Health in 2009 highlighted the need for commissioners to take more responsibility, in partnership with regulators, for safeguarding people who use services. This article aims to focus on resources that support the role of commissioners to maintain or improve the quality of services to reduce the likelihood of abuse, neglect or harm.

Design/methodology/approach

The article is based on the content of two SCIE resources. The first looks at all of the monitoring mechanisms a commissioner can draw upon to monitor good quality without overlap with inspectors or overburdening the provider. The second looks at common areas of practice that lead to safeguarding referrals in care homes. Working with a group of 30 practitioners, comprising largely commissioners and providers, a guide to preventing some of the problems that frequently lead to safeguarding referrals from care homes was developed.

Findings

The first SCIE product on which the article is based outlines the mechanisms available to care home commissioners that can be utilised to improve safeguarding. The second, based on work with practitioners, highlights some of the issues that frequently lead to safeguarding referrals from care homes. These are often the result of poor quality services and poor practice rather than malicious intent. The work demonstrates that commissioners could improve the quality of residential services through better partnership working and better use of available intelligence to reduce the risk to those in residential care.

Practical implications

There are numerous steps that both commissioners and providers can take to improve the prevention of abuse, neglect and harm towards people in residential care.

Social implications

The guides highlighted in this article have the potential to improve practice in commissioning and, as a consequence, to provide better quality and safer residential care services.

Originality/value

The value of the paper is to support commissioners to better safeguard people in residential care.

Citation

Cass, E. (2012), "Safeguarding: commissioning care homes", The Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 244-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/14668201211280233