The Time to End Poor Care is NOW

The morning after yet another Panorama expose on appallingly bad care the media response is, as usual, distinctly underwhelming. No loudly broadcast calls for the resignation of senior civil servants, no demands for inquiries into the care system, in fact, nothing.

One particularly difficult issue with social care is that it is far too easy to spread the blame and for nobody to take responsibility.

Commissioners, Regulators and providers can all blame each other and the Government can blame all three! Yet, ultimately, the responsibility for regulating social care lies in Westminster and it is the responsibility of politicians to ensure safe, quality care is available to all.

Yes appallingly bad care exists but good quality care also exists. The quality of care is solely dependent on the care provider and good care providers have to struggle in a system that treats both good and bad care equally. Both are allowed to thrive in a system that is, currently, more focused on money rather than quality and the needs of individuals.

Of course bad care providers are to blame for the care they provide and such providers need to be shut down and banned from providing care services again yet the system allows them to carry on. Regulators can be blamed for not spotting the bad care being provided yet they are constrained by the regulations they regulate and inspections can only provide a snapshot of care provision and inspecting home care in particular is challenging. Commissioners can be blamed for buying services based on price rather than quality and, perhaps, they rely on information provided rather than going out and inspecting the care services they are commissioning services from.

But all of this can only happen because of the framework in which everyone operates.

Contrast this to the NHS and the calls for action following the Mid-Staffs enquiry. Those who stoutly defend the NHS and campaign for better quality do so because the NHS is a single, national, entity yet few of those people so stoutly campaign the fragmented social care system.

The ultimate responsibility for social care lies with Westminster, it is no use politicians blaming other elements within the system because it is the system itself that is broken and urgently needs to be reformed. There increasingly needs to be a system that promotes and rewards good care providers whilst ensuring those who provide bad care are eradicated.

We are promised a new care rating system soon, which is welcome, but it must, obviously, be one that can be trusted, one that will influence commissioning and one that reflects the care individuals need rather than what bureaucrats believe is essential in terms of paperwork!

Yet beyond this we also need a system that has real accountability. The ability of all parties to pass blame on others MUST STOP NOW. Ministers must admit their responsibility for social care services, commissioners must accept they have a responsibility to ensure the services they are commissioning are quality services, regulators must accept their responsibility to rigorously act and eliminate poor care and care providers must be held fully accountable for any failures in their duty to care.

The time to end poor care is now and this has to start with ending the blame game and all those responsible for social care to stand up and shoulder that burden.