CCPS gives evidence to Health and Sport Committee Inquiry into regulation of care for older people
Posted on Friday 16 September 2011
CCPS has urged the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee to strengthen the powers of the care regulator (formerly known as SCSWIS) to challenge commissioning, procurement and other local authority processes.
CCPS gave evidence to the committee as part of its current inquiry into the regulation of care for older people. The inquiry was prompted by the recent collapse of two major care providers, Southern Cross and Choices Care, along with the closure of the Elsie Inglis nursing home, and concerns from MSPs about proposed cuts to the SCSWIS budget and the implications for reduced frequency of inspection.
CCPS asked the committee to ensure that SCSWIS (now known as the Care Inspectorate) has more ‘teeth’ to enforce improvement in commissioning and to challenge authorities that drive down care costs to unreasonable levels. It also set out for the committee a potential alternative approach to regulation, where the regulator would set the bar much higher for entry into the care market by licensing providers, rather than registering individual services.
To view the evidence session online, you can follow this link to the relevant Holyrood TV page within the Scottish Parliament website or read the transcript in the Official Report. You can also view the CCPS written submission.