Issue - meetings

Report ECHS19002-1

The Committee considered a report setting out the quality monitoring arrangements for registered care homes, supported living schemes and extra care housing schemes in Bromley and reviewing performance for 2018/19. 

The Contract Compliance Team was responsible for monitoring social care contracts as well as the quality of care offered to Bromley residents in care homes, supported living and extra care housing schemes.  A range of tools were used by the Contract Compliance Team including a comprehensive Quality Assessment Framework tool that was completed for each care setting during the annual monitoring visit.  The Local Authority adopted a policy in January 2018 to ensure that no new care placements were made with care home providers rated less than ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission.  The majority of the care homes in the Borough were rated as ‘Good’, with 8 providers receiving an overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ and 1 provider rated as ‘Inadequate’ as at December 2018.  During 2018, Officers from the Local Authority and Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group had continued to work together in the Care Home Programme Board which had realised a number of achievements including the adoption of joint quality assessment framework, the introduction of the red bag scheme and a review of the General Practitioner resources available to care homes with a number of changes due to be implemented in April 2019.  The Committee was advised that changes had been made to the way that the Contract Compliance Team reported the rating for care homes across the Borough. Prior to January 2018, 19 registered care homes for people with learning disabilities and mental health problems had been included in the performance report but this was now reported separately.

The Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring confirmed that Bromley Park Care Home had been inspected by the Care Quality Commission in late 2018 and was now rated as ‘Good’. 

In considering the report, a Member was concerned that by monitoring care homes, the Contract Compliance Team was duplicating the work of the Care Quality Commission.  The Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring confirmed that the Local Authority’s focus was to act as a ‘critical friend’ supporting care homes to maintain a consistently high quality service, as it was possible for the quality of care to change significantly between Care Quality Commission Inspections.  The Interim Chief Executive emphasised the Local Authority’s statutory obligation to safeguard care home residents and noted that maintaining high quality care home provision across the Borough was beneficial to Bromley residents.  The Interim Director: Programmes further observed that the Contract Compliance Team was able to provide immediate support in cases where a problem was identified within a local care home including where care home residents might be at risk.

A Co-opted Member queried why there were no care homes currently rated as ‘Outstanding’ within the Borough.  The Head of Contract Compliance and Monitoring explained that the focus of the Contract Compliance Team was on maintaining care home standards and supporting them to improve.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59