The East Anglia Daily Times reported on 25 June 2012 that more than 160 vulnerable residents are currently in council-funded placements with the suspended providers, according to a new report.
No details about the nature of the concerns have been released, or which care homes are affected. In each case the contract suspension can be lifted if measures are taken to address the issues. An official from Suffolk County Council has stated that the figures showed the authority had “robust” safeguarding procedures in place, which demanded the highest standards in care homes.
The details are due to be discussed by the county council’s scrutiny committee on 27 June 2012. A further two homes, where 12 government-funded customers reside, have Care Quality Commission enforcement notices in place. The report states that an increasing number of “serious concerns” had been identified either through quality monitoring or safeguarding measures.
Suffolk County Council’s portfolio holder for adult and community services, Colin Noble, said extreme cases of this kind were “rare” but he added that the authority took all complaints seriously, which was illustrated in the report.
Adult and community services (ACS) has about 1,000 contracts in place for support services in Suffolk, including 160 care homes for older people, 66 for younger adults and 48 home-care agencies.
As well as providing 527 beds in its own 16 cares homes, the county council currently purchases around 2,235 of the 6,216 care places available for older people in Suffolk, and 66% of residential care places offered for younger adults. There are 88 homes housing 10 or more county-funded residents.
The legal responsibilities for regulation and enforcement against minimum national standards rests with the independent Care Quality Commission (CQC), but ACS can suspend accreditation – or a home’s licence to operate – until identified problems have been rectified. Suspension means the county council will not make new placements in a “suspended” home until the identified problems have been dealt with. This can be anything from health and safety issues to poor recruitment practices, high levels of staff turnover, failure to adhere to policies or poor record-keeping. [Source: EADT]
If you believe that a member of your family has suffered an injury, abuse or neglect in a care home, or as a result of poor quality care in their home please contact us Please call us on 0800 091 4251 or complete our online enquiry form.