Challenges to quality monitoring systems in care homes
- B McCormack, Professor of Nursing Research1,
- H McKenna, Professor and Head of School of Nursing2
- 1University of Ulster/Director of Nursing Research and Practice Development, Royal Hospitals Trust, Belfast, UK brendan.mccormack@royalhospitals.n-i.nhs.uk
- 2School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, UK hp.mckenna@ulst.ac.uk
In the UK access to continuing care services is often a gamble and, as consumers of health care, older people have had little choice in where and how these services are provided as the continuing care of many older persons has shifted from the health service to the independent sector. This shift has raised concerns about the quality of care in private nursing homes and has placed the need to determine such quality high on the government's policy agenda. The traditional quality assurance mechanism has relied on a registration and inspection system whereby local government authorities monitor and review service delivery. However, the processes are often bureaucratic and ineffective. More recently, the Care Standards Act (2000) and the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 have set out the new regulatory framework for all care homes in the UK. This will provide national standards of registration and inspection, with increased authority for health and social care agencies to take action when poor quality is suspected or detected.
A registration and inspection system can only ever provide one component of a quality system for the continuing …
