After weeks of trying to secure an interview with the CQC and it eventually failing, I managed to secure a statement from the Head of Inspection for Adult Social Care, Rebecca Bauers.
The statement is as follows:
“As the independent regulator of all health and social care services, we monitor, inspect and regulate services. We make sure that providers meet the fundamental standards of care and we are clear that abuse, neglect and poor care will not be tolerated.
“CQC are aware that a large number of people using these services are in a vulnerable position and need protection from the risk of abuse. Whenever we register or inspect a service, we ask five key questions: Are they safe? Are they effective? Are they caring? Are they responsive to people’s needs? and Are they well-led?
“There is a responsibility on all providers to safeguard people who use their services from suffering any form of abuse or improper treatment while receiving care and treatment.
“CQC’s inspection programme checks that providers are fulfilling their responsibilities and obligations under the Key Lines of Enquiry (KLOES) and we take action to ensure improvements are being made.
“We expect that providers safeguard people by; protecting their rights to live in safety, free from abuse or neglect, and to promote their well-being. Safety is only one key area of safeguarding, the provider with other professionals should work with the service user to establish what feeling safe means to them and how to achieve this.
“If, however, we find that a service has been failing to protect the people in its care, we can and we will use our enforcement powers to take action. We have a range of powers available to us – including cancelling a provider’s registration if needs be – in effect leading to the closure of the service.
“People who work for organisations can also use their whistleblowing procedures to raise concerns about unsafe practices. If whistleblowers feel they are unable to raise their concerns following their companies procedure, then they are able to raise it with CQC as an independent body. If there is a concern of possible abuse or harm, we will follow this up and monitor their concerns with the local safeguarding team and/or carry out an inspection.
“We work closely with other health and social care organisations. By working with others, such as local authorities, clinical commissioner groups and Ofsted we are able to share information, improve how care is overseen and collectively spot and stamp out bad practice.
“All of us need to be vigilant against abuse. There is a duty for everybody to report abuse whenever we find or hear about it, so that it can be tackled. We urge anyone coming across cases of abuse or suspected abuse to ensure that they raise their concern, either with CQC, the police or the local authority. You can contact us through our website https://www.cqc.org.uk/contact-us for any general enquiries or to report a concern.”