Nearly 200 social care providers in Notts haven’t been inspected by CQC for more than 3 years

Nearly 200 adult social care providers across Nottinghamshire have been left waiting more than three years for an inspection by the healthcare watchdog. There are 438 registered adult social care services across the county, with some – but not all – delivered by Nottinghamshire County Council.

The council supports more than 12,000 people who require long-term care support. And of its contracted services, 73 per cent of providers are rated either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ by the health watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC). However, nearly nine per cent of them have not yet been inspected because they are new – and some have waited years for an inspection due to a “significant backlog” at the watchdog.

In a meeting of the authority’s adult social care and public health select committee on Monday (November 25), councillors heard 265 providers were last inspected by the CQC more than two years ago. Of these, 180 were last inspected more than three years ago with one rated Inadequate and 17 rated Requires Improvement.

This is despite the watchdog usually returning to ‘inadequate’ providers within six months, while those told they require improvement are normally revisited within a year. During the meeting, councillors raised concerns about the figures but said it isn’t something the authority can control.

Councillor Stephen Carr (Ind) said: “It’s not our fault, it’s the CQC. Care homes can move in a bad direction very quickly. We should be worried that nine per cent of our providers haven’t even been inspected yet and we should be worried the CQC are behind in Nottinghamshire.”

He added: “Previous governments of all colours have failed to grasp the nettle with regards to social care- not only have they failed to grasp the nettle, they’ve allowed it to turn into Japanese knotweed.”

Cllr Carr questioned how the council could influence the CQC to take action on the backlog. Cllr Jonathan Wheeler (Con) responded that he and a colleague have written to Sir Julian Hartley, the CQC’s new Chief Executive to outline the council’s concerns.

He said: “We want to work with the CQC to deliver the priorities that need doing as part of the Dash Review and get our inspections increased here in Nottinghamshire. Our teams do a great job in terms of when we are alerted to an issue, which can be either CQC or concerns raised by the people being cared for or their families, a lot of work does go in.”

Councillor Philip Owen (Con) called the report “damning” and hopes Cllr Wheeler’s letter “demands [the CQC] takes action in inspections”.

The committee discussed the council’s ‘bolstering up’ of services in the absence of the CQC’s support, where a temporary Provider Improvement Team has been active since the summer to help services at risk of closure. In the last year, nine homes closed with residents moved elsewhere and 10 were improved and stabilised.

Cllr Owen questioned how the temporary team was being funded and proposed demanding a full reimbursement from the CQC. The council is paying about £750,000 for the temporary Provider Improvement Team, funded by a government grant.

Melanie Williams, Corporate Director, Adult Social Care and Health, said: “It’s not the best way to invest in my opinion because that’s about responding to crisis. It’s not helping us grow the workforce, develop and the things we’d like to do- it means that [the figures] are quite meaningless.

“Because the inspections are so behind we don’t actually know the state of the quality of the market in Nottinghamshire which is a big risk for us I think.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Cllr Wheeler added said: “We have a very good standard of care facilities across Nottinghamshire. What we want to do is to work with the CQC so that every facility has an up-to-date rating which gives assurance to residents and councillors that people are being cared for in the best possible facility.

“We have a dedicated team at the council who will continue to work with the CQC and our care facility partners to ensure that good care is continued to be delivered for all residents.”

The CQC has been approached for a comment.