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Live-in Care Regulation

How Do We Regulate Our Live-in Care Service?

Our live-in care service is fully regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW).

Why Is It Important To Regulate Live-in Care?

It’s imperative that live-in care is properly, independently regulated to ensure people are receiving appropriate person-centred care from their care provider. A regulated live-in care provider will be subjected to frequent inspections that ensure the levels of care meet a certain set of standards. The results of these inspections must be published in a visible place – our current rating can be found here.

What Are The Benefits Of A Regulated Care Service?

Using a regulated care service such as Helping Hands means that you know you’re receiving care that is properly managed, monitored and reviewed. Unlike non-regulated care services, a regulated care provider like ourselves will directly employ their carers, which means that we’re fully responsible for paying them and covering their costs. Often non-regulated care providers will pass this responsibility to you, as well as requiring you to source cover if your carer is ever unavailable.

A regulated carer is also more likely to offer in-house training to their carers, meaning they’ll be far better equipped to support you or your loved one in whatever way you need and they’ll be completely up to date with industry standards and the best live-in care practices.

The Role Of The CQC In Our Regulation

The Care Quality Commission, or CQC, is responsible for ensuring that our care provision meets the fundamental standards of quality and safety. These fundamental standards are:

  • Person-centred care. Our customers must receive care that meets their specific needs and preferences.
  • Dignity and respect. When we’re caring for our customers, they must be treated with dignity and respect at all times.
  • Consent. Before we can give any treatment, our customers must first consent to it.
  • Safety. Our customers must not receive unsafe care or treatment, or be put at risk of avoidable harm.
  • Safeguarding from abuse. While receiving care, our customers must not suffer abuse or improper treatment.
  • Food and drink. Our customers are entitled to sufficient food and drink while receiving care and treatment.
  • Premises and equipment. The premises and equipment used for care must be clean, suitable and properly maintained.
  • Complaints. We are obliged to have a complaints system in place so that our customers are able to provide honest feedback. All complaints must be investigated and, where required, action must be taken.
  • Good governance. We must implement effective governance and systems to monitor the quality and safety of our care.
  • Staffing. We must ensure we have a sufficient number of qualified, competent and experienced staff who are properly supported, trained and supervised.
  • Fit and proper staff. All of our carers must pass stringent background checks and our recruitment process must be stringent; all of our carers should be sufficiently qualified and trained to provide an appropriate level of treatment.
  • Duty of candour. We are obliged to be open and transparent to our customers about their treatment.
  • Display of ratings. We must ensure our CQC rating is on prominent display, and make our latest service report available for our customers to view.

The CQC will monitor, inspect and regulate our care services to ensure the above standards are being maintained. All of their findings are published, including a set of performance ratings that assess various aspects of our care. We place great importance on ensuring we’re compliant with all of these standards, because they’re a great way to ensure we’re always delivering the high standards of care on which we pride ourselves.

The Difference Between A Regulated And Unregulated Service

The primary difference between regulated and unregulated care services is that unregulated providers do not have an independent regulatory body to be accountable to, and therefore there is no guarantee that proper safeguarding and quality standards will be adhered to. At Helping Hands and other regulated services, the CQC monitor and evaluate all of our practices, and the entire care process is overseen by our management team to ensure that you receive a safe, supervised package of care that meets your requirements and wishes.