Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve the way local authorities and the Care Quality Commission (a) coordinate inspections of and (b) share information on care homes classed as (i) requiring improvement and (ii) inadequate.

In October 2017 the Care Quality Commission reported 80% of adult social care providers had been rated as good or outstanding. However, when standards fall below those rightly expected by care home residents and their families, it is right that information is shared across the system. The Department is working with the adult social care sector to implement Quality Matters – a shared commitment to take action to achieve high quality, person-centred adult social care. This includes actions to improve information collection and sharing and to support organisations to improve care services.

The Care Quality Commission has provided the following response:

There are a range of meetings by which the Care Quality Commission and local authorities share information. There are also protocols, and requirements that exist to coordinate between the Care Quality Commission and local authorities. For Inadequate or Requires Improvement services, if the Care Quality Commission take certain enforcement action, such as issuing a notice of proposal or a notice of decision, there is a requirement to share notices with the Association of Directors of Social Care Service and other relevant partners such as clinical commissioning groups.

The Care Quality Commission inspectors regularly communicate with staff in local authorities as part of their everyday routine engagement, which informs inspection planning and whether risk needs to be escalated, or if joint visits are required.