NATIONAL CARE STANDARDS COMMITTEE MEETING
Conference Room 3, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, Monday 24 February 2003
Note of the Meeting
Present: Adam Rennie (Chair), Pek Yeong Berry, Lorraine Briggs, Doreen Campbell, Pat Dawson, Sally Evans, Jaqueline Hughes, Mary McCann, John McKenzie, Gordon Masterton, Janis Pelosi, Jacquie Roberts, Frances Smith, Val Cox, Carol Wilkinson, Gerald Byrne, Robert Houtman, Margaret Davidson, Sean Doohan, Marjory Barquist (Secretary)
1. Apologies
Apologies were received from: Linda Gregson, Jim McDonald, David Souter, Irene Audain, Janet Law, Janie Allan, Chrissie Carmouche, Harry Garland David Whiteoak and Margaret Watt.
2. Welcome
Adam Rennie welcomed everyone to the fifth meeting of the National Care Standards Committee.
3. Note of Last Meeting and Matters Arising
3.1 Adam advised that there were three action points from the last meeting. The first, at paragraph 5.2 of the meeting notes, related to the draft standards for private dental practices and was covered in Paper 3.
3.2 The second action point, at paragraph 6.2, related to the standards for wholly private medical practices and was covered in Paper 4.
3.3 Action point 6.3 related to referencing maternity services in the medical practices' standards. The Secretariat had obtained the relevant information from the Women and Children's Unit of the Executive and would add it to the appropriate annex when the redrafting work is done on the standards.
3.4 The notes of the last meeting were then agreed.
4. Private Fostering (Paper 1)
4.1 Adam welcomed Gerald Byrne from the Young People and Looked after Children Division of the Education Department and asked the Committee members to introduce themselves for Gerald's benefit. Gerald then gave some background information about private fostering and the role of the local authorities.
4.2 Adam pointed out that fostering services would be regulated by the Care Commission from October this year. Concern was expressed by Committee members that local authorities could only carry out their duties in relation to private fostering where they were aware that private fostering arrangements were in place. It was felt that local authorities need to be more proactive in this area. Adam advised that Gerald's Division is responsible for policy in relation to the role of the local authorities and their responsibilities under the Foster Children (Scotland) Act. The Committee could raise any concerns it might have on the issue of private fostering generally with Gerald's Division, but the Committee's formal role was in relation to the national care standards, not the underlying legislation.
4.3 Jacquie Roberts suggested that developing standards first was perhaps not the best way to address this issue. She suggested that it would be more appropriate to initiate some discussion between the Care Commission and Gerald and his colleagues on what the Care Commission will do to fulfil its function in relation to private fostering under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. Following discussion this course of action was agreed. Jacquie will come back to the Committee with proposals.
5. Review of the National Care Standards (Paper 4)
5.1 This item was brought forward in the agenda so that members who had to leave the meeting early could contribute to the discussion.
5.2 Adam advised that Paper 4 had been produced as a starting point for discussion on the review. The discussion that followed raised a number of questions and issues including:
First step is to find out whether users understand and use the standards - do people know the standards are out there?
If money is available specialist consultants could be used to get initial information on the standards quickly;
It is too early to begin a review, the standards have only been around for a year;
Are there any other systems of review which could be used as a model for standards review;
Review and revision are different - the revision of standards will depend on what information is gathered;
A system will be needed to measure the impact of the standards on users;
Any unsolicited feedback needs to be captured as it comes in;
Where the standards refer to training and qualifications of service providers and staff these need to fit with the Scottish Social Services Council's requirements and registration programme;
A system is needed so that any standards which are not right can be reviewed and if necessary revised quickly.
5.3 It was agreed that the Secretariat would take away the thoughts and suggestions made by the Committee and produce a paper with proposals that pick up the main strands. The Committee can then agree a process to take forward the review.
6. Update on Childcare Agencies and Specialist Clinics (Paper tabled)
6.1 Janie Allan, chair of the childcare agencies working group, was unable to attend the meeting but advised the Committee through the Secretariat that she was delighted that there had been 40 responses to the consultation on the draft standards. The feedback was generally positive and had been taken into account in the redraft of the standards.
6.2 Adam asked the Committee members if they were content with the proposed timetable for progressing the standards and drew their attention to the forthcoming election purdah which could have an impact on the timetable. Ministerial approval of the final standards, then publication and distribution should be able to go ahead, but it was unlikely that their standards could be publicised. Final guidance was still awaited and the Committee would be advised if there were an impact on the timetable. The timetable for the specialist clinics' standards was not however affected by purdah.
6.3 In response to a question about regulating childcare agency services without published standards Jacquie advised that the Care Commission would be able to work around this.
7. Wholly Private Medical Practices - Update (Paper 2)
7.1 Lorraine Briggs gave some additional information about the meeting held with Dr Loudon. Following discussion it was agreed that the working group should meet again and reconsider the standard on people attending for mental healthcare, taking account of Dr Loudon's feedback. The two options available to the group were either a separate standard or incorporation of the mental healthcare issues into the other standards where appropriate. To assist the group with this task it was agreed that someone with an advocacy background should be co-opted on to the group.
8. Update on draft Standards for Wholly Private Dental Practices (Paper 3)
8.1 Mary McCann updated the Committee on the position with the dentists' draft standards, details of which were set out in paper 3. Following a meeting with Scottish Executive, NHS QIS and the Care Commission it had been agreed to bring together representatives of the National Care Standards working group and the NHS QIS working group to produce one set of standards for dental practices. After some discussion about the membership of the group it was agreed that Anna McGowan from NHS QIS and a representative from the Independent Healthcare division of the Care Commission should be asked to join the working group. It was also agreed that Dr Jim McDonald and May Hendry should be asked to jointly chair the group.
8.2 The NHS QIS sponsorship branch of the Scottish Executive had recently suggested that the approach taken to the dentists' standards should also be applied to the standards for doctors. Lorraine pointed out that whilst a very high percentage of dental practices are mixed private and NHS the same could not be said of GP practices. In addition the Regulation of Care legislation covered both primary and secondary private care. A further meeting would take place in April between the Executive, the Care Commission and NHS QIS where this suggestion would be discussed. The Committee will be updated at its meeting on 28 April.
8.3 The Committee agreed the proposed remit for the dental practices' working group.
9. AOCB
There was no other business.
10 Date of Next Meeting
10.1 The next meeting will be held on Monday 31 March 2003 in Conference Room 3, Victoria Quay from 10.30am to 3.00pm. A buffet lunch will be provided.