NATIONAL CARE STANDARDS COMMITTEE MEETING
Conference Room 2, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh.
Monday 24 October 2005
Note of Meeting
Present: Adam Rennie (Chair), Marjory Barquist (Secretary), Michael Bews, Susan Brimelow (attending for Jacquie Roberts), Leigh Edwardson, Sarah Wedgewood.
1. Welcome and Introduction
1.1 Adam Rennie welcomed everyone to the seventeenth meeting of the NCSC.
1.2 Adam welcomed Michael Bews, who had replaced Francis Smith as the NHS QIS representative on the Committee.
2. Apologies
2.1 Apologies had been received from Pat Dawson, Robert Houtman, Janet Law, Jim McDonald, Mary McCann, Janis Pelosi, Jacquie Roberts, Raymond Taylor and David Whiteoak.
3. Note of last meeting and matters arising
3.1 There were several action points from the last meeting.
Revisions to the National Care Standards for Care Homes for Children, Independent Hospitals and Hospice Care.
The Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch had written to registered providers of these services in August informing them of the revisions. Revised copies of the Standards for Care Homes for Children and Hospice Care were now available from Blackwell's. The Standards for Independent Hospitals were currently being reprinted to include the revised text and would be available by the end of November.
Raising Awareness of the National Care Standards.
The Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch's bid for a share of the Scottish Executive's advertising budget had not been successful. Marjory Barquist and Linda Gregson had since met Sandra Burke, the Care Commission's Communications Manager, to discuss ways in which the SE and Care Commission could raise awareness of the Standards. The Branch would be taking forward some of the ideas discussed.
National Standards for Dental Services.
The Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch had prepared revised draft Standards in light of their consideration by the NCSC in June. The revised Standards had now been signed off by the Joint Chairs of the Working Group, Jim McDonald and May Hendry, and by Mary McCann, Deputy Chief Dental Officer. The Branch hoped to submit the draft Standards to Ministers for sign off in early November. However, given the sensitivities surrounding dentistry in Scotland at present, it was not known when the Standards would be published.
Susan Brimelow informed the Committee that the Care Commission had recently met David Steel, Chief Executive of NHS QIS, to discuss the monitoring of dental services in Scotland , including the accreditation of NHS dental services. Susan agreed to pass on a copy of the note of meeting to the Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch.
Disclosure Checks.
The Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch had clarified with colleagues in Children and Families Division that retrospective checks are not required at present. Section 11(3)(b) of the Protection of Children ( Scotland ) Act 2003 had not yet been commenced and, at present, no provisional date had been set to do so. However, Susan confirmed that the Care Commission encourage providers to carry out such checks as a matter of good practice.
Review of the Regulation of Care ( Scotland) Act 2001.
Adam had written to the Health Committee in August to highlight the importance of raising awareness of the National Care Standards. The Health Committee had now agreed their remit, which would focus on the duplication of regulation and funding issues.
4. National Care Standards- Alternative Formats
4.1 The Care Standards and Sponsorship Branch had received an increasing number of requests for copies of the National Care Standards in alternative formats, e.g. Braille, audio tape. The Branch thought that it would be helpful to discuss this issue with the Committee. In particular, Marjory explained that it would be helpful to get an idea from those organisations who are already providing publications in alternative formats of how they had tackled the issue in terms of cost, demand etc.
4.2 Michael Bews stated that he was not in a position to report on this issue at the meeting but agreed to contact Marjory once he had spoken to colleagues at NHS QIS. Action: Michael Bews
4.3 Similarly, Susan explained that Sandra Burke would be in a better position to comment on this issue and agreed to ask Sandra to contact Marjory directly. Action: Care Commission
4.4 It was also agreed that the Secretariat would circulate a request for comments on this issue to all Committee members with the note of meeting. Action: Secretariat
5. National Standards for Older People
5.1 Adam invited Susan to speak to this item.
5.2 Susan explained that the Care Commission had asked for this item to be placed on the agenda to offer an opportunity for colleagues to report on what is happening with regard to the development of Joint Standards for Older People.
5.3 Michael reported that the NHS QIS Older People's Standards Group had produced a draft report which would be considered at the next meeting of the Joint Inspection Working Group. He did not however provide further details as the report was still in draft at present.
5.4 Michael also informed the Committee that SWIA had set up a working group to look at the possibility of setting up a joint inspection regime, the next meeting of which was scheduled for 25 November 2005 .
5.5 NHS QIS was also looking to compare NHS QIS standards with standards produced by other organisations, particularly with regard to approach. NHS QIS was focussing on the interfaces between inspection agencies to identify common areas where they could work together, including the possibility of producing common sets of standards, where appropriate. However, given the current regulatory framework, Michael thought that it would be difficult to produce such standards.
5.6 From the Care Commission's perspective, Susan reported that they had been encouraged by the development of the joint Standards for Dental Services. With this in mind, they were keen to see the development of more joint standards, particularly in relation to older people.
6. Paper 1: Review of the National Care Standards
6.1 Adam invited Sarah Wedgewood to introduce Paper 1.
6.2 Sarah explained that Paper 1 narrowed down the options presented in the Working Group's Report on a System of Review for the National Care Standards, which the Committee had considered in April 2005.
6.3 Sarah highlighted that the main issue with regard to a review of the National Care Standards was timing. She explained that there were several factors to consider when looking at the timing of a review, including:
6.4 Sarah highlighted that the Working Group's report made no presumption as to when a review of the standards should take place, particularly given that there is a system in place to make changes to the standards.
6.5 With these issues in mind, the Committee was asked to consider the recommendations set out in Paper 1.
6.6 Both Michael and Susan agreed that Paper 1 covered the main points in relation to a review of the standards and that the recommendations made appeared to be reasonable. However, given the limited attendance, it was agreed that no decision could be made regarding Paper 1 at the meeting. Consequently, it was agreed that the Secretariat would write out to the other Committee members for their views on Paper 1 and that this issue would be considered at a future Committee meeting.
6.7 However, in the interim, all agreed that it would be helpful to look into the type of research which would help to inform the review process. Sarah agreed to explore this with research colleagues in the Scottish Executive. Action: Sarah Wedgewood
7. AOCB
7.1 There was none.
8. Date of Next Meeting
8.1 It was agreed that it was unlikely that the Committee would need to meet again until late Spring 2006, when it would consider the draft Standards for Independent Medical Consultant and GP Services. It was, therefore, agreed to cancel the current schedule of meetings ( 21 November 2005 , 16 January & 13 February 2006) and set up a new schedule beginning in March 2006. It was also agreed that, in the interim, the Secretariat would look at the possibility of revising the NCSC membership.