Government delays regulations – again

The national minimum standards for the
regulation of nursing agencies, domiciliary care agencies and
residential family centres have been delayed for a second time by
the Department of Health.

The
regulations, which will require service providers to register with
and be inspected by the National Care Standards Commission, will
not now be produced until January, six months later than first
planned.

The
DoH said the latest delay was due to the high number of responses
it had received during consultation on the regulations.

The
original deferral in May was because the July deadline was thought
to place an “unreasonable” burden on providers.