The Department of Health has resisted pressure to reverse its bar on local involvement networks (LINks) entering children’s social care providers’ premises to examine the state of services.
The news came in a summary of responses to a consultation on LINks, the new user-led bodies which have been scrutinising health and social care services in England since 1 April.
LINks have the right to enter certain service premises but not others – including the homes of domiciliary care users, non-communal areas of care homes and all children’s social care services.
A “considerable minority” of respondents thought children’s social care services should not be exempt, saying their exclusion “seemed inconsistent” with policies relating to vulnerable adults.
However, the DH said it would not change its stance on this, saying there were already “effective measures in place to scrutinise and oversee children’s social care”, under Ofsted.
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