News

Existing care homes for both older people and younger adults must not reduce the staffing levels that were in place at the end of March over the next 12 months, new guidelines from the National Care Standards Commission published reveal.

The guidelines for inspectors on the application of regulations and standards relating to staff levels in care homes state that the NCSC will assess the needs of residents and look at the staffing levels required under the previous regulatory regime.

If levels are considered too low, the NCSC "will not hesitate to place additional staffing requirements on individual providers".

For all new applications for registration, the NCSC will use guidance produced by the residential forum to assess the suitability of staffing levels, which is based on the estimated number of care hours required by residents with various levels of dependency.

Further guidance will be issued by the department of health to clarify subsequent staffing levels after the initial 12 month period.

Guidelines on staffing levels in existing care homes from www.carestandards.org.uk