Scandals fuel movesto overhaul inspection

Far-reaching changes in the registration and inspection of
residential care homes are to be introduced by the Scottish Office
in the wake of recent scandals.

The move follows recommendations from a working group set up
after the death of 79-year-old Agnes McCabe, a resident of the
Glengova private home in Glasgow.

A fatal accident inquiry found she had died after being starved
and developing horrific bed sores. Last month the home’s owner, Dr
Rahda Sarker, was struck off by the General Medical Council.

The working group calls for the registered person or named
manager of a care home to be banned from being a resident’s GP or
professional adviser.

New guidance on the emergency removal of residents should be
drawn up and the time between serving notice and cancelling
registration reduced from 14 to seven days, it says.

A national consultative group should also be formed to draw up
guidelines and quality of care standards.

Scottish health minister Lord James Douglas-Hamilton pledged
that a ‘substantial number’ of the recommendations would be acted
on straight away.

‘We have a duty to ensure that people in residential care are
properly looked after and that high standards of care prevail,’ he
said.

Glasgow social work director Mary Hartnoll, who represented the
Association of Directors of Social Work on the group, said the
measures would help authorities act more quickly.

‘Timescale was a major issue in the Glengova case. There needs
to be a change in the regulations and legislation to allow speedier
processes to be followed once there is real cause for concern,’ she
said.

‘There is also an absence of a common framework of standards,
which means it is much more difficult for tribunals to take a
similar approach across Scotland.’