Regulation standards delayed 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,
writes Derren Hayes.

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 2003, six months
later than originally planned.

The doh said the new delay was due to the high number of
responses it had received in consultation on the regulations. The
original deferment in May was because the July deadline was thought
to be putting an “unreasonable” burden on providers.

In the interim, local authorities will continue to be
responsible for enforcing existing statutory arrangements for
nursing agencies, and will also need to have appropriate monitoring
processes in place for domiciliary care providers and residential
family centres.