Overhaul of social care inspection regime announced

Details of a radical overhaul of all aspects of the social care
inspections regime were published this week, including plans for
the future merger of the Commission for Social Care Inspection and
the Healthcare Commission, writes Paul
Stephenson.

New arrangements for health and social care came as part of the
Department of Health’s review of arm’s length bodies,
published last week, aimed at reducing bureaucracy.

The review does not outline an immediate merger of CSCI and the
Healthcare Commission, but insists they must continue to work
closely in the “long term direction of travel towards
combined health and social care inspection”.

A spokesperson for the Healthcare Commission said it did not
envisage a merger with CSCI “in the near future”, and a
CSCI spokesperson said it was not yet clear what would emerge.

Closer links between the General Social Care Council and the
Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, leading to potential
merger, were also outlined. This would see the remit of the CHRE,
which currently oversees nine health regulatory bodies including
the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council,
extended to cover social care professionals. A GSCC spokesperson
insisted its “vital work” would continue.