Web Review: The Commission for Social Care Inspection

 The Commission for Social Care Inspection
 www.csci.org.uk/ 

 STAR RATING: 2/5












The Commission for Social Care Inspection has revamped its website and it looks good, writes John Burton. I particularly like the photos and the more informal accounts by “real” people such as an energetic and sensible inspector (yes, really), and a homecare client.

Clear, attractive, and easy to find your way around, but, as with much of CSCI’s public facade, the website tends to hide the reality rather than reveal it.

I approached the site as a carer, relative and advocate, and as a social care professional. At the top of the page, you can identify yourself and say what you want to do. If you’re someone trying to complain to CSCI (which I am) you’ll read reassuring words about how to do it, but unfortunately you find that of little use in practice. It doesn’t tell you that after three months of complaining about neglect and abuse in a care home, you’ll feel as if you’ve been speaking to a surprisingly insensitive brick wall.

Apart from the grandees, it’s not possible to find out who works where. Perhaps staff changes are too frequent? And it still takes months for an inspection report to appear. The website seems open and informative, but there are too many “staff only” signs.

If it was a care home, I’d say the policies and procedures are in order but the practice still leaves a lot to be desired. So, I’ll be very generous and, in CSCI’s own scoring system, give it a 2 (standard nearly met).

John Burton is a social care consultant, freelance writer and author of Managing Residential Care