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Councils must coordinate care home information with CCGs, review states

Councils must coordinate care home information with CCGs, review states
4 March 2016



Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities need to better coordinate in order to reduce the burden of red tape on care homes, a government review urged.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities need to better coordinate in order to reduce the burden of red tape on care homes, a government review urged.

The Cutting Red Tape review, launched by the government’s business secretary, Sajid Javid, asked more than 200 care providers about the scale of red tape they faced.

When announcing the review in July, the government stated that: “Local authorities, the Care Quality Commission and Clinical Commissioning Groups can ask care homes for similar information and carry out similar inspections – the sector is concerned about the costs of duplication and that it can divert staff time towards producing paperwork and away from caring for residents.

“For example, a small home with 30 residents may have to deal with seven different public agencies asking for similar information.”

In the review the care homes criticised the inconsistency in local authority and CCG requirements for information, and expressed confusion over CCGs roles and responsibilities in relation to residential care.

As a result, “a more rational approach would keep necessary protections but avoid wasteful duplication,” Javid stated, while the Department of Health pledged to issue providers with a statement clarifying the roles of different public agencies within the next two months.

Similarly, the Care Quality Commission responded that they set out proposals to streamline the way we collect and share information about services.

Martin Green, the chief executive of providers’ association Care England, said: “We want to see action from the government and statutory agencies to work with providers on tackling duplication and unnecessary paperwork to ensure we do not lose sight of our primary reason for doing the work we do – to care for the person.”

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