Leader: Tougher inspections will boost standards of care

It IS difficult for governments to get the balance right on the supervision of services for which they are ultimately responsible. Ministers are frequently accused by the public and private sectors of demanding too much inspection and not giving providers enough latitude to get on with providing decent services.

Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement yesterday of a tougher new inspection regime for care homes must be seen against the backdrop of this debate. Her dilemma was this: faced with scandals like the deaths of two former elderly residents at Edinburgh’s Elsie Inglis care home, should government be content with the current inspection regime, on the basis that incidents of abuse were rare, or insist on more scrutiny.

Ms Sturgeon has opted for the latter and has decided all care homes will receive an unannounced inspection at least once a year with inspectors able to increase the number of times they visit a home if they are concerned about its performance. Given the poor conditions old and vulnerable people have been exposed to in some homes, this is proportionate inspection, not over-regulation.

By granting the new Care Inspectorate (and three cheers for Ms Sturgeon for ending the body’s ridiculous title of the Social Care and Social Work Inspection Scotland, or SCSWIS) power to make unannounced inspections, the health secretary has ensured care providers, in the public and private sectors, will strive to maintain higher standards – higher standards the elderly have a right to expect.