Social work regime branded a shambles

A NEW regime for regulating Scotland's care and social work that comes into force today has been described as a "shambles" by a former manager.

Two new public bodies, Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), are now responsible for delivering and overseeing health and social care and social work as well as child protection.

But a former senior manager from one of the bodies previously responsible for the services claimed the new care inspection regime would put vulnerable people at risk.

Stephen Wilson, a former manager with the Care Commission, which has now been scrapped along with the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) said the Scottish Government shake-up was a "cost-saving" exercise.

Mr Wilson said staffing levels at the new body will be reduced by more than 100, a move which he warned would lead to a "less intensive" inspection regime for nursing homes and people receiving care services at home.

He predicted that the lack of scrutiny and "less frequent" inspections of care homes could mean poor services, such as unqualified people "making medication mistakes".

Under the new rules, the responsibility of the Care Commission and the SWIA go to the newly launched SCSWIS, while the child protection work now done by HM Inspectorate of Education passes to SCSWIS.

Mr Wilson said: "There has been significant reduction in staff from both of the 'old' bodies which will make up the new regulators. This means that the inspection cycle will have to be changed. Services that may have been inspected one or two times a year could be once every two years, or for child-minders up to four years.

"The time saved by not inspecting has not been reallocated towards poor services; instead it has been absorbed to make further efficiency savings.

"That means poor services will not necessarily get more frequent scrutiny from the regulator and that better performing services will be left on trust to continue to self-regulate until they are visited again."

Mr Wilson went on to say that the lack of regular inspections would mean less enforcement to stop "people being employed without qualifications" and "making medication mistakes".

He said: "The new system of regulation simply isn't in a position to provide this required level of inspection.

"The inevitable result will be that a substandard service will only become apparent as a result of complaints and by this time the damage will have been done.

"The new form of regulation can be described as an inspector going into a blackened room and turning on a torch.He will only see what the torch illuminates, and will always have the worry that there is a boogieman behind him."

A spokesman for SCSWIS and HIS said that 55 fewer people were now employed by the two new bodies than under the old system, but that this was mainly due to retirements.

SCSWIS chairman Professor Frank Clark said the new system "represents a step change in the regulation of care and social work in Scotland".