The legislation of care homes comes from the Care Quality Commission and the Health and Social Care Act 2008. These regulations are the absolute bottom line for care homes – each one in the UK must adhere to them at the bare minimum to uphold quality of care. Below, you can find the legislation and what they mean.
Person-Centred Care
Person-centred care means giving tailored care plans for residents that must meet both requirements and their preferences (such as not eating meat). Each resident’s care plan will often be vastly different due to this.
Allowing Visitors
No matter what, care homes must allow visitors. Plus, residents should also be able to go out of the care home when necessary, whether to see family or go to an appointment. It is all about freedom.
Dignity
This one refers to how the residents must be treated. At all times, carers must treat each resident with respect, always showing them dignity, for example, giving the resident privacy.
Receiving Consent
Residents – or their loved ones – must give consent before a treatment. This is essential. If it’s a family member or friend, they must be legally allowed to give consent on the resident’s behalf.
Safety in the Home
This legislation is all about ensuring residents are safe while living at the care home. The care home itself must adhere to all safety regulations, whether that’s ensuring staff members are qualified or carrying out health and safety measures prior to treatment. All of this is to ensure no harm comes upon a single resident.
Safeguarding from Abuse
Abuse includes neglect, limiting freedoms, and restraint that’s not necessary. This legislation is all about ensuring residents are safe from abuse. Naturally, it’s one of the most important.
Food and Drink
The food and drink legislation means that every resident receives enough food and drink to stay healthy. However, many care homes – such as Signature at Reigate Grange – prefer to go beyond that. Providing good food is a must for high-quality care. That means providing healthy, tasty food that meets preferences, whether that’s catering to someone who is vegetarian or someone who prefers savoury food over sweet. Rather than providing one meal for all residents, having a selection is key here.
Clean Premises
Care homes must keep the environment clean and safe. Every part of the care home, from the floors to the equipment, must be looked after properly. This is to ensure the health and safety of staff and residents alike.
Open to Complaints
People may want to complain about treatments. This legislation means that they can. Whether a resident has a complaint about how they were treated or a loved one wants to complain about the actions of staff members, it must be easy for them to do so and investigated once they do.
Good Governance
Good governance means care homes have plans in place to monitor the standards that are being upheld, such as safety monitoring systems.
Competent, Qualified, and Proper Staff
All staff members must be qualified and able to provide the care and treatment they are tasked with. If they need training or supervision, they are given that.
Duty of Candour
The care home must be transparent about care plans and treatments, no matter what. The whole plan should be crystal clear to residents and their loved ones. Plus, if something goes wrong, they are notified with absolute honesty.
Display of Ratings
Every care home receives a CQC rating. This legislation means that care homes must always have their CQC rating on display, including on their website.
There you have it – all the legislations of care homes. As mentioned, these are fundamentals, which means every care home must adhere to them. Often, care homes prefer to go above and beyond, as these legislations only cover the bare minimum of care.
