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Care Standards Update

Edition No. 11 December 2001

Introduction

We have always understood that the first stage of the transfer of your registration as a nursing home with the Health Authority (and Local Authority if dual registered) to a Registered Care Home with the National Care Standards Commission will be the appearance of a 'Welcome Pack' which was promised for the Autumn. Further information then indicated that we could expect to receive the Welcome Pack in December.

Guidance to Health Authorities and Local Authorities, in the form of Health Service Circular HSC 2001/25 and Local Authority Circular LAC (2001) 31, has now been published with details of the proposed transfer procedures to the new system.

This Care Standards Update is focussed on that transitional guidance. Again, it is forwarded to all members although it only sets out the proposals for England - the only ones published at present. As and when we receive Country specific Guidance it will be forwarded to members in the appropriate countries.

The National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) takes up its regulatory functions under the Care Standards Act 2000 in April 2002. In order to achieve this, information about currently regulated providers, the services they provide and the type/category of service they will be registered under in the new system, needs to be gathered for the NCSC. The guidance sets out the process for ensuring the smooth transfer of existing regulated provision into registration under the new system.

In addition, the guidance sets out:

• The action required by current regulators for the transfer of certain applications for registration under current legislation to the NCSC.
• The process of handling the transfer of enforcement cases at different levels to the NCSC.
• The action required for providers previously exempt from regulation (e.g. Local Authorities in respect of their homes) who need to apply for registration before 1 April 2002.

The Department of Health is keen that the action required by the current regulators and providers should be limited to that which is absolutely necessary to ensure the efficient transfer of the old regulatory framework into the new system. It is in the interests of Local Authorities and Health Authorities, as commissioners of services, and part of their statutory obligations as the current regulators, to ensure the smooth and timely completion of this work. It is intended that this will enable a virtually seamless transition for providers so that they can continue to provide these important services for children and adults.

A Caution for Regulators !

Health Authorities and Local Authorities are warned by the Guidance that failure to achieve the timetable would have potentially damaging consequences for service providers who would be operating illegally if their registration is not transferred to the NCSC before 1 April 2002.

It would also affect the ability of commissioners to place service users in appropriate establishments since all such provision must be regulated.

The Process

All currently registered or licensed provision which comes within the scope of Part II of the Care Standards Act 2000 must be transferred to the NCSC prior to April 2002 (1 July 2002 for nurses agencies).

The exception to this rule will be in respect of those providers where a decision to cancel registration under the Registered Homes Act 1984 or Children Act 1989 has been issued and an appeal against cancellation is pending, or the time for appealing has not expired. A further exception is where the provider is required to supply certain additional information, e.g. police checks.

Cancellation cases, as set out above, will not be transferred into the new system and how they will be handled is set out in a section in the guidance on enforcement. For those services that are being transferred a Transfer of Registration Form needs to be completed for the formal transfer of each registration under the Care Standards Act.

Data Capture

The Department of Health has already provided registration and inspection units with a self contained Access database on disk so that the required data can be captured. The database will generate the Transfer of Registration Form.

The Timetable

The timetable for the completion of the database and sending of the Transfer of Registration Form to providers and the NCSC is as follows:

November 2001 - DH issues the data base and Transfer of Registration Form to current regulators;

14 December - Transfer of Registration Form completed by regulator;

31 December 2001 - Transfer of Registration Form to be with providers;

21 January 2002 - Provider returns Transfer of Registration Form or makes representations to NCSC;

4 February 2002 - Regulator sends database with Transfer of Registration Form to the NCSC;

1 April 2002 - NCSC determines issues and commences issuing certificates.

Contacting the NCSC

By telephone : 0191 233 3535
By e.mail : Heather.Wing@natcaresc.org.uk
By post : NCSC, St Nicholas Buildings
St Nicholas Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1NB

Information to be included on the Transfer of Registration Form

The transfer form will need, where applicable, the following information, completed by the regulator

• The name and address of the existing provider and their date of birth;
• Where the provider is an organisation the name and address of the responsible individual (registered person/s other than the registered manager), and the organisation;
• The name and address of the existing establishment or agency and telephone number;
• The legislation under which the provider was granted registration or a licence;
• The conditions (if any) attached to the registration or licence at the time the form is completed
• The applicable description of the provider under the CSA (e.g. type - care home, children's home or nurses agency);
• The new type/category of registration under the CSA;
• For establishments: B
  - the number of persons accommodated,
  - the number of places available and,
  - the original date the certificate was issued
  - and (where different) the issuing date of the current certificate.
• For residential care homes the name of the registered manager;

Dual Registration

Where a home has a dual registration to provide both nursing and residential care the responsibility for the completion of the Transfer of Registration Form will rest with the Health Authority registration and inspection unit. The DoH expect both Health and Local authorities to cooperate in the completion of the forms, as necessary, sharing appropriate data to ensure that the information required covering both parts of the registration is provided.

There will be no form of dual registration as such under the Care Standards Act, and homes providing nursing and personal care will be registered as Care Homes and given the appropriate category. This is explained in the section on categories below.

Type and Category of Care

A key task in the transfer of registration process is the allocation of a new category of registration under the Care Standards Act to existing providers and in some cases a change in the type of service provided.

The new categories will be set out in NCSC (Registration) Regulations, Schedule 7 Part II and the list of categories is shown overleaf.

This sets out both Service Categories (e.g. Care Home Nursing (n)), and Service User Categories (e.g. PD physical disability). In general there will be only one service category but there may be as many service user categories as appropriate.

In most cases the majority of providers will remain in a similar type (e.g. Care Home, Children's Homes, Independent hospital e.g.) and retain a similar category to the current position. Most children's homes will remain children's homes and most residential care and nursing homes will become care homes by type. However, in the new regulations the DoH state that they have aimed to set out a more appropriate and up to date set of categories which need to be allocated to all providers on their Transfer of Registration Form.