Baroness Uddin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2015-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the lessons that can be learnt from the case of Connor Sparrowhawk in order to improve services for those with autism and learning difficulties.
Lord Prior of Brampton
This is a deeply distressing case, and I hope its lessons will be noted by all provider and commissioning authorities. This Government is fully committed to ensuring the best quality care for everyone, and all providers are expected to prioritise the safety and dignity of all patients.
Where a care provider delivers unacceptable standards of care, it must be held to account. The Government has introduced new fundamental standards as requirements for registration of care homes with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC has a range of enforcement powers it can use where a provider does not meet these fundamental standards. Where a failure to meet these standards causes harm or a serious risk of harm to service users, the CQC will be able to prosecute both the provider organisation as well as its Directors.
Where a provider is convicted, it will face a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine. A Director of a care home can also be prosecuted if he or she has consented or connived in the provision of seriously poor care that has caused harm. In addition, the CQC has the power to remove board-level Directors who are not fit and proper to carry out the roles to which they are appointed.
This is a major step forward to ensure that those who are responsible for organisations in which abuse and poor standards of care are allowed to occur are held to account.
More generally, the Care Act 2014 heralds a changed approach to adult safeguarding, as embodied by the work that the Department has done with Local Authorities and stakeholders on the programme Making Safeguarding Personal.
NHS England, the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services will shortly publish their National Transformation Plan aimed at reducing reliance on inpatient care, strengthening community provision and driving transformative change for people with learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges, including those with a mental health condition. In its role as system steward, the Department will be holding system partners to account for delivery and ensuring that the plan is robust, fit for purpose and is equally clear about when families and individuals can expect to see results.
