A new inter-professional qualification for inspectors of health and social care was announced at the National Social Services Conference at Harrogate International Centre by Lynne Berry, Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council.
Inspectors regulating health and social care in England under the new National Care Standards Commission (NCSC), and in Wales under the Care Standards Inspectorate Wales (CSIW), will be required to undertake the qualification to ensure that inspectors are trained to a minimum level.
Announcing the award, Ms Berry said: “Inspectors play an extremely important role in ensuring safe and high-quality care is provided to some very vulnerable members of society, such as children in public care and older people in residential and nursing homes. This new qualification will formally recognise the wealth of experience which already exists, and enable inspectors to learn new skills as part of a nationally-recognised framework. A qualified workforce will be better placed to ensure that millions of people who use health and social care services every day receive high quality, safe services.”
The new qualification will provide the NCSC and CSIW with a recognised post-qualifying/post-registration for their workforce of inspectors. It was drawn up by a partnership including the Department of Health, the Training Organisation for the Personal Social Services (TOPSS), and the Central Council for the Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW, now the GSCC), the Care Council for Wales and the Welsh National Assembly.
Education-providers offering the qualification will be approved by the GSCC. The qualification is designed to be flexible and it will offer training in the four key competencies for the profession – registration, inspection, dealing with concerns and complaints and the enforcement of regulations.
Over the next few months the GSCC will work with education-providers who wish to offer the qualification, and the first candidates are likely to enrol in September 2002.
The qualification will be the subject of a one-day conference on 20 February 2002.
Notes
The new qualification will be implemented in England and Wales in 2002 and will be available to inspectorates in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The General Social Care Council (GSCC) took over the role of CCETSW in regulating social work training in England, as well as new responsibilities, from 1 October 2001. In Northern Ireland it is the Northern Ireland Social Care Council; in Scotland, the Scottish Social Services Council; and in Wales, the Care Council for Wales.
Responsibility for the regulation of health and social care, which previously lay with local authorities and health authorities, transfers to National Care Standards Commission in England; the Care Standards Inspectorate Wales in Wales, and the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, the issue is the subject of a consultation paper.