Care regulator has staff shortage

Serious concerns have been raised over the care industry

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has 283 unfilled posts in its workforce, including inspectors whose job it is to ensure care homes meet standards.

It blamed a recruitment freeze imposed by the Government last year - but the Department of Health said it relaxed the curb in February.

Charities have expressed concern at news of the shortfall.

Shadow health and social care minister Emily Thornberry said she wrote to Health Minister Paul Burstow on Friday to ask for an independent inquiry into whether the CQC had sufficient powers and resources.

"It's a matter of great concern that, at a time when the work of the CQC is set to increase sharply and when care services are under such stress as a result of government cutbacks, that it can be 133 inspectors short," she added.

News of the shortfall, initially reported by the Financial Times, comes after serious questions were raised over the care industry, as abuse at the Winterbourne View home for learning disabilities sufferers and financial problems at Southern Cross care homes came to light.

Southern Cross, Britain's largest care home provider, has delayed rent payments to its landlords in an effort to fend off bankruptcy.

Secret filming by BBC Panorama, broadcast on Tuesday, found a pattern of serious abuse at Winterbourne View.

'Unreserved apology'

The regulator said that following an internal review it recognised that "there were indications of problems at this hospital which should have led to us taking action sooner".

It offered an "unreserved apology" after admitting it failed to respond to at least two warnings from a former nurse at the centre in Bristol.

The Government has ordered a report into the abuse.

An inspector working for the CQC has told the Daily Mail the regulator was understaffed and unable to make the necessary inspections.

The inspector said checks on hospitals had been sidelined and the CQC was "completely hampered by bureaucracy and red tape".

Fully accountable

Mark Milton, chief operating officer of the National Autistic Society, said: "We are extremely concerned that there have been 70% fewer inspections of adult care services in the past year, which may be partly attributable to a lack of inspection staff.

"The horrifying abuse uncovered by Panorama shows a clear need for robust regulation, as well as high-quality commissioning and the development of a culture within organisations of zero tolerance of abuse.

"We are calling on the government to ensure that the CQC is properly resourced to provide a fully accountable regulatory system that protects the vulnerable people that we all trust in them to support."

David Congdon, head of campaigns and policy at Mencap, said: "The government must look at investing money into the sector to ensure the safety and quality of life of some of society's most vulnerable."

A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Nursing said the CQC needed to demonstrate it was a "robust regulator with real teeth".

"Clearly it has some urgent work to do to make certain that it can fulfil this important role - and this includes the proper resources to enable it to deliver," the spokeswoman added.

The CQC said its inspection rate had fallen while it assessed care providers as part of a new system - but they were now on the rise again.

It said it was "committed" to effective regulation.

A spokeswoman said: "The CQC has had a recruitment freeze imposed on it after the election which has only just been raised and we are beginning to recruit frontline staff."

A Department of Health spokesman said the recruitment freeze was relaxed in February and it approved the recruitment of 75 inspectors in October

"The hiring of inspectors and staff is the direct responsibility of the CQC," a spokesman added.

The Food Crisis is Not About a Shortage of Food

By Jim Goodman


The food crisis of 2008 never really ended, it was ignored and forgotten. The rich and powerful are well fed; they had no food crisis, no shortage, so in the West, it was little more than a short lived sound bite, tragic but forgettable. To the poor in the developing world, whose ability to afford food is no better now than in 2008, the hunger continues.

Hunger can have many contributing factors; natural disaster, discrimination, war, poor infrastructure. So why, regardless of the situation, is high tech agriculture always assumed to be the only the solution? This premise is put forward and supported by those who would benefit financially if their "solution" were implemented. Corporations peddle their high technology genetically engineered seed and chemical packages, their genetically altered animals, always with the "promise" of feeding the world.

Politicians and philanthropists, who may mean well, jump on the high technology band wagon. Could the promise of financial support or investment return fuel their apparent compassion?

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation supposedly works to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa. While these sentiments and goals may be philanthropy at its best, some of the coalition partners have a different agenda.

One of the key players in AGRA, Monsanto, hopes to spread its genetically engineered seed throughout Africa by promising better yields, drought resistance, an end to hunger, etc. etc. Could a New Green Revolution succeed where the original Green Revolution had failed? Or was the whole concept of a Green Revolution a pig in a poke to begin with?

Monsanto giving free seed to poor small holder farmers sounds great, or are they just setting the hook? Remember, next year those farmers will have to buy their seed. Interesting to note that the Gates Foundation purchased $23.1 million worth of Monsanto stock in the second quarter of 2010. Do they also see the food crisis in Africa as a potential to turn a nice profit? Every corporation has one overriding interest--- self-interest, but surely not charitable foundations?

Food shortages are seldom about a lack of food, there is plenty of food in the world, the shortages occur because of the inability to get food where it is needed and the inability of the hungry to afford it. These two problems are principally caused by, as Francis Moore Lappe' put it, a lack of justice. There are also ethical considerations, a higher value should be placed on people than on corporate profit, this must be at the forefront, not an afterthought.