Accreditation scheme to boost city’s care homes
Released: 20 March 2008
Good quality Wolverhampton care homes will be eligible for annual grants of between £5,000 and £10,000 to help boost their standards still further.
The payments form a key part of a new accreditation scheme being developed by Wolverhampton City Council and the Local Care Home Association aimed at improving the already high quality of the city’s privately-run care homes. Six care homes have been involved in a trial run.
Homes that have either been rated ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ by the Commission for Social Care Inspection and which also meet a number of other criteria put forward by the council – ranging from the organisation of activities for service users to qualifications for staff – will be eligible for the grants.
Care homes with an ‘excellent’ CSCI rating will receive an annual payment of £10,000, while ‘good’ homes will get £5,000. Currently, Wolverhampton has four care homes rated as ‘excellent’, and 36 as ‘good’.
The money will be used to improve services and Wolverhampton City Council’s cabinet member for adults, Geoff Foster, said: “This accreditation programme will raise and maintain high standards in Wolverhampton’s independent care homes.
“We have been developing a range of criteria and supporting processes to set up this scheme and we hope that it will encourage those homes which are currently rated as good, adequate or poor to improve their standards, and those that are already excellent to maintain them.
“This scheme focuses on the independent sector, but it is important to note that the council’s own care homes already hit many of the criteria and will continue to work to raising their standards to the highest level.”
The scheme was approved by the city council’s cabinet this week and is expected to be officially unveiled shortly.
Issued by the press office.