Safeguarding and quality in commissioning care homes

About this guide

This guide aims to support NHS and local authority commissioners of care homes to ensure that safeguarding is central to the commissioning process and a primary concern for residential and nursing care home providers.

The guide sets out the framework that promotes good safeguarding practice in quality services. There are numerous functions within the framework, including the Care Quality Commission’s role in assessing adherence to essential standards, local authority scrutiny, social work reviews and HealthWatch. The commissioner’s role is to focus on the quality of services locally, or where out-of-area services are purchased, utilising information from partners. This should reduce duplication of effort and reduce the burden of monitoring on service providers.

The outsourcing of social care has led to increased emphasis on the role of commissioners and as personalisation promotes choice and control for individuals, the role is further developing. Commissioners will need to ensure that the local market offers quality and choice to individuals and that safeguarding and dignity are at the heart of service provision.

The guide includes key points for commissioners, links to related resources and practice examples that are believed to result in better outcomes. Good practice is difficult to define unless it is based on robust evaluation. SCIE encourages practitioners to share practice in a number of ways including the Good Practice Framework.