Request
How many homecare companies have been audited by the JCC or Health Department since 2017?
Clarification:
For clarification: ‘audited’ means, inspected/audited by the Jersey Care Commission.
Response
The Jersey Care Commission is responsible for the regulation of homecare companies. It is not a Scheduled Public Authority under the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 but provides the following response in the interest of transparency.
Please note the following -
• Not all home care providers are limited companies. Companies has therefore been interpreted as ‘organisations’.
• The Jersey Care Commission (the Commission), was first established in shadow form in May 2017 and formally became the regulator for health and social care on 1 January 2019. Prior to that date, the Commission was not required to regulate or inspect home care services.
• The Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014 came into force on 1 January 2019 and following this there was a 6-month transitional period in which providers of home care services were required to make an application for registration.
• Prior to 2019, the only home care services which were required to be regulated were nursing agencies (in accordance with the Nursing Agencies (Jersey) Law 1978). These were few in number. Only some of these agencies have sought to become registered under the 2014 Law.
• There was no requirement that the Commission undertook an inspection of any of the home care services until they had completed their registration process. A 12-month period is available to the Commission in which to undertake such an inspection once the registration process is concluded.
• The word ‘audited’ remains problematic as it is not defined or used within the 2014 Law. The Commission is not required to audit any services although it does receive and scrutinise documentation; promote adherence to Regulations and Standards and undertake inspection visits with reference to the according Regulations and Standards.
On the basis that the Commission has existed as a legal entity since 1 January 2019, it is the period between this date and the date of submission of this response that is referenced.
A total of 20 Home Care companies are currently registered under the 2014 Law. Each of these have submitted the applicable documentation. These documents have been scrutinised by the Commission. Certificates of registration have been issued to each of these home care providers.
There was not a statutory requirement that the Commission carried out any inspections with any organisation prior to it becoming registered under the 2014 Law. However, as a means of supporting organisations to successfully complete the registration process, a series of visits were undertaken by the Commission with the various provider organisations.
There will be formal inspections of each of the companies within 12 months of them having completed the registration process.
