§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to publish the proposed consultative document on the registration of residential homes.
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§ Mr. FowlerMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I have today issued a consultative document entitled "A Good Home".
It suggests a range of possible ways of improving the present system for registering voluntary and privately run residential homes for elderly, handicapped and mentally disordered people. Since the present system was introduced in 1948, there has been substantial growth in the number of people in these homes, including the number of infirm elderly people. In 1980 there were some 3,700 private and voluntary homes with about 70,000 residents. The legislation, which has been in force for over 30 years, was framed in circumstances very different from those obtaining today. In particular, it was not designed to cope with the numbers of people now needing long term residential care nor the number of homes now; in existence. The existing system concentrates on physical standards at the expense of the standard of personal care provided for the residents. Moreover, the type of homes to be registered needs examination, as does the increasing use of residential homes by more infirm people needing substantial nursing care.
In the past anxieties about standards in these homes have been expressed. Whilst the majority of homes undoubtedly provide adequate standards, these anxieties justify a review of the registration arrangements as a whole and make it important to stimulate—as we hope the consultation document will do—discussion and comment from which specific proposals for an improved system can be drawn. As the document itself suggests, the best solution may lie not so much in fresh legislation imposing new standards or duties, as in a code of practice that could be used flexibly to stimulate better standards of care. Legislation will be needed, however, if we are to clarify which establishments are subject to registration, to improve inspection procedures and to deal with the overlap between residential homes and nursing homes.