§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will (1) instruct the National Care Standards Commission to inspect all establishments for which it is responsible to ensure that(a) resuscitation policies which respect the rights of clients for whom they are responsible are in place, (b) such policies are understood by relevant staff and accessible to them and (c) such policies are subject to robust audit and monitoring arrangements; [151465]
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Date of visit Minister Visit Hon. Member met 14 March 2000 Mr. Denham Minister of State North Peterborough Primary Care Trust Peterborough Walk in Centre Helen Brinton 14 March 2000 Mr. Denham Minister of State South Peterborough PCT None 1 August 2000 Lord Hunt of King's Heath Parliamentary Under-Secretary Peterborough Hospital None (2) extend the remit of the requirement outlined in National Health Service Circular 2000/028, to require social services departments and private and voluntary providers to ensure that (a) all appropriate resuscitation policies which respect the rights of clients for whom they are responsible are in place, (b) such policies are understood by relevant staff and accessible to them and (c) such policies are subject to robust audit and monitoring arrangements. [151464]
§ Mr. HuttonThe National Care Standards Commission will regulate a wide range of social care and independent healthcare providers. Regulations and national minimum standards are being developed to reflect the different nature of each of the services to be regulated. Depending on the nature of the service being provided, a resuscitation policy will be required for some providers but not others. For example we will require independent healthcare providers to have a resuscitation policy in which patients' rights are central, which is readily available to staff, patient's relatives and carers, and of which staff are informed. These policies will have to be kept under review to ensure their continued effectiveness.
We published the national minimum standards for "Care Homes for Older People" on 2 March. These require care home providers to discuss with service users their wishes concerning terminal care. The standards also require them to provide staff with first aid training or employ nurses who will have basic life support training.
There will, however, be providers for whom a resuscitation policy will not be necessary, such as fostering agencies or voluntary adoption agencies.
It will not be necessary to extend the requirements in National Health Service Circular 2000–028 to local authority social services departments as the providers they contract with will have to be registered by the commission and therefore required to meet the relevant standards. This new regulatory framework will also require local authority owned care homes to be registered for the first time and these too will be required to meet the national minimum standards.