Home care is a rewarding industry for franchisees to invest in. Not only does this industry offer a proven business model, but it also allows you to deliver crucial care to those in need.
However, entering the home care industry comes with several responsibilities and rules, with all home care franchises being subject to scrutiny from their local regulatory body, such as the Care Quality Commission.
Unlike other franchises, home care operates in a highly regulated environment, and delivering private, personal care requires a number of different responsibilities and requirements.
In this blog, we’ll cover all of the important Care Quality Commission regulations, so whether you’ve just started your home care franchise journey or you’re looking to invest, you can ensure you stay informed and compliant.
CQC legal accountability
If you’re a new home care franchise owner, it’s not unreasonable to assume that any regulatory compliance falls to the franchisor. This, however, is not the case, and the CQC deems every new franchise owner a separate entity that also needs to comply with CQC registration.
For example, if you invest in a franchise with Bridgewater Home Care, and set up your own local office in an assigned territory, you’re legally responsible for delivering quality home care to the standards set by this organisation.
In order to legally operate as a home care franchise, your business needs to be CQC registered and have dedicated compliance staff.
A Nominated Individual (NI)
This is typically the franchise owner or director. They are in charge of all things CQC, ensuring the company has the right financial resources, correct governance and staff levels to provide care up to CQC standards.
A Registered Manager (RM)
This individual needs to be a qualified healthcare professional who can oversee the franchise’s daily operations. The RM must be assessed by the CQC and determined fit for this position with interviews and a Fit and Proper Person Test. The Registered Manager is legally accountable for home care compliance alongside your business owner.
The 5 key CQC inspection questions
As part of the evaluation process for home care franchises, the CQC conducts inspections using a Single Assessment Framework. During this inspection, you will be evaluated against 5 key questions and given a rating for your service. These range from Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and down to Inadequate.
The 5 key questions are:
Safe
Evaluates the safety of staff and clients. Assessing if clients are protected against harm and abuse. Are thorough DBS checks being conducted? Are people protected from bullying and harassment? Are staff safe commuting to and from private premises?
Effective
How effective are the practices and services at meeting client needs and demands? Communication needs to be efficient, and services should work in harmony with each other. Clients should be confident that their needs are understood and staff should be confident in assessing clients and have all the tools they need for appropriate care. Care staff should receive adequate training and support to ensure they are providing the best and safest care.
Caring
Treating clients with compassion, empathy and kindness to ensure they feel seen and understood. Keeping the dignity and privacy of clients intact at all times. Helping clients to live as independently as possible and maximising their quality of life. Staff should also have respect and compassion for one another and ensure they uphold privacy and confidentiality when handling sensitive information.
Responsive
Care services should be built around the needs of your clients and local community. Clients should be involved in the planning process of local community care, and treatment should be easily accessible and centred around those in need. Your care services should be adaptable and adjusted where necessary.
Well-Led
The culture of your business should be positive and encourage continuous learning and improvement for care services. Feedback and communication with the community, staff and franchise leaders should fuel strategy and development within your service. Leaders should collaborate and support partners and care staff and help keep services client-centred. Your workforce should promote quality, inclusion and equality.
The 6 CQC evidence categories
Site inspections are not the sole process of CQC evaluations, and a number of processes are used to create an accurate image of your franchise and services.
People’s experiences
Feedback from those directly receiving or supporting those who need care services. Surveys, phone calls and professional reviews from clients and their families which assess whether the care is satisfactory, supportive and meets community expectations.
Feedback from leaders and staff
Evidence from care workers, office staff, senior leadership staff and other employees regarding your home care franchise. This includes staff surveys and direct feedback given to employers. Exit interview or focus group feedback and whistleblowing regarding care practices and staff treatment.
Feedback from partners
Feedback from individuals and authorities your home care franchise works with collaboratively. This includes commissioners, other local health care providers like GPs you may need to work with, professional regulators and any bodies that have granted your franchise accreditations.
Observation
Observations of care and the care environment are carried out by expert CQC inspectors and SpAs (Specialist Advisors). These inspections can also involve external bodies where necessary and will evaluate care practices in detail based on the 5 key questions.
Processes
Internal processes, data and audits are reviewed to assess how your organisation delivers safe and effective care. Data including audit information, results from safety and risk assessment reviews or incidents, treatment times and care records are all considered as part of this process.
Outcomes
The outcome of the care process involves assessing how care has affected people’s physical and mental health. As part of this assessment, outcomes like mortality rates, emergency admissions and prescription data are all investigated. This data is taken from patient and national clinical levels to be reviewed.
The roles and responsibilities in a home care franchise
CQC compliance needs to be efficient and divided between local and national operations.
Franchisors
A franchisor should provide templates for policies on a range of compliance procedures, including safeguarding and home safety. HR frameworks and recruitment tools and training modules are also created by the franchisor for standardised use across all franchises.
The home care franchisor should also conduct its own inspections and audits of each franchise location, with mock CQC inspections to ensure each franchisee is ready for official investigations.
Franchisees
Franchisees take the templates of policies outlined by the franchisor and ensure they are localised to sit in line with safeguarding and home care regulations in their territory.
Franchisees are responsible for ensuring all staff across their local business follow these rules, and they’re also responsible for screening staff with enhanced DBS and right to work checks during the recruitment process. Alongside completing training, franchisees also need to train their own employees on best practices and key health and safety requirements.
Franchisees are also in charge of conducting internal performance audits and CQC checks to ensure continuous compliance and high standards.
How to ensure CQC compliance
The first step to ensuring your home care franchise is CQC compliant is with swift registration. The process can take between 12 and 16 weeks, and during that time you can’t legally deliver any personal care, so the sooner you apply, the faster you can get your business off the ground.
Ensure all policies are localised.
When you’re given policies to follow by your franchise, they need to be adapted to your territory and in line with local authority safeguarding procedures. CQC inspectors can tell when policies haven’t been tailored to your domain, and this can lead to missed opportunities and overlooked care needs in your community.
Streamline staff rostering
Late or missed visits are a serious safeguarding issue and can cause problems for clients. Utilising AI-automated scheduling can help to ensure all staff are aware of shifts and reminded when they are working. Also, investing in live GPS and check-in software can help to identify any delayed arrivals before they impact the client.
Schedule practice audits
Conduct unannounced audits with external care consultants or your franchisor to evaluate your franchise and identify any gaps in compliance. This will help to spot flaws before they impact services or are caught by CQC inspectors.
Utilise modern technology and mobile care apps
Paper notes are easy to misplace and difficult to access. All care logs and data should be digitised and backed up securely. Carers should have mobile access to client information when needed and be able to log data without delays.
Encourage feedback from all parties
Ensure clients, families and internal staff provide regular feedback to continue refining your service and centering processes around their needs.
Ensure exceptional care with regulatory excellence
The key to a successful home care franchise isn’t just brand; your business needs to be trustworthy, reliable, and demonstrate regulatory excellence. Whilst your franchisor is responsible for supplying the regulatory frameworks, it’s down to the franchisees to ensure exceptional care and procedures are followed through day-to-day operations.
If you’re considering investing in a home care franchise, you’ll have all the CQC compliance support you need at Bridgewater Home Care. We’ve built an award-winning home care model with franchisees in mind, offering dedicated and detailed support on CQC, home and health care regulations to ensure every franchisee is confident in running their business.
From day one, our national office team with decades of care experience, and our founder Phil Eckersley, are on hand to offer guidance and one-on-one training that helps you protect clients, ensure excellent CQC scores and generate a sustainable franchise.
Get in touch with our team to start your franchise journey today, or explore our blog to find out more about the home care industry.
