New standards will improve day care - Poots

New care standards will benefit everyone who uses day care services and will set a benchmark for registration and inspection.
~ Wednesday, 11 January 2012

That was the message from Health Minister Edwin Poots today, as he announced the publication of new minimum standards for day care settings. The standards specify the minimum requirements which providers of day care services must meet. They also clarify the level of service that people attending day care can expect to receive.

These standards are part of a series being developed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) for regulated care services. Standards have already been published for residential family centres, residential and nursing care homes and for nursing and domiciliary care agencies.

Edwin Poots said: “Minimum standards of care for regulated health and social care services are an important part of my Department’s continuing drive to maintain and improve the quality of health and social care services in Northern Ireland. These new standards for day care settings are an important milestone in this journey.”

Minister Poots continued: “The standards will benefit everyone who uses day care services by giving them a clear understanding of the quality of service they should expect to receive.

“As well as this, the standards will also set a transparent benchmark against which providers can assess their service. They will help to build public confidence that inspection of these services is based on consistent standards across Northern Ireland.”

The standards will be used by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), the regulatory body for health and social services, through their programme of registration and inspection of day care settings, to assess and report on the quality of services delivered.

Notes to editors:

1. Day care services are designed to meet the assessed needs of individuals for care, support, supervision or rehabilitation by reason of mental illness, functional impairment, cognitive impairment, learning disability, ill-health, age, family, or life circumstances.

2. As at 1 August 2011, there were 187 day care settings registered with the RQIA with provision for 7055 places. These standards do not apply to luncheon clubs or similar.

3. The care standards for day care settings are part of a series of standards for regulated services being published by the DHSSPS. Standards for residential family centres, nursing and residential homes, and domiciliary care and nursing agencies are already in place. The new standards will be used by the regulatory watchdog body, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), to register and inspect day care settings. Regulated services are those listed in the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation Northern Ireland) Order 2003.

4. The standards were developed in partnership with service users, providers and commissioners.

5. The standards are available on the Department’s website

6. For media enquiries please contact the DHSSPS Press Office on 028 9052 0074, or out of hours contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.