On 15 January 2018 the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) changed its name to Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW). This change was announced by Chief Inspector Gillian Baranski at the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) conference in Llandudno in early 2017. The CIW website advises that providers do not need to worry, and existing registrations will not be affected by the change of name. For the time being the name ‘Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales’ or ‘CSSIW’ should be read as ‘Care Inspectorate Wales’ or ‘CIW’ from after 15 January 2018, but both names remain valid. Any existing CSSIW documents such as inspection reports or registration certificates will continue to be valid, but CIW will be updating forms and guidance to include the new name in the coming weeks. With regard to contacting CIW, the main telephone number (0300 7900 126) will not change, but a number of our other contact details will change. The CSSIW website address and CSSIW email addresses continue to work and point users automatically to the new addresses. In addition, individual staff email addresses are not affected.
New contact details are as follows:
- Website address: www.careinspectorate.wales / www.arolygiaethgofal.cymru
- Public email addresses: [email protected] / [email protected]
Even though the change of name does not place any additional responsibilities on care providers in Wales, they should already be thinking about reviewing key documents in preparation for re-registration which will commence in early 2018. Preparations should include familiarising themselves with the new Regulations under the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016. These regulations and statutory guidance apply to care homes, domiciliary care agencies, secure accommodation and residential family centres who are registering or re-registering under the Act in 2018. There are also draft regulations which cover the following:
- The Regulated Services (Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2017. These Regulations set out the requirements for providers applying to register a regulated service or vary their registration under the Act
- The Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017. These Regulations set out the requirements for providers and responsible individuals in relation to regulated services
- Statutory guidance for service providers and responsible individuals on meeting service standard regulations. Service providers must have regard to this guidance in meeting the requirements imposed on them by the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017.
The above can be accessed from http://careinspectorate.wales/news/171211-risca-regulations/?lang=en.
Providers in Wales should also be thinking about the changes required to documents such as the Statement of Purpose, and the Care Inspectorate Wales has produced a guidance document, which can be accessed from http://careinspectorate.wales/docs/cssiw/general/180115statementofpurposeguideen.pdf
The Care Inspectorate Wales provides a template for the Statement of Purpose and the guidance says that “If you make an application to register a service with us you have to include a Statement of Purpose as part of your application”. The accompanying guidance on re-registration says “During the re-registration process, there will be a particular focus on the quality of the Statement of Purpose. If we identify that your Statement of Purpose needs to be improved or revised we will return it to you. We will expect you to amend the content and return it to us within a prescribed timeframe.”
Providers would be wise to familiarise themselves with the guidance on re-registration which is available from http://careinspectorate.wales/docs/cssiw/general/171207reregistrationguiden.pdf
Providers should also begin work on the new Statement of Purpose. This will require a considerable amount of time and work which includes a good knowledge of how each service meets the requirements of the new regulations. Providers of care home services must submit their application to reregister by 30 June 2018. If they provide any other service (for example a domiciliary support service) they must register this at the same time. Providers of domiciliary support services, secure accommodation services and residential family centres must submit an application to re-register by 31 August 2018.
A visit to the website of Care Inspectorate Wales is recommended as is setting aside time to complete and submit the application documentation.
