Since the beginning of 2020 the Swift Management team have seen an increase in the number of clients requesting either assistance to change their registration categories or assistance with registering for the first time as a new provider.
The registration process over recent months has been slower that we would have wanted due to the change in focus of the regulators due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the country returns to normality, so do the regulators and we have finally achieved registration for two of our clients.
We wish them both well in their future endeavours as care providers.
You may be asking why a potential new entrant sought the assistance of a care consultancy to achieve registration given it is a process that is well documented on the CQC website.
We thought a short case study may help to explain why an expert approach to registration can help from the outset.
One of our two newly registered providers had attempted registration previously and had received a notice of proposal not to register the service from the regulator. After consulting a firm of solicitors who referred the client to ourselves, we began to take steps to recover the situation.
We assisted the client to write to CQC to rescind the original application before the notice of proposal became a notice of decision (this happens 28 days after the notice of proposal is issued). We wrote an action plan to address the physical concerns from the regulators with the client proposed service.
Our team then supported the client to prepare the policies and procedures, set up the governance processes, recruit and induct the manager and 1st cohort of staff.
Whilst this was going on in the background, we also worked with the provider to submit a robust application ensuring that the new application would be fit for purpose from the outset.
We offered training to the manager and provider to ensure they had the necessary skills and information and that they could demonstrate their abilities at the registration inspection.
Despite delays in getting the registration inspection due to covid restrictions, the meeting was positive and in a couple of weeks the registration certificate had been received.
Our client is delighted and commences her new business from next week. As it will be key to embed processes for the service, one of our consultants will be on site to assist in training, oversight of pre assessments and ensuring everything goes well. During the time we waited for the registration to take place we have been in discussion with local authority commissioners, which has meant from the time of registration clients have been referred to the service. We have now agreed to provide a retained service package to support the governance processes and help the business to move forward at a safe and realistic growth rate.
The entire service was provided using remote working systems due to travel restrictions, and it is only now, during the first operational week, will our team be on site. This has both a saving for our client in terms of fees but has meant a much faster service.
When we asked our client for a comment she said “We got off to a slow start, but I am so excited to have finally got there. We could not have done it without Swift, we are really just one big team now”.
