You've been working in health and social care for some time and want to run your own agency...But how? What comes first? Should you just call the CQC? Or maybe start completing and application? Read on for the guide you need to getting your business registered.
There are quite a few considerations when starting up any care business. If you are looking at providing a CQC regulated activity in England, you need to register with the CQC. This will usually include, in the social care space, things like washing, dressing or administering medication to service users, for example in a home care setting.
The first step would be to establish whether you are looking at registering as an individual, partnership, or organisation (usually a limited company). Once you know this, you would need to start looking at who will be providing the service - a registered manager will be required within the organisation who has the necessary qualifications. The CQC are quite vague around qualifications they will accept, but as a general rule of thumb, nurses and healthcare workers with an NVQ level 5 (leadership and management) are preferable. Also qualified social workers and doctors. If you're unsure whether you have a staff member who holds the qualifications to act as manager, you can always call the CQC directly on 03000 616161.
Once you have an individual in place who can act as a registered manager, as well as a nominated individual (a person appointed to oversee the management of the service), you will need to get DBS checks completed. The applicant/s will need CQC countersigned DBS checks. These will averagely take around two weeks to come through, and can take longer, so it's worth getting these arranged as early as possible in the process. If the applicant has an enhanced DBS check that is dated within the last 12 months, this will also suffice (the original copy needs to be sent to the CQC after applying).
When the DBS checks are back successfully, you would want to start the Statement of Purpose, the four part template for this can be downloaded from the CQC website, it will outline the basic company details as well as the aims and objectives of the company and details of the registered manager.
Starting a domiciliary care company will require services to provide a business plan, which needs to include at a minimum; an executive summary, company information, evidence of research that's been conducted, details of the management structure and a two year financial plan. It will also be worth at this stage researching what competitors in the area are charging. This can be a difficult document to complete, but at Astoria Care Consultancy we put this document together for you as part of your full CQC registration package. Click here to find out more.
The next two documents that need to be completed are the application forms; the provider and manager application forms. They will require various bits of information, some quite basic, such as location details and applicants contact details, but also some more in depth, such as how you will ensure that the service meets the CQC Key Lines of Enquiry, and detail of the managers experience/ qualifications and employment history.
If you are providing personal care, there is an extra form to be completed called the 'additional form for providers of personal care', which asks for extra information on what fitness and employment checks have been completed as well as information around the insurance provisions for the proposed service.
The above documents would need to be submitted to the CQC, along with further supporting policies (as a home care company they will ask for a medications policy, infection control policy, safeguarding policy as well as a governance document and management policy). You also need to submit a financial viability statement signed by an accountant or financial professional, that affirms that your service has sufficient funds in place to operate.
This list is by no means exhaustive, as the CQC will ask for more documents as evidence once the applications have been submitted, but after this evidence has been gathered the registered manager will be invited to an interview roughly 10 weeks after submission of your documents, at which point the CQC will assess the suitability of the applicant. A notification will be received roughly 10 days after this interview is completed.
Sounds complicated?! That's why Astoria Care Consultancy exist, to use our expertise to do it all for you! You can contact us on 0203 576 1838 or click here to get in touch!
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