In the latest Care Home Management magazine podcast, host Steve Hemsley talks to Metro Rod managing director Steve Chambers about why drainage and plumbing are often overlooked elements of care home governance, risk management and CQC outcomes.

Chambers discusses how many care providers only think about drainage and plumbing when something goes wrong. However, failures can shut down kitchens, toilets, heating and hot water, directly impacting residents’ safety, dignity and infection control.

He urges preventative maintenance with best practice including:

• Asset mapping to understand where a care home’s drains, manholes and lines run
• Regular servicing and CCTV surveys of drains and grease traps, especially in kitchens producing high meal volumes
• Paying specific attention to older buildings with clay or cast iron pipes prone to scale, cracking and root ingress
• Routine checks and servicing of boilers and TMVs (thermostatic mixing valves) every six months to prevent scalding and maintain water pressure.

Chambers also explains why problems often appear at night and why care homes need a reliable primary and backup contractor, with genuine out-of-hours response.

On CQC performance, he links good ratings to trained staff who can spot early warning signs (smells, slow drains, refilling toilets), have documented crisis plans, and understand compliance with food waste and drainage regulations.

Listen to all our industry-leading podcasts here

Podcast sponsored by Hendrix Training. Providing actors to support care home corporate training role plays.

Support the show

Care Home Management is the UK's leading media brand for care home providers and managers.

Care Home Management’s series of Care Show London special podcasts continues with an interview with Nicole Ridgwell, partner at law firm Lester Aldridge and a specialist in health and social care law.

She explains how increased enforcement activity by CQC, including around inquests, means care homes require robust legal support.

Nicole outlines how care providers have been affected by the difficult rollout of CQC’s Single Assessment Framework which has encountered issues with the framework design and its practical application, leading to rollback and delays.

She provides important advice for care homes as the sector waits for new documents to be published.

Nicole talks about the significant rise in enforcement action around inquests and why it is therefore crucial care homes have robust and clearly presented records.

Listen to all of our industry-leading podcasts here.

Podcast hosted by Steve Hemsley.

Support the show

Care Home Management is the UK's leading media brand for care home providers and managers.

In another special Care Show London podcast, Care Home Management’s publishing editor Steve Hemsley talks to Person Centred Software’s programme director, Care Intelligence, Ashleigh Dueker.

They discuss how the care sector is moving from instinct-based decision making to taking more evidence-based choices thanks to better use of data and benchmarking.

Ashleigh explains how the company will deliver a keynote speech and provide demonstrations of its IQ:careintelligence software solution at Care Show London.

She talks about how by using benchmarking, care leaders can see how their homes compare with similar providers on care quality, staffing, operations, and outcomes, rather than relying on assumptions.

PCS’s platform aggregates billions of data points entered by carers and transforms the information into anonymised benchmarks and actionable insights across different areas. These include operational performance, compliance and care outcomes.

Listen to real-life examples and how one key aim of IQ is to enable preventative, predictive care.

Tune into all our industry-leading podcasts here.

Support the show

Care Home Management is the UK's leading media brand for care home providers and managers.