QinetiQ, a FTSE250 company which provides technical support to customers in the global market, is introducing a new information system which will allow the CQC to interpret opinions expressed by service users, CQC assessors and inspectors about the performance of health and social care providers.
The system will automatically categorise and analyse feelings from the variety of comments about the performance of care homes, hospitals, dentists and from April 2013 GPs, which the CQC receive direct from service users and CQC staff.
The initial 18-month contract for the system follows a successful pilot phase undertaken last year. QinetiQ is applying the expertise and knowledge of military intelligence and security to provide a solution to the CQC.
The system is driven by two software engines and designed to process people’s views about the provider and how it is categorised into the CQC’s essential standards of quality and safety.
Dr Andrew Rankin, QinetiQ’s project director said “We have been working closely with the CQC for several years now and developed our understanding of the issues that they face. This has enabled us to apply our technical expertise to provide a solution that is unique to them”.
The new system will allow the CQC to evaluate vast quantities of documents and information, by feeding the knowledge and domain expertise of their staff into the system to help it ‘learn’ to assess information in the way their experts do. It offers a solution with development potential for the future, utilising new data sources as they become available.
