CQC has today released data on three of its four regions (Southern, Northern and Central) in relation to inspections of adult social care. The headline data follows:
South
64 Inspections
33 Good (52%)
28 Requires Improvement (44%)
3 Inadequate (5%)
Central
75 Inspections
2 Outstanding (3%)
42 Good (56%)
28 Requires Improvement (37%)
3 Inadequate (4%)
Northern
55 Inspections
34 Good (62%)
15 Requires Improvement (27%)
6 Inadequate (11%)
Whilst such data is of course welcomed to be digested by the public in and of themselves the data doesn’t really assist with creating an accurate picture of the care in the regions quoted. Not just because of the time that will have lapsed in the case of a number of these inspections and the reports only serving to provide a picture of the care in place on those days; but this data does well to remind us of the perils of looking at aggregated data devoid of context.
If however we are to take the data purely as a reflection of the inspections published in the last week, which indeed they are, the data makes for quite difficult reading. Broadly speaking almost half of all of the providers inspected were failing to meet the required standards to a ‘Good’ level. It remains to be seen whether this points to care provider failings or an overly ambitious inspection regime implemented by CQC.
