So far, under CQC’s new regime of inspection for adult social care services, of the 30 reports published, 21 have been judged as Good, six as Requires Improvement and three as Inadequate.
CQC’s new approach was rolled out formally earlier this month and it includes rating care homes and other adult social care services for the first time on a four point scale of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate to help the public make informed choices about their care.
Andrea Sutcliffe said: “Our new approach to inspecting and rating adult social care services is intended to shine a spotlight on care, to celebrate the good and tackle the bad. I am pleased that our first ratings do just that and are highlighting the good services we know exist. This is of course a very early picture with the publication of our first 31 reports. There is a long way to go before we inspect and rate every one of the 25,000 adult social care services across England by March 2016.”
Ms Sutcliffe said that it is heartening to see, “that of these first reports, 21 have been rated as good. I pay tribute to the managers and staff whose sheer hard work and determination is obviously making a difference for the people using these services. I am determined that we see improvement in underperforming services to ensure every person has the same opportunity to receive care that is safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led. In that way we can realise our ambition for adult social care to provide services we would be happy for any of our loved ones to use.”
Examples of Good care that CQC look for during an inspection are as follows:
- Safe: A good service will protect people from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm and potential abuse.
- Caring: In a good service, people will receive care and support from staff who know and understand their history, likes, preferences, needs hopes and goals.
- Effective: A good service will make sure that the needs of people are met consistently by staff who have the right competencies, knowledge, qualifications, skills, experience, attitudes and behaviours.
- Responsive: In a good service, people will receive consistent, personalised care, treatment and support and they will be involved in identifying their needs, choices, preferences and how they are met
- Well-led: A good service will have a clear vision and set of values that includes honesty, involvement, compassion, dignity, independence, respect, equality and safety which will be understood and consistently put into practice.
