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Care Quality Commission inspection

Preparing for Care Quality Commission inspection of Adult Social Care

The CQC assessment of local authorities was reintroduced as part of the Health and Care Act 2022, after a break of 10 years. CQC has the responsibility to assess how well local authorities are meeting their duties under part one of the Care Act.  

The CQC assessment is broken down into four themes with nine sub sections.

Theme 1: Working with people

  • Assessing needs
  • Supporting people to live healthier lives
  • Equity in experiences and outcomes

Theme 2: Providing support

  • Care provision, integration and continuity
  • Partnerships and communities

Theme 3: Ensuring safety

  • Safe systems, pathways and transitions
  • Safeguarding

Theme 4: Leadership

  • Governance, management and sustainability
  • Learning, improvement and innovation

As part of our preparations for an upcoming CQC assessment, there have been several activities undertaken:

  • Completion of a self-assessment describing areas of good practice and areas which need improving
  • Identification of 50 cases, of which CQC will randomly select eight to 10 to talk to about their experience of care and support provided.
  • Evidence gathering for the information return, requested by CQC.
  • Staff engagement sessions, sharing key information around the CQC assessment process, overview of key policies, reflection of good practice and open discussions in relation to what could be improved.
  • Mock inspections of teams, giving staff an idea of what to expect, also highlighting team strengths and areas of improvement.

Along with our internal preparations, in June 2024 we took part in the LGA peer review challenge

Areas of strength

  • Our new Section 75 agreement and our long-embedded integration of health and social care services.
  • The Partnership Boards also received praise and were described as very good.
  • Quality individualised care through the Multi-Disciplinary Team and people are kept safe and urgent issues responded to well.
  • Ambassadors were seen as a good example of giving local people a voice.
  • Case file audit – good practice around legal decision making, least restrictive practice and good person-centred practice.

Areas of improvement

  • More work to do in relation to carers - communication and expectation management and explaining how different services interact with each other.
  • Improve staff awareness of priorities plans and strategies.
  • Direct payments are below the England average, processes not well understood or embedded in teams.
  • It was recommended that we should develop our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work, and ensure its more visible across Council and Integrated Care Organisation (ICO).

With the areas of improvement and the recommendations given in the report an action plan was put into place, and work has commenced. The Peer Review Action Plan is reported on quarterly to the Adult Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Board and its current progress can be viewed here.

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