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In the UK, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) recently made major changes to its assessment system. These changes have brought inspections and evaluations of care providers up to date in a big way. The goal of these changes is to improve the quality of care and use a method that is both all-encompassing and specific to each care situation. Registered Managers and care teams need to know about these changes to make sure they keep providing excellent care and keeping their good CQC ratings.
Why are there changes to the inspection framework?
As expected, the pandemic stopped in-person inspections, which caused a big mess and made it clear that there needs to be another way to check on services. A lot of care providers were given scores that didn’t accurately show how well they did their job.
In response, the CQC has changed how it does things to better deal with how the health and social care sector is changing. It now uses fewer in-person inspections and streamlines its assessment methods.
Leading with a person-centred approach to assessments
The CQC’s main goal in changing how they govern is to make care better for everyone. When it comes to getting care, they want to make rules that are “driven by people’s needs and experiences.”
The CQC wants to take a more people-centred method going forward. They are working with partners, service providers, and the public to make a new strategy.
People who use care providers’ services or are thinking about them need to be able to use and benefit from how they are evaluated. Giving an accurate and up-to-date rating of services in simple words (rather than long reports) is part of this.
There will also be a focus on making a better culture of learning and safety, improving care quality where it’s needed most, and filling in healthcare gaps.
What’s staying the same?
The CQC has changed how it does reviews, but the basic areas of evaluation have stayed the same. Safety, Effectiveness, Responsiveness, Caring, and Well-led are the five key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) that are still used to judge services. The five KLOEs won’t change, but the CQC will change how they judge your service based on them.
The CQC will still rate your service as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate, but the way they decide which rating to give you will be changing.
New single assessment framework
The CQC’s new single assessment framework is designed to simplify and better reflect modern care delivery. This framework revolves around a unified set of expectations that clearly outline what amounts to high-quality care across various settings.
Easy-to-understand quality statements
The single framework for evaluation will be built on several quality statements. Each of these quality statements is linked to an important question and the rules that apply to it. The “we” lines in the quality statements show how much you care about safety, effectiveness, responsiveness, compassion, and good leadership. Care workers will be judged on how well they follow these statements.
There were over 330 prompts that were tied to KLOEs, but now there are only 34 quality statements. This makes it easier for regulators and providers to do their jobs. You should be able to easily understand what good care is and what the CQC wants from you from the quality statements.
Newly defined evidence categories
Up until now, care services were inspected in person, and the dates were set based on the previous grade and the CQC’s risk estimate. The CQC will now keep an eye on services by doing regular reviews, in-person inspections, and gathering proof. These will be split into six different groups:
- People’s Experience with Health and Care Services
- Feedback from employees and leaders
- Feedback from Partners
- Observation Processes
- Outcomes
Based on the quality statement it is looking at, the CQC will say what types of proof it will look at. The amount of different types of proof and sources needed will depend on the service.
New scoring and calculation framework
The CQC has set up a dynamic scoring system where groups of evidence linked to quality statements are given a score from 1 to 4. This method makes it easier to see where a service is falling short and what needs to be done to fix it. The total numbers from these quality statements add up to a rating of the service as a whole.
Preparing for the new framework
Services should start getting ready for the new system early on if they want to stay ahead. This means staying up to date on the latest CQC news, getting teams involved in the new process, learning the updated quality statements, improving the ways evidence is gathered, and actively seeking and acting on feedback for a person-centred care approach. Our Registered Managers Support Facebook Group, which has over 8,000 people who offer support and advice every day, is a great place to keep up with CQC news.
How we can help
For those seeking focused, targeted learning, Access Skills offers short courses in management CPD. These courses are ideal for care managers and leaders who want to update their skills or gain new knowledge in specific areas. Topics range from effective communication and team leadership to understanding legal and regulatory aspects of care management. The CPD courses are designed to be concise yet comprehensive, providing valuable learning that can be immediately applied in the workplace.
Access Skills has short CPD courses in management for people who want to learn in a focused way. Care managers and leaders who want to improve their skills or learn more about certain topics should take these classes. The subjects covered include everything from how to communicate and lead a team well to knowing the laws and rules that govern care management. The CPD classes are meant to be short but thorough, giving people useful information that they can use right away at work.
