During the pandemic the Care Quality Commission (CQC) moved away from routine inspections and sought alternative ways monitor Care businesses, some of which are being carried forward into the new inspection framework alongside other changes.
The CQC is aiming for a more dynamic and data-led strategy that puts people’s experiences at the forefront of regulation and the heart of the assessment framework.
As a care provider, it’s important that businesses understand the new inspection regime and how key changes the way CQC regulate and inspect your business and how this affects the way you work and the skills you need to adopt to support you throughout your inspection to demonstrate you offer a well-led, safe, effective, caring are responsive service to your customers, their loved-ones, your staff and social care professionals.
The new CSQ model
To help care providers familiarise themselves with the new framework, the CQC changes will be implemented in phases to ensure they capture evidence that they provide person-centred care through their service.
In the past, CQC collected the evidence they required during their inspection visits, but there will be more emphasis on providing data prior to their inspection and during their formal visit.
The 5 key questions the CQC inspectors will assess you against and expect to see evidence of includes:
- People’s experience of health and care services
- Feedback from staff and leaders
- Feedback from partners
- Observation
- Processes
- Outcomes.
Whilst the onsite inspections will remain a crucial element of CQC assessment, the new regulatory model states that the CQC will carry out a rolling assessment of quality and risk. This means that inspections will not be the only way that CQC assess your service. They will become a part of a broader style of ongoing assessment that will include:
- Different ways of understanding and assessing the experiences of people
- Hearing from staff and leaders
- Direct monitoring activities
- Evidence you submit to CQC
- Surveys and focus groups.
Each area of the new style of assessment methodology could lead to a change in your rating. The current ambition of the CQC is to update the information they hold on a service across all of the required quality statements and evidence categories within 2 years.
This will put greater importance of capturing and retaining evidence for CQC to consider as part of their inspection than ever before and Care Providers will need to ensure they have the awareness and skills available to the help them record the data required at hand at all times.
Every business will want to demonstrate they offer exceptional standards of care, not simply to showcase their provision to new and existing customers, but also to showcase they are an exemplary service in their business arena.
So, make sure you’re CQC ready and ready to “take the call” that your business has been selected for an inspection to enable you to provide the evidence you require for the inspectors to gain an insight into your business from day one.
Whether you are a new start-up or an existing Care provider we are able to support your businesses needs through tailored care insurance solutions. Please contact us on 01778 303111 or send your enquiry using the Contact Us form below.
