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May 2014
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no.215 • £4.75
The Number One magazine for the care sector
CQC consults on the way it rates services By Dominic Musgrave THE regulator is asking people who use and run health and adult social care services and the public at large for views on its plans for inspecting and rating care services. Over the past year the CQC has been developing a new approach to the way it works. The main elements of the new approach are larger, more specialist and expert inspection teams led by chief inspectors, greater involvement in inspections by members of the public with personal experience of services, better use of information to identify risks and plan inspections, and ratings for all health and adult social care services. The consultation is on the detailed guidance on how it will regulate, inspect and rate NHS acute hospitals, mental health services, community health services, GP practices, out of hours services, care homes; home care services; and hospice services. CQC is seeking views on a range of issues about the new approach including: I The proposals for a rating system. I CQC’s view of what a service looks like for any of the rating categories – outstanding, good, requires improvement, inadequate.
I The questions inspectors need to ask to determine if a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. I The core services we always look at when we are inspecting. I The methods we use to gather information about services from the public. I The sources of information we draw on to help assess risk and decide when and where to inspect – our ‘Intelligent monitoring’ tool. I The frequency of inspections. CQC chief executive David Behan said: “Over the past six months we set out proposals for different types of care services and we have been testing our new style inspections in hospitals, mental health and community health services and will be testing them in adult social care services and GP practices from this month. “The changes we are making are vital to ensuring that we are able to make sure that health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high quality care and encourage care services to improve. Throughout these changes, we will always be on the side of people who use services and it is important to us that we hear what people think of our plans.”
Student Charlotte secures new job
Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE helped to launch Worldwide Afternoon Tea Day, a key focal point of the recent Nutrition & Hydration Week. He was joined by representatives for the Week's three leading organisations – Andy Jones, HCA chair; Caroline Lecko, patient safety lead, NHS England and Derek Johnson, NACC Nutrition & Hydration Week lead.
A STUDENT from the Communication Specialist College Doncaster has secured a full-time job with a residential care home in her home town of Felixstowe. Charlotte Locke, aged 20, who is profoundly deaf, has been appointed as a junior care worker at Merryfields residential care home following a successful work placement. She said: “My job here involves writing personal care plans for our residents, looking after their medication needs and taking part in the regular entertainment activities.” Sue Barker, manager at Merryfields, added: “Charlotte is doing a fantastic job. She came to us on work experience arranged by the college and we could see what a dedicated worker she was. “We have never had a deaf employee before and worked closely with the college to ensure that Charlotte settled into her role and felt supported.”