CQC and the New Assessment Framework
The new CQC assessment framework will likely be implemented in Autumn 2023, and it’s time to start preparing!
CQC will develop new guidance for providers, and we expect they will provide at least 2-3 months’ notice of implementation.
In the meantime, we have developed this handy guide to get you going.
A quick reminder of what is and isn’t changing:
The 5 Key Questions: (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-Led)
These are not changing and will remain as the way CQC make judgements about the quality and safety of services, both at the individual key question level and for the overall service rating.
The Ratings have not changed, so services will continue to receive a key question rating and an overall rating of Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good or Outstanding.
KLOEs
KLOEs are going and will be replaced by 34 Quality Statements (QS). CQC has developed these to explicitly show what is needed to deliver high-quality person-centred care and reduce the confusion and duplication in the KLOEs.
CQC describe the QS as ‘We’ Statements’. By writing them from the provider’s perspective, CQC state these are the commitments they expect providers to ‘live up to’.
CQC say that providers who meet the Quality Statements will deliver services at the ‘Good’ level. Therefore, these are the minimum you need to comply with the Fundamental Standards and Regulations. You can learn more about the key questions and the new quality statements here.
Information Gathering
How CQC will gather information to inform their judgements about services is a major change for both CQC and for providers. The existing system of gathering information on inspection will dramatically change.
Inspection, or as CQC now call it ‘on-site assessment’, will remain one method of gathering information, rather than (as currently), their primary way of collecting evidence.
CQC have identified what they will gather evidence about in their new evidence categories.
These are:
- People’s experience of health and care services
- Feedback from staff and leaders
- Feedback from partners
- Observation
- Processes
- Outcomes
Using these evidence categories, CQC will take a more flexible approach to assess the quality and safety of your service on a rolling cycle of assessment, probably over 24 months.
Depending on the evidence CQC collects, more frequent, focused assessments may result in changes to your rating (both up and down). CQC will assess different QS at different times and in different ways, and each assessment activity will lead to a ‘score’.
Duffy & Shaw have partnered with Access Health and Social Care to develop a dedicated CQC Scoring Guide providing a clear breakdown of the new scoring system’s ‘What’, ‘How’ and ‘When’.
The new CQC provider portal will become the main way you communicate with CQC, submit notifications, provide evidence, challenge factual accuracy and make changes to registration.
You can use the portal to see how CQC have made judgements about your service and how they have determined your score.
Interestingly, CQC says that providers will be able to share information that helps CQC to form an up-to-date view of the quality and safety of your service. This will be a new mechanism for providers to send evidence of compliance independently. It may be particularly useful for services currently rated as Requires Improvement for demonstrating compliance and speeding up rating changes.
We suggest all providers start preparing for the changes now!
Top 10 Preparation Tips
- Download the CQC update articles developed by Access Health and Social Care in partnership with Duffy & Shaw Consultancy.
- Keep abreast of CQC announcements via the CQC adult social care bulletins, their latest news, CQC – YouTube and CQC – CitizenLab.
- Review the new quality statements (QS) against your existing quality assurance/audits, systems of work, etc., to identify gaps between what you do currently and what you must adapt or add to ensure your compliance with the quality statements.
- Use Co-production to help you rectify gaps in your current systems and practice. You can find out more about co-production at SCIE.
- Review your current policies and procedures and agree on how to align them with the new quality statements and the six evidence categories, especially where policies may not yet exist e.g. Environmental Sustainability.
- Check assessment, care planning/reviews and care records to ensure they fully show your compliance with the HSCA Regulations and the new CQC quality statements.
- Communicate with your teams – share information about the new CQC assessment framework, the QS and what the changes mean for your service. Plan discussion and co-production opportunities.
- Reassure staff that much of what CQC will ask will feel very familiar; it’s still about high-quality, safe, person-centred care. There are differences, though, in how CQC will gather evidence and in the new commitments (QS) they expect of providers.
- Review your engagement systems: As CQC have an ever-increasing interest in how you seek feedback and how you continuously improve your service and people’s experiences. Consider:
- How frequently do you seek and obtain feedback
- What you ask
- What feedback tells you?
- Are you using feedback consistently to improve your service, and
- How do you know improvement actions have been done, and what difference have they made?
- Learn more about the new ways of working, how to maintain your compliance with CQC, and how to evidence your focus on the individual at the Duffy & Shaw Consultancy Webinar.
Need further help? Book a free 30-minute consultation; we can help you consider your issues and tell you more about our services.