Demonstrating quality to
your future customers
Colin Angel, Policy Director
Why is quality a top
agenda item?
NHS and hospitals:




Winterbourne View and
Morecambe Bay
Francis Report into
Mid Staffordshire
Target-driven culture and
failure to act on NHS
mortality data
Social care:




Dignity and nutrition
reports
Meeting needs of people
with dementia
EHRC report on homecare
CQC homecare inspection
report
Whistleblowing and use of
gagging clauses
@colintwangel
Priority issues in homecare
CQC Themed Inspection Report
Missed / late visits
Careworker continuity
• Consider electronic
monitoring systems
• Inform users of
unplanned changes
• Resist “call cramming”
• Training for coordinators
Quality monitoring
Staff training
• Need for QA Systems
• Performance review
• Record and act on
feedback from users
• Training & development
plans
@colintwangel
Representing the sector:
CQC Themed Inspections, 13 Feb 2013
@colintwangel
“Caring for our future”
Care and Support White Paper 2013
Government committed to:



A single portal for health and care
(NHS Choices)
Access to clear information about the quality
of individual providers
Work with organisations to develop
comparison and feedback websites
@colintwangel
Provider Profiles on
NHS Choices

Provides a free directory listing:
 NHS Choices receives >19 million visits / month

No additional charges to enhance profile:
 A text description of the service
 Images and videos; biographies of key staff
 Types of services offered

Profiles will be extended to offer:
 User reviews from 3rd party websites
 “Transparency measures” reported by providers
 Membership of organisations and quality schemes
@colintwangel
Third-party ‘review’
websites

Plethora of sites developed/underway
 Creation of NHS Choices may thin the field

Some review sites have alienated providers
 Lack of robust moderation in user comments
 Fee-paying basis for enhanced listings


Regard negative comments as a chance to
improve
Create a positive impression through your
response, where you have the ability to do so
@colintwangel
New ‘transparency’
measures for social care

Initially 5/6 numeric indicators for
homecare and residential services
 All measures are stated as positive
ie. 100% score is “high”

Will be self-reported by the provider
 Skills for Care’s NMDS can populate two of the measures

Participation is optional
 But not participating may create a negative impression

Further indicators to be developed over time
 Shared Lives and disability services under developemnt
@colintwangel
What the transparency
measures cover
Homecare
Residential

Staff stability

Staff stability

Staff qualifications

Staff qualifications

Resolving complaints

Resolving complaints


Scheduled visits
successfully
undertaken
Scheduled visits
taking place on time



Medicines
management
Pressure care
management
Falls management
@colintwangel
Update your profile on
NHS Choices

Find out more from NHS Choices:
 www.nhs.uk

Request editing access, by e-mailing:
 thechoicesteam@nhschoices.nhs.uk

Write your content carefully:
 Your audience are future customers
(tell them what they need to know)
 Use every-day language; avoid unrealistic claims
 Proof-read text; use interesting, high-quality images
@colintwangel
Nuffield Quality Ratings
Review (Due March 2013)
All provider reps said:





Strong support for a
ratings system
UKHCA added:

Must concentrate on users’
experience
Must not add to existing
regulatory burden
Ideally, CQC should be the
awarding body
Needs to be designed with
providers
Must be suitable for people
who use/provide homecare


Must have a graduated
scale of quality


Unlike the scrapped CQC
“Excellence Award”
Not just “compliant” and
“excellent”
Little appetite for 3rd party
awarding bodies or
additional fees
@colintwangel
CQC’s Quality Survey?
(UKHCA’s recommendations to King’s Fund)

Broad support for the principle
 Especially in homecare where users are harder to reach




But: A one-size-fits-all survey won’t work
Must concentrate on user experience
(not just regulatory compliance)
Results should be available to providers
(Not just CQC)
Should allow comparison between self-funded
and state-funded services
@colintwangel
NICE Quality Standards

Intended to establish quality above
compliance required by regulation
 They are not another form of regulation

Standards to be published include
 Dementia and Looked-after Children (April 2013)
 Domiciliary care
 Mental wellbeing and medicines management

Time to start planning:
 How your businesses will use the Quality Standards
 How you tell customers about your plans
@colintwangel
Use of social media

Consider Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn

Great for latest information about social care

Create a ‘presence’ among your customers

Highlight successes in your services

Positive messages about care

Link to news items of interest your audience

Engage in conversations about quality
@colintwangel
Use your quality marks
in public




Display your quality marks on
your literature and website
Embed CQC’s “widget”
on your website
UKHCA’s members benefit from
our Code of Practice
Consider signing-up for TLAP’s
“Making It Real” programme
@colintwangel
Some “take-home”
messages


Openness and information high on
Government’s agenda
Social care expected to keep pace
with the NHS
 Resistance isn’t a long-term strategy

NHS Choices is an excellent (free) opportunity

Sign-up for the “Transparency Measures”

Look at opportunities to engage with
customers through social media
@colintwangel
How to contact me
Website:
www.ukhca.co.uk
E-mail:
colin.angel@ukhca.co.uk
Twitter:
@colintwangel
Telephone:
020 8661 8152
@colintwangel