CARE QUALITY COMMISSION

Performance judgements for adult social services (3rd December 2009)
The Care Quality Commission has praised improvements in adult social care but called for a renewed effort to eliminate poor quality services.
The main findings are:

• 95% of local authorities are performing either excellently or well in their commissioning of adult social care (compared to 87% in the previous year).
• One quarter of councils are rated only adequate in terms of giving people choice and control over their care.
• A third of councils must do more to care for people with dignity and respect.
• 77% of care homes, home care agencies, nursing agencies and shared lives schemes are rated excellent or good (compared to 69% in 2008).
• Around 400 regulated adult social care services are rated as poor and 3,500 as adequate.
• In care homes for older people, a fifth fail to meet the standard on social contact and activities.

Reports

Guidance on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety (8th December 2009)
The Care Quality Commission is today launching guidance for all health and adult social care providers on meeting new essential standards of quality and safety that will apply across the care sector.

Providers must show they are meeting essential standards as part of a new registration system which focuses on people rather than policies, on outcomes rather than systems.
Guidance

Oneplace for an independent overview of local public services (9th December 2009)
A new website for Comprehensive Area Assessment has been launched. Oneplace is for those who pay for local services, those who provide them and those who use them.
Resource