Source: Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Link to main document
Link to 2013/2014 State of Care Report

Publication format: PDF (120 pages)

Date of publication: October 2015

Summary of driver: This is the sixth annual CQC report on the state of health and care services in England. It highlights that despite the challenges of increased need and tough financial demands, inspections show that improvement is possible. It outlines the need to look to the best to understand what works and why.

Key features of driver:
Despite pressures, many services are managing to maintain or improve quality.

• 50% had improved.
• Fewer than 7% had deteriorated further.
• All of these re-inspections took place within a year of the original rating.

• However, some people are receiving care that’s unacceptable. Of the providers rated by the end of May 2015, 7% were inadequate.
• Quality is variable with large differences in quality of care between different services and providers.
• Sometimes quality varies according to who you are or what you need. For example people with mental health needs and long-term conditions and some ethnic minority groups are less likely to report good experiences of care.
• Safety is the biggest concern: of the services we’ve rated so far, 13% of hospitals, 10% of adult social care services and 6% of GP practices were inadequate for safety.

The following are critical to quality improvement:

• Engaged leaders building a shared ownership of quality and safety.
• Staff planning that goes beyond simple numbers.
• Working together to address cross-sector priorities

A summary and infographic of the report findings are also available.

Primary audience: All health and social care providers in England, members of the public and other stakeholders.

Impact on library policy/practice: Libraries are a knowledge hub providing services such as evidence summaries, literature searching and current awareness which can be linked to challenges faced by the specific organisation. We can ensure that the best clinical and management knowledge is available to decision-makers in the organisation, in order to tackle the challenges identified in this report. Libraries are ideally placed to identify and disseminate best practice to assist health care organisations in providing quality care with limited resources.

Date last updated: December 2015
Due for review: October 2016
Group member responsible: TP

Tagged: Care Quality Commission, CQC, Patient safety, Quality of care