Source: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
Publication format: PDF (90 pages)
Date of publication: October 2014
Summary of driver: This is the fifth annual CQC report on the state of health and care services in England. It shows that shows there are many excellent health care services but the variation in quality in England is unacceptably wide.
Key features of driver:
- CQC’s tougher, people-centred, expert-led and more rigorous inspections are seeing some outstanding care and we have already rated many good services.
- The report also finds care that is inadequate or requires improvement. The variation in the quality of health and adult social care is unacceptably wide.
- The principle of keeping people safe from harm is fundamental. Too many providers have not got to grips with the basics of safety. Of the first NHS acute hospitals rated, eight out of 82 were rated inadequate for safety, and 57 were rated as requires improvement for safety. (It is important to bear in mind, though, that the early inspections of acute hospitals under the new CQC approach mostly focused on those that were deemed higher risk. This picture is not representative of acute hospitals across England.)
- Strong, effective leadership at all levels within an organisation is vital. Strong, effective leadership drives up quality and safety overall.
- There is a mounting financial challenge in health and adult social care. But this should not excuse inadequate care. Providers must learn from the outstanding examples of others who have the same resources.
- The CQC challenges providers and the care system to accept where there are problems and to use our inspections to drive up care quality.
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: Leadership is identified as a key theme in this report. Libraries are in a position to support the educational requirements of those healthcare professionals undertaking development to improve their leadership skills. Libraries are a knowledge hub; we can ensure that the best clinical and management knowledge is easily available to decision-makers in the organisation, in order to tackle the challenges identified in this report, particularly around quality of care and safety. Libraries are ideally placed to identify and disseminate best practice that can assist health care organisations in providing quality care with limited resources.
Date last updated: February 2015
Due for review: February 2016
Group member responsible: VT
Tagged: CQC, Leadership, Quality of care