The announcement of the new CQC Local Authority assurance process has been the catalyst of nervous times for many Directors of Adult Social Care, especially as teams frantically worked over the summer to compile banks of evidence, complete self-assessments and participate in peer reviews which we know to have been invaluable for many in their preparatory work.
Since they began back in April, the whole sector has been keenly awaiting the outcomes of the assessment pilots which the CQC implemented to ensure that their approach is as meaningful and effective as possible.
The questions on everyone’s lips have been “what will the process look and feel like in practice?” “How resource intensive will it be?” “What specifically will the CQC be looking for?” “What do the ratings actually mean for us?”
At this year’s NCASC conference, it was great to hear directly from those involved in the assessment pilots, with wider insight and recommendations made by the Carers Trust in relation to meaningful co-production in the process to ensure that the voices and experiences of people are at the very heart of the process. People are, after all, the very reason why we do what we do – and should be in the driving seat in relation to how care and support is designed and delivered.
In this post, we bring together the stories and experiences of those participating in assessment pilots and those of our clients we are supporting directly as our 5 top tips for assurance readiness.
- Use the assessment process as an opportunity – It has been a significantly long time since the adult social care sector has been explored in such depth. With sector challenges as pressing as they are, a strong local and national narrative can present key opportunity to highlight and promote good practice and strength, and can also present key opportunity to highlight what the sector as a whole needs by way of support to implement and sustain meaningful transformation.
- Honesty is the best policy; be authentic and open to demonstrating deep self-awareness – The assurance process should present a unique learning opportunity for organisations and their partners. Understand together with your partners where your areas for development and improvement are, and own these. Got a plan? Excellent. Got more than one? All the better, but you need to ensure that all your improvement activity aligns, with a strong golden thread running from corporate objectives right through to individual service improvement plans.
- Data is like garbage – you better know what you’re going to do with it before you collect it! – I think we can all agree with Mark Twain, here. There will no doubt be temptation to pull together everything you can possibly think of as having relevance to thematic evidence when building up your evidence. Take time together as teams to think through the key messages you want to present as an organisation, and spend focused time here. In collating this evidence, ask yourselves how this activity can become business as usual moving forward, and take the opportunity this presents to create immediate efficiency in the day to day.
- We’re all in this together – Corporate interest and involvement, and involvement of Elected Members, is critical to the best possible preparation, and critical to ensuring that ASC teams have the organisational support they need to make and embed meaningful change once ratings are received. Talk to your colleagues in children’s services and welcome their experiences and advice. Talk meaningfully and inclusively to those you support, their families and carers, and your provider markets to gain their views. Everyone is an equal partner and CQC assurance should be everybody’s business.
- Celebrate success – this is a marathon, and not a sprint. A lot of careful planning and preparation is required, with energy in abundance needed every step of the way. It will no doubt be challenging physically and emotionally, but along the way you will uncover no end of strengths and successes that you need to ensure you capture, recognise and celebrate at the end – no matter the outcome.
We do hope that this article provides helpful insight and advice from direct experience, and that it helps also to bust a few myths and anxieties that may have been building up inside your organisation.
The key message we can all take away from pilot sites – with good planning and collaboration across teams and partners, it wasn’t that bad, after all. And what an opportunity this actually presents if we embrace it together as a sector.
To find out more about how Peopletoo can help you in your preparations, read our CQC Readiness blog or contact Rosie Thomas-Easton Service Director for this area rosie.thomas-easton@peopletoo.co.uk.