The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced that pilots for their new assessment process are due to take place later this summer at Birmingham and Solihull ICS and Dorset ICS, in addition to a separate review of data and evidence across all 42 ICSs to explore “whether systems are working together to support people to access the care, support and treatment they need when they need it.”
The new assessment framework focuses on gathering evidence in six key categories: people’s experience of health and care services, feedback from staff and leaders, feedback from partners, observation, processes, and outcomes. Case tracking, involving “retrospectively looking at the pathway of care for a small number of people”, will also be part of the evidence-gathering process.
CQC has stated that the new framework approach is intended “to make our judgements more transparent and consistent”.
A report of the findings will be provided, with any learnings will be incorporated into the CQC’s formal assessments, set to begin in 2024. Findings from the wider review of the 42 ICSs will be published in the CQC’s annual ‘State of Care’ report in autumn this year.
Back in May, we reported on the CQC’s webinar which focused on their new method of assessing ICSs, presented by Amanda Williams, interim director of integration, inequalities and improvement. In it, Amanda talked about the test and learn cycles for this new approach, which were tested at North East London ICS and South Yorkshire ICS. She discussed how the testing process helped CQC identify areas for learning and refinement, and highlighted the importance of placing “significant emphasis” on the wider determinants of health.
