The need for Care Quality Assurance
If you do not get the basics right, your service will not launch successfully. If somehow you manage to launch for example by buying an existing service cracks will show as you go on. We encourage you to view your care business as preparing for a mission to space. You will need to consider aspects such as finance, your preparedness, health and safety, science, different professionals, contingency and experts among many other things. In the case, the mission its self will be seen as the success criteria for the care business. Good finances is key as without this you might not be able to provide basic aspects of your service such as payment of wages. It is illegal not to pay wages and could result in you being banned as a director. CQC will view this as a sign you are struggling and will not be able to run your organisation safely.
Getting Ready and CQC Compliance
You also need to be prepared and ready to start your care service. Do not engage CQC when you are not ready or prepared in particular when it comes to your knowledge, skills and capacity. The worst thing you can do is to demonstrate that your service has no hope of providing a safe service when you do not know the basics regarding safeguarding, mental capacity, your own polices and procedures. You need to fully ensure that health and safety issues are catered for such as carrying out risk assessments and ensuring care plans addressing needs are in place.
You will need to fully consider how you promote good welfare for the people who use your services and workers. There is no way you can provide a good service without basics such as gloves and training. Knowing the role and responsibilities of all professionals involved within your service and outside is paramount.
If you are a director, you can not just think you can simply delegate and shy away from your responsibilities in particular when it comes to aspects such as employment, health and safety. You can be fined or sent to prison for serious breaches. You need to have contingencies and continuity of service procedures in place when things do not go according to plan.
Working with you to implement quality assurance for your care business
Our care quality assurance service will enable you to audit your preparedness and ensure you are fully ready which will make it easy for you to demonstrate compliance of all 5 key lines of enquiry (KLOE) used by CQC to assess regulated activities.
The 5 key KLOE areas involve answering the following five questions:
1] Is your service safe? (protected from abuse and harm, Safeguarding and risk assessments etc)
2] Is your service effective? (this can be based on meeting needs, responding to changes in medication, being proactive, promoting best outcomes and quality of life)
3] Is your service caring? (this involves implementing, the care value base, respect, dignity, kindness, empathy etc)
4] Is your service responsive? (this focuses on the ability of the organisation being flexible and organised to meet the needs of people through service user involvement, responding to changing needs, complaints and feedback. This might involve providing specialist training or other innovative services.)
5] Is your service well led? (This focuses on the management, administration and organisation of the care business for example regarding recruitment, communication, training, supervision of staff, reporting to CQC and being transparent)
Our quality assurance service will enable you to audit every bit of your service from your paperwork, recruitment, customer service, reviews, risk assessments, capacity, capability, training and compliance. We can provide a critical friend service to audit your systems and test them against regulatory frameworks.
Caretips can also monitor and evaluate feedback provided to your service by clients, other professionals and workers. We can also provide an independent family liaison service for you which will help with building relations with your service users and family. This service will assist you to identify and address issues before they become a problem or a complaint. Our quality assurance services will assist you with service user involvement which in turn will aid you to be responsive.
