The State of Care 2019/20 report has recently been published by CQC. The purpose of the report is to look at the trends, share examples of good and outstanding care, and highlight where care needs to improve.

Summary of the key strands from the State of Care report and what they cover:

• Quality of care before the pandemic
  • Quality overall before the pandemic
  • Care services needed to do more to join up
  • Adult social care remained very fragile
  • Some of the poorest quality services were struggling to make any improvement
  • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
• The impact of the coronavirus pandemic
  • The impact on people and staff
  • Infection prevention and control
  • The unequal impact of COVID-19
  • The impact of COVID-19 on DoLS
  • Innovation and the speed of change
• Collaboration between providers
  • How did care providers collaborate to keep people safe?
  • System-wide governance and leadership
  • Ensuring sufficient health and care skills where they were needed
  • The impact of digital solutions and technology
• Looking forward, the challenges and opportunities ahead
  • Tackling inequalities
  • Adult social care, Primary care, Acute hospitals, Mental health care
  • An uncertain future for Liberty Protection Safeguards
  • Support for improvement
  • Collaboration and system working

Although this report has received some criticism, Professor Martin Green, CEO of Care England said he felt the report was more a narrative of the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, as opposed to a reflection of what must change. He said, “The regulator must now reflect upon its own role and look to facilitate the delivery of safe, quality and sustainable Covid-19 proof care in the future.” We acknowledge these points, however, we welcome CQC’s continued spotlight on the most pressing issues within the sector at a time of particular concern.

Below are five key areas that we feel need to be addressed to see long term reform in the sector:

• A full overhaul of the way social care is planned and funded
• Investment in research and development into new models of social care delivery and the use of technology
• A properly costed national rate for care fees linked to a national career pathway and salary framework for care staff
• CQC to have much greater powers to oversee all commissioning practises
  Guaranteed equal partnership working through seats on Health and Well Being Boards, CCGs, and NHS

As a specialist, family-run recruitment business, we support organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend. Click here to see what our clients say about how we have supported them throughout the pandemic.

If you would like us to set up a video call to discuss how we can collaborate, please let us know.