Earlier this year we announced our intention to develop a cross-sector dementia strategy. In my last column I wrote about the ambition of the strategy and described some of the early conversations we’ve been having.
Our work continues and we’ve been having rich conversations with stakeholders across the health and social care sector. This is helping us to build a clear definition of what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to dementia care.
Capturing experiences
We’ve also been updating and adapting some of our tools, for example, SOFI. SOFI is our short observational framework for inspection tool. It’s used by CQC inspectors to capture the experiences of people who use services but who may not be able to express this for themselves.
We know it’s vital to clearly hear the voices and experiences of people living with dementia and those who care for them. One key element of the work we’re doing involves engaging with public stakeholders to make sure that any engagement we do is co-designed and effective.
I’ve been encouraged by the work we’ve done on this so far and am feeling confident that the ways we are planning to gather information from people will really help us to answer our central question of ‘How can CQC use its role to improve the experience of using health and social care services for people living with dementia and their carers?’
The work has helped us to identify the current state of dementia health and care from the perspective of those who are experiencing it. The team has worked closely with communities of people more likely to experience disadvantage or poorer health outcomes, or from communities whose cultural or language barriers significantly impact the ability of these groups to access dementia care. This helps us understand the current and pressing issues.
There are rapid and exciting developments in dementia research and treatment, and we have an opportunity to bring people, organisations and systems together to great benefit. I see the development of this dementia strategy over the next couple of years as a real opportunity to drive improvement across the whole health and social care sector.
Medicines management
Another area I’ve been focusing on recently is the challenges faced by adult social care providers in getting support for their medicines management. People who are supported by adult social care services often benefit from input from a range of healthcare professionals and providers, such as GPs, hospitals, pharmacies, councils and other providers. We all know that the safe and effective management of medicines is critical but that it can be challenging for care homes to get the support they need from the other agencies involved in a person’s care.
In February, we shared a survey with most of the adult social care providers in England. The survey has informed a study, the aims of which are to understand the support providers are receiving to ensure that medicines are managed safely, both from primary, secondary and other organisations such as ICBs and local authorities.
It also looks at where the gaps are in medicines support, and what impact those gaps are having on the quality of care delivered to people. Thank you to those of you who completed the survey – your insights have been hugely valuable.
We’ll be analysing the data closely and formulating a plan to support providers in the areas identified through this work. Areas like delegation of medicines administration tasks are particularly interesting – what can we do to support care home staff to access training to undertake delegated healthcare tasks and how would that free up capacity in systems?
It’s work like this that underlines for me the importance of working in partnership. Whether it’s working closely with the people using your service and those who care for them in terms of making sure that their individual care plans best suit them and their changing needs, or across systems and sectors to create a supportive web of care for entire populations, connected working is key.
What is your experience of partnership working within your organisation? Leave a comment on this article or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
Mary Cridge is Director of Adult Social Care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Email: [email protected] X: @CQCProf