CQC State of Care inspections yield some positive results

Results from the Care Quality Commission assessments suggests that 90% of the 1,336 dental practices inspected are offering “safe, effective, caring and responsive care and treatment” and patients are receiving sound advice on how to improve their oral health. There were however some issues with access to services and “disjointed” care, depending on geography, because local health and care services were not working together effectively, leading to increased demand for “acute services” and hospital admissions. In addition, demand for adult social care is on the rise, but it is estimated that 1.4 million older people will not be able to access the care they need.
The State of Care assessment stated: “Through inspection, we have found examples of responsive notable practice in dentistry where practice teams have used innovative ways to target children and prevent dental disease. Dentists have raised concerns with CQC that there may be issues about the oral health of people in residential care homes. We intend to carry out a review of this and expect to be able to report on this next year.”
Peter Wyman, chair of the CQC, said: “The fact that quality has been broadly maintained in the face of enormous challenges on demand, funding and workforce is a huge testament to staff and leaders, but we cannot ignore the fact that not everyone is getting good care. Safety remains a real concern: although there have been some small improvements. Forty per cent of NHS acute hospitals’ core services and 37% of NHS mental health trusts’ core services were rated as requires improvement on safety. All providers are facing similar challenges. In acute hospitals, the pressure on emergency departments is especially visible. But while many are responding in a way that maintains quality of care, some are not. Two years ago, we warned that social care was approaching a tipping point. This tipping point has already been reached for some people who are not getting the good quality care they need. It is increasingly clear without a long-term funding settlement for adult social care, the additional funding for the NHS will be spent treating people with complex conditions for whom care in the community would have been more effective both in terms of their health and wellbeing and use of public money.”
Ian Trenholm, CEO of the CQC, said: “This year’s State of Care highlights both the resilience and the potential vulnerability of a health and care system where most people receive good care, but where access to this care increasingly depends on where in the country you live and how well your local health system works together. This is not so much a postcode lottery as an integration lottery. We’ve seen some examples of providers working together to give people joined-up care based on their individual needs. But until this happens everywhere, individual providers will increasingly struggle to cope with demand – with quality suffering as a result. There need to be incentives that bring local health and care leaders together, rather than drive them apart. That might mean changes to funding that allow health and social care services to pool resources. For example, to invest in technology that improves quality of care. Like the digital monitoring devices for patients’ clinical observations that have saved thousands of nursing hours. The e-prescribing in oncology that’s helping people directly. And the electronic immediate discharge summaries that have improved patient safety.”