How are we working with Hospice Services?

The new way that sets out how we will regulate and inspect England's hospices and hospice services in people’s homes from January 2015 has today (Thursday 30 October) been published in 'handbook' documents available on our website.

Over the past 18 months, we have worked closely with our national partners, providers, commissioners, and the public in order to develop an inspection model for hospice services that is person-centred and robust.

Specialist teams, including trained members of the public (called Experts by Experience), will inspect all hospice services by carrying out unannounced visits and looking at what matters most to those people and their families who use them – asking whether they are they safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led.

We will then rate these services as Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate so that people can have access to clear information to help make informed choices about care.

We have issued one handbook covering all of our regulation for all hospice services and another that publishes the questions (called ‘key lines of enquiry’) that our inspection teams will use to guide them on their visits, as well as descriptions of what care would look like for each of the ratings.

Andrea Sutcliffe, our Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said: “At the heart of what we do are the people using services, their families and carers – asking the questions that matter to them, listening to their views, taking action to protect them when necessary and providing them with clear and reliable information.

“I hope these handbooks will be used to better understand how we will regulate and inspect services, what we are looking for, the standards we expect to see and what action we will take if necessary.

“We want to make sure that people receive care that is safe, effective, high-quality and compassionate. Our ambition is to encourage service to improve so that they can be rated as good or outstanding.”

Follow us on Twitter @CareQualityComm using the hash tag #ratemycare.