We are pleased to publish our latest annual report and accounts today (Thursday 21 July), which sets out what we have achieved in 2015/16 and the further work that lies ahead to help people get the safe, high-quality and compassionate care they deserve.
2015/16 was a landmark year for us as it saw the conclusion of our three-year strategy, during which we developed and then rolled out a new regulatory approach across England. This involves in-depth inspections, which are intelligence-driven, led by experts and based on what matters most to people who use services: are they safe, caring, effective, responsive to their needs, and well-led.
This approach is has now become established across the country and already, we are seeing improvements in the quality of care that people receive.
Almost two-thirds of services and providers originally rated inadequate and re-inspected in 2015/16 were able to improve their rating. This shows that despite the challenges faced across the sectors, improvements are possible through effective leadership and a clear understanding of, and commitment to, quality.
Other highlights from 2015/16 include:
- Completing our full (‘comprehensive’) inspection programme of every acute NHS trust in England and making substantial progress in inspecting every primary medical and adult social care service in England by 31 March 2017. These inspections are providing a baseline understanding of quality that we have not had before.
- Improving our performance and productivity, such as our response times for safeguarding alerts, and meeting our recruitment targets for inspection staff.
- Launching our online registration system for providers to improve the speed and accuracy of this important process. Also, we completely restructured our registration teams as sector specialists so that they are more closely aligned to our inspection activities.
- Expanding our ‘Tell us about your care’ partnerships with voluntary organisations that represent and hear from people who use services the most.
While we are pleased with our progress, we recognise that there is more to be done. We will build on our achievements to date, while working more efficiently and within a radically changing health and care environment.
Work is underway to take this forward as part of our new, five-year strategy, which will see regulation becoming more targeted, responsive and collaborative, while improving our efficiency ensuring that inspections remain central to our assessments of quality.