CQC has been asked by the Secretaries of State for Health and for Communities and Local Government to undertake a programme of local system reviews of health and social care in 12 local authority areas.
These reviews, exercised under the Secretaries of State's Section 48 powers, will include a review of commissioning across the interface of health and social care and an assessment of the governance in place for the management of resources.
We will look specifically at how people move between health and social care, including delayed transfers of care, with a particular focus on people over 65 years old. The review will not include mental health services or specialist commissioning but, through case tracking, will look at the experiences of people living with dementia as they move through the system.
David Behan, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission, said: "People should be able to expect good, safe care when they need it, regardless of how this care is delivered. And yet we know there is wide variation in how health and social care systems work together, with some local systems working together effectively to ensure people get the right care, while others struggle to do so – these reviews will seek to examine why these levels of variation exist.
"Our intention is that the review findings will highlight what is working well and where there are opportunities for improving how the system works, enabling the sharing of good practice and identifying where additional support is needed to secure better outcomes for people using services."
The purpose of the reviews is to provide a bespoke response to support those areas facing the greatest challenges to secure improvement. On completion of the review our findings will be reported to each local authority area’s health and wellbeing board.
The 12 areas we have been asked to review are:
- Birmingham
- Bracknell Forest
- Coventry
- East Sussex
- Halton
- Hartlepool
- Manchester
- Oxfordshire
- Plymouth
- Stoke
- Trafford
- York
A further eight sites for review will be identified in the coming months and once all 20 reviews have been completed we will be publishing a national report of our key findings and recommendations.
Our intention is that the review findings will highlight what is working well and where there are opportunities for improving how the system works, enabling the sharing of good practice and identifying where additional support is needed to secure better outcomes for people using services.
Sir David Behan, Chief Executive of CQC