COmplianCe
More guidance on CQC at:
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
David Finney
gives his guide to
understanding the
next phase of CQC Inspection
In search of
excellence
he Care Quality Commission (CQC) has
begun a new phase of inspections, where
the legal authority to award ratings to
providers of substance misuse treatment
services will come into effect. Also, some of the
lessons learned will begin to impact upon the
knowledge bank which inspectors are accumulating.
These ratings, once awarded, have to be published
and displayed, according to the regulations – so there
will be no hiding place if your service is failing in any
way. Commissioners and people who wish to use your
service will definitely be able to find out how you
have fared.
Most providers honestly believe that their service is
a good one, but I believe that many are providing an
outstanding service – they just don’t realise this or
give it that name. The question is, can you convince
CQC that a service is good, or even outstanding?
First of all, ensure that all the basics are in place.
There is no point in trying to highlight some excellent
practice if matters such as health and safety, staff
training and supervision, medication administration,
quality assurance, governance arrangements etc are
not being well run.
Secondly, look to the NICE guidance which is
T
In brief, the ratings that could
be awarded are:
Outstanding
This is where a service is seen to go the extra mile,
providing something above and beyond the usual
standard of service.
gOOd
This is the expected outcome, where everything
about the service works OK.
RequiRes impROvement
This means that some elements of the service are
below standard.
inadequate
This means there are many failings.
14 | drinkanddrugsnews | September 2018
relevant. This will be a secondary document that CQC
will refer to when assessing practice. This is especially
important for detoxification services.
Thirdly, examine the CQC rating characteristics
listed in their methodology, (otherwise known as the
Key Lines of Enquiry). When you write the pre-
inspection material required from you by CQC, directly
refer to their own criteria. This is a chance to shine and
highlight what is outstanding about your service.
Fourthly, look at other CQC inspection reports to
see what has already been identified as good practice
and ask whether CQC would find that in your service
or not. If not, is there any way that it could become
part of your practice?
Meanwhile, these are some of the areas that may
demonstrate good practice:
UNDERSTANDING RISK
CQC criteria are that risks are proactively anticipated
and that service users are actively involved in
managing their risks. Good recovery involves people
building and owning their resilience to maintain
sobriety or whatever goals they have chosen. To do
this, an awareness of risk and an ability to personally
own the strategies to overcome their risk factors are
vitally important and could be demonstrated through
documents as well as conversation with service users.
DEVELOPING STAFF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
CQC criteria involve the continuing development of
staff skills, competence and knowledge alongside
proactively supporting staff to acquire new skills, use
transferable skills and share best practice.