Adult social care inspection
From April 2023, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will begin inspecting local authority adult social care services.
The CQC is the official inspector of adult social care services. They’re assessing the quality of care services and whether they are improving outcomes for people and reducing inequalities in their access to care. They also assess people’s experiences and outcomes from care.
This means looking at how our services are working together, as well as how our systems are performing overall.
When is Lewisham’s next CQC Local Area ASC Inspection?
The inspections will start in England in April. We won’t know when Lewisham’s inspection will start until the CQC tell us.
How will it affect me or the person I care for?
The CQC encourages people who use our care services, and organisations who represent them or act on their behalf, to share their experiences at any time.
This means that that may ask you to complete a survey or interview. They might also ask for feedback other ways, for example through representative groups.
The CQC will contact you directly if they would like your feedback. You don’t have to take part if you don’t want to. Everything you tell them is anonymous. If you do take part, it won’t affect the care you or the person you care for receive.
What will the inspectors be looking for?
The CQC assessments will focus on four areas or themes:
- how we work with people
- how we provide support
- how we ensure safety within the system
- leadership
The CQC assessment will focus on what matters to people who use local health and social care services and their families. They’ll be looking for evidence that we’re:
- setting out clearly what people should expect a good service to look like
- placing people’s experiences of care at the heart of our judgements
- ensuring that gathering and responding to feedback is central to providers, local authorities and integrated care systems
What happens after the inspection?
When the CQC have gathered enough required evidence across the quality statements, they will start to publish assessment reports for local authorities. They’ll be published on the CQC’s website.
The reports will include a short summary of the key features of the local authority and will focus on people’s experiences of care. It will also include their findings on areas that require improvement, areas of strength and the overall trajectory of the service.
We will study the report carefully and produce an action plan to address any issues or areas of improvement raised.
The CQC will carry out engagement to clearly understand what different audiences need from our reports and this will influence their design.
More information
The following information can help families understand the legal duties related to ASC and the CQC Inspection process: