Providers of services for people with learning disabilities really need to be aware of and working to ‘Registering the right support’. Are you aware of the changes to the KLOE and additional KLOES?
» These FAQs have been recently uploaded to the CQC website re: Reg 19
» FAQ’s on medicines
Is your CQC registration information up to date?
It is a providers’ responsibility to ensure their registration information held with CQC is correct. This information is used to calculate fees, so it’s important that it’s right. CQC would encourage you to check your entry on the register.
If you need to make changes, you can find more information on CQC’s website, or speak to your relationship owner.
Learning from safety incidents
When something goes wrong in health and social care, the people affected and staff often say, “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
These ‘Learning from safety incidents’ resources are designed to do just that. Each one briefly describes a critical issue – what happened, what CQC and the provider have done about it, and the steps you can take to avoid it happening in your service.
CQC: Information Governance Policies
Having timely access to information and using valid, robust, and relevant data securely underpins both the provision of good quality care and the efficiency and effectiveness of all organisations involved in the health and social care system in England. This policy statement sets out how CQC carries out its regulatory role with regard to the secure use of information by health and adult social care providers, and how we securely handle data ourselves in line with expected standards.
» View the CQC Policy Statement here
» Further information and guidance
An update on CQC’s regulatory approach
CQC have published an update on the way they regulate during the pandemic.
At the start of the pandemic CQC paused routine inspections and focused their activity only in response to risk. This was the right thing to do and CQC have kept this decision under review.
As we are now entering a period of increased pressure on health and social care service, CQC want to be clear that for the time being they will continue to only undertake inspection activity in response to a serious risk of harm or where it supports the system’s response to the pandemic.
CQC will continue to act to keep people safe from harm, protecting their human rights while supporting providers to focus on delivering care, including the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
CQC: How to get the most out of inspection
There are key themes which run through each stage of an inspection for providers, inspectors and for both parties. Communication and consistency are vital to an inspection running smoothly and being valuable to all parties. This document will help you to understand what a good inspection should look and feel like.
» View the CQC How to get the most out of inspection document here
Sending a notification
The CQC are finding a big variance in the quality of information given in notifications. Consequently, due to the limited details, inspectors are having to go back to providers and request further details which is insufficient use of time for both inspectors and providers.
When sending a notification please ensure you provide as much information as possible and are using either the portal or the up-to-date notification forms (can be found of the CQC website). If you have saved old versions these will not be up to date and cannot be used.
The new forms prompt the details required; an example can be seen below:
Other relevant information
N.B: Refer to any people using unique identifiers or codes; do not provide names.
Please provide complete details of the incident and ensure you consider and include:
-Was the person known to be at risk of this type of incident/injury?
-What was in place to mitigate the risk i.e.
- equipment to minimise the risk of a fall injury
- input from a specialist falls team
- tissue viability input
- staff observations
-What immediate steps have you taken to mitigate further risks to the person and/or others?
By having this detail set out succinctly and clearly it gives CQC the context and enables them to assess whether there are ongoing risks or whether the situation is being well managed.
» Click here to find the latest notification forms
CQC Fees scheme
The CQC fees scheme, which covers all costs of regulation, including registration, monitoring and inspection will not change next year – in 2022/23.
This means that, for many providers, your fees will have remained the same for the last three years, unless you have changed your registration e.g., adding locations or service types.
Since there is no change to CQC’s fees scheme, CQC will not be consulting on fees this year.
You can find out more about CQC’s fees scheme, how to pay fees, an update on non-payment of fees, and the fees calculator by clicking here.