Quality assurance Flashcards
What are quality assurance organisations?
Quality assurance organisations are in place to ensure that high quality effective care is provided by health, social care and child care providers
What are examples quality assurance organisations?
- Ofsted (responsible for quality of schools, nurseries, childminders, etc.)
- Care Quality Commission (CQC - responsible for quality of care provided in care homes, hospitals)
- Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC - providing information, advice and guidance about equality law and discrimination)
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE - responsible for ensuring the quality of medical treatments provided)
What is Ofsted’s main responsibility?
Ofsted’s main responsibility is to carry out inspections of schools and other childcare environments. Following an inspection they would give the setting a rating from ‘outstanding’ to inadequate’
What do you think Ofsted inspectors look out for in their inspections?
The inspectors will look at several things: the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, effectiveness of leadership and management, children’s personal development, behaviour and welfare (including the quality of safeguarding procedures in place), and the outcomes for children (such as whether children are confident in their learning, etc.). Following an inspection, Ofsted will publish an inspection report which is available to the public. In that report, they will identify areas of good practice, as well as details of what needs to be improved. If a school is assessed as failing, it can be placed into ‘special measures’ where they will be regularly re-inspected to monitor progress and improvements
What is the role of the CQC?
The role of the CQC is to regulate health and social care services for England. This means they carry out inspections and monitor the care provided by: hospitals, care homes, dental practices, clinics, mental health services, GP surgeries, as well as care provided in an individual’s own home and in the community
What are the details about the role of the CQC?
- Registers and licences care services to ensure that essential standards of quality and safety are met
- Carries out inspections of health and social care settings to monitor the care provided and ensure it meets the standards required
- Publishes inspection reports that rate the quality of care from outstanding to inadequate
- Can issue warnings and fines if standards are not met
Like Ofsted, the CQC produces inspection reports which are available to the public so individuals can see the quality of care provided by hospitals, care homes, etc. in their local area
What is the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)?
The Equality and Human Rights Commission does not carry out inspections. Instead, their role is to provide information and advice to organisations (such as care providers) to ensure they are following Equality legislation and so they are aware of how to avoid discrimination
What are the details about the role of the EHRC?
- They provide definitions of different types of discrimination
- Give advice on how you can decide if what happened was against equality law
- Suggest ways individuals can resolve the situation with the person or organisation
- Produce factsheets about discrimination based on the nine protected characteristics
- Provide information and advice about how to take a case to court
CASE STUDY:
Mark has applied for an interview as a care assistant in a residential care home. During his interview, Mark tells the care home manager that he has multiple sclerosis. The employer decides not to appoint him even though he’s the best candidate they have interviewed, because they assume he will need a lot of time off sick
How could the EHRC support Mark in this situation?
He could use the EHRC website to find out information about disability discrimination and whether his case constitutes this. He could then get advice from them about how to take the case to court or make a complaint as a result of experiencing this discrimination.
What DO the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) do?
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are there to ensure that any new treatments are assessed to check that they would be effective, benefit patients and be good value for money, and decide if they should be available on the NHS
What are examples of the role of NICE?
- Assessing new drugs and treatments as they become available
- Checks that the new treatments are cost-effective
- Decides whether the treatment should be made available on the NHS
