04.07.18
CQC review shows ‘urgent need for real change’ to outdated health and care system
Following comprehensive reviews of 20 local authority areas, the CQC has called for a new approach to the way the country runs health and care services.
The ‘Breaking Barriers’ report followed people’s journeys through the health and social care system and identified gaps where people experienced poor or fragmented care, with findings showing “the urgent necessity for real change.”
One example cited in the report was of an elderly woman who could not be discharged from hospital, even though she was ready to go home, simply because the right staff were not available. She stayed in hospital for over a month and was eventually moved to a residential care home.
The report sets out a number of recommendation to improve the gaps in health and social care services.
This includes funding reform underpinned by a move away from short-term and activity-based investment to long-term and population-based investment, and the development of joined-up plans from local leaders to support older citizens in their own homes.
Other recommendations include a single framework which would measure the performance of how agencies improve outcomes for older people; more collaborative and flexible approaches to staff skills and career paths to make it easier for them to move between health and care settings; and legislation to allow the CQC to regulate systems and hold them to account.
Sir David Behan, the inspectorate’s outgoing chief executive, said: “Our findings show the urgent necessity for real change. A system designed in 1948 can no longer effectively meet the complex needs of increasing numbers of older people in 2018. People’s conditions have evolved – and that means the way the system works together has got to change too.
He added that the 20 local system reviews highlight the barriers that prevent collaboration, and the impact this has on older people. “Today we are calling for those barriers to be broken down,” added Behan.
Responding to the report, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, commented: “This is a wake-up call for the NHS, for social care and for the government – it shows that the era of organisations just doing their own thing must end now.
“The good news is that local leaders have begun to take this on board and more services are coming together to provide joined up care. But everyone knows we need to go further and faster. There is now real commitment to get this right and to change the way services operate.”
Enjoying NHE? Subscribe here to receive our weekly news updates or click here to receive a copy of the magazine!