“How can a focus on equality and human rights improve the quality of

‘Equally Outstanding’ is a good practice resource developed by the CQC with a range of national organisations. Equality and human rights is a solution to providing good care. Providers could learn from the best in doing this. They have common features.

Ethical case. Attention to equality and human rights is needed at both service and individual level to improve the quality of the service. A person centred approach strengthens people’s own influence by promoting their strengths, skills and networks. This increases the likelihood of equality and human rights for the individual. Improved access, experiences of care and outcomes leads to good quality care for all.

Business Case Improving equality and human rights for people using the service and staff leads to an enhanced reputation and improved CQC ratings. Increasing staff equality will save money by reducing staff turnover, absenteeism and disciplinary action. Values-based recruitment leads to cost savings due to lower turnover and training costs for staff recruited this way. Removing barriers to equality when recruiting widens the pool of talent available. Addressing equality and human rights can also reduce costs, by for example, increasing autonomy through environmental adaptations .

Economic case. A focus on equality and human rights can save money for the health and social care “system” This is through preventing ill health, or deterioration in people’s health, by tackling health inequalities or barriers to accessing health and social care services.

Legal case. Considering equality and human rights is often a legal requirement. CQC regulations underpin our work to register, monitor and inspect health and care services. They are designed to ensure that people using services have their human rights upheld. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 gives specific human rights protection to adults who may not be able to make particular decisions. Service providers must comply with equality legislation.

Success factors. Equally Outstanding features case studies of outstanding providers, who, with a focus on equality and human rights, have developed exceptional services in times of financial restraint. The common ‘success factors’ identified were based on changing behaviours and the way they thought about issues, rather than resources.

Success factors Committed leadership: Leaders are enthusiastic and committed to equality and human rights. This should be the business of all leaders. Principles in action: Equality and human rights run through from organisational values, through leadership behaviours and actions to frontline staff and their work. Staff equality: This is a basis for quality improvement. It includes work to develop an open and inclusive culture and action to tackle specific workforce inequalities. Improvement through equality and human rights: They started with considering a quality improvement issue, then incorporated equality and human rights as they developed a solution.

Success factors Staff are improvement partners: All staff think about, plan and deliver equality and human rights interventions to improve care quality. There is a no blame culture of learning and collective leadership. Serving the person better: They listened carefully to people who used the service and considered their lives and aspirations. Involving others: They linked to outside organisations for support. Courage: This included positive risk-taking, being honest about issues and tackling difficult problems. Continuous learning and curiosity: They learned from mistakes and were always looking for the next thing that they could improve.

Providers can’t do this work alone. Whole system approach. Providers can’t do this work alone. Empowering people and communities is essential to advance equality and human rights. Commissioners can help by building equality and human rights into contracts and monitoring. Regulators need to build equality and human rights into their regulatory frameworks. Policy makers need to support providers through ensuring they embed equality and human rights into national policy and system wide co-ordination.

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