An Approach to quality: The Quality Mark Helen Allen Operations Manager 26th September

What is Community Catalysts? Was launched by and works in partnership with NAAPS UK, the charity representing small community services Aims to make sure that people wherever they live have real choice of great local social care and health services Works to harness the talents of people and communities to provide high quality small scale and local support services.

Putting People in control of their own services? Government commitment to extending personal care and personal health budgets People buy support and services that help them to live their lives Giving people control of the money is only half the answer People need real choice of a wide range of great local services and supports – and not just social care and health services

The challenge facing local authorities Local authorities: Are committed to achieving good outcomes for people but have to make significant savings Need to be able to think and commission imaginatively to achieve more for less (not less for less) Need a wide range of local services that can help people make their money go further and build social capital Need to know that these services are safe and of high quality

Quality issues There are a number of established approaches to quality assuring social care providers such as: CQC regulation Tendering criteria Contract compliance Approved provider lists But are these approaches effective and how do they fit with personalisation? New systems and approaches are emerging to answer these questions

Micro providers Are local people providing support and services to other local people Work on a very small scale (5 or fewer workers – paid or unpaid) Are independent of any larger organisation

Background to the Quality Mark Community Catalysts are now supporting a number of organisations to work with micro services in their region. The majority of micro (and other? ) providers fall outside current regulatory and legislative frameworks for care and support services The cannot register with the CQC because they do not provide personal care OR do so out of a residential setting In many areas they often cannot become an approved provider because the list is closed or they are not a traditional care provider or because the process is inaccessible to them

Quality Mark To tackle these issues Community Catalysts have developed and tested a Quality Mark for micro social care enterprise; the approach Allows providers to demonstrate their quality continuously improve and have a competitive advantage Enables customers to judge safety and quality Is simple, cheap and easy to use for all- proportional to the type of activity

The Quality Mark approach Stage one - Preparation Stage two – Gateway assessment of the providers systems and paper documentation. Evidence presented to independent panel including carer/customer who recommend whether the provider gains a silver quality mark Stage three - People recognises that all the paperwork and systems in the world do not guarantee that the service will deliver good outcomes for customers. Uses simple feedback systems to allow service users to say what they think about the service and other users/carers to become a mystery shopper. The panel recommends if the provider is able to gain a gold quality mark

Piloting the Quality Mark Piloted in Oldham- developed with a senior officer in procurement, Quality Assurance officer, safeguarding representative, a customer, a carer and 2 providers Worked with four providers through the Preparation and Gateway stages Worked with two providers through the People stage Three more providers identified to work through the Preparation and Gateway stages The results published in an addendum to Practical Guide All the providers that have been through the process are really positive about its benefits People who need care and support are also very positive

Choice, Support and Transport (CST) CST offers day opportunities for people with a learning disability. Motivated to engage with the Quality Mark pilot because they believed it would enable them to improve their systems. Mark and Keith from CST said they Found the process difficult at times a bit like Yoga – difficult but stretches you and made them do tasks they had been putting off.... CST has introduced new feedback forms for customers as a result of the Quality Marking process. Mark says that CST were little fish slipping through a net and the QM caught them

Sunshine Care Sunshine Care is a cooperative and social enterprise which provides care and support to older people in their own homes. Is registered with CQC. Sunshine Care was motivated to engage with the Quality Mark because they hoped it would provide business opportunities and help them to stand out from other similar providers. On reflection Chris from Sunshine Care felt that the whole process was good and that they enjoyed it Chris also felt that gaining the silver award would enable Sunshine Care to demonstrate that they are a good provider

People who use services A customer of Sunshine Care stated that the Quality Mark system was invaluable as the process gives you confidence in the providers.

Summary Providers do not have to undertake the Quality Mark- but the market advantages are obvious Providers need some level of appropriate support to work through the Gateway stage. The process is intended to be accessible to a variety of providers but also challenging There will be some standard evidence required from all providers but each provider needs to be assessed proportionately to their activity The panel has a supportive role to make suitable recommendations to the provider to continually improve their service.

For more information Contact Helen Allen