The Care Quality Commission was recently asked to carry out a series of targeted reviews of local health and social care systems to find out how services are working together to care for people aged 65 and older.
The reviews aimed to discover how well services meet older people’s needs and how care providers work together. For example:
- Are older people supported to stay well and to continue to live in their home?
- What happens when someone needs more care, for example, if they need to go to hospital?
- Are older people supported either to return home safely or to move somewhere new that meets their needs?
The Care Quality Commission review into the services on offer in Sheffield has now been published, and is available to view in full here.
The review puts forward several operational priorities which it recommends are focused on, including:
- a review of how people flow through the health and social care system and pathways so that there are not multiple and confusing points of access.
- an evaluation of health and social care professionals’ skills in communication and interaction with people to establish where improvements are needed.
- an evaluation and review of the criteria for reablement services
- including Housing support services within multidisciplinary working, especially in relation to admission to, and discharge from, hospital, to enable early identification of need and referrals.
- a review of the methods used to identify carers eligible for support so that they are assured that carers are receiving the necessary support and have access to services.
For more information about the Care Quality Commission reviews into adult social care in England, as well as the full reports from all the other cities involved in the review, visit the CQC Reviews page.
