Our new framework will help to improve services for people experiencing care at home
We are delighted to support Home Care Day and to celebrate and raise awareness of Scotland’s care at home and housing support services. It is so important to celebrate the opportunities home care services offer to enhance lives and improve wellbeing for a wide range of people. Thousands of people across Scotland are supported to live well in their own homes, knowing that care at home services are on hand to provide the support they need to do so.
All these services are registered with the Care Inspectorate, and we inspect them all regularly. Some are stand-alone services that support people in their long-standing home. Others support older people as they move into more sheltered housing. And others provide life-long support for adults with particular needs and abilities.
In the coming year we will be rolling out a new framework and approach to inspecting the quality of care and support people experience, to help support improvement through self-evaluation and improve services and outcomes for people experiencing home care services.
In July, we started this roll-out by introducing a new framework for inspections of care homes for older people, and we have been using this framework on our inspections. You can find a copy of this, and more detail about how we are using it, on the Care Inspectorate website.
The framework is designed for use in self-evaluation, inspection, and improvement support, and draws heavily on the new Health and Social Care Standards. The feedback we have had is very positive.
As we continue to develop the new framework including our approach to inspecting care at home services, we are looking to involve care providers, commissioners and people experiencing care in this development. We look forward to working with you to drive improvements and enhance the care experienced by people in their own homes. We know that the care at home sector is diverse, and supports a wide range of people. We are committed to ensuring that the quality frameworks we develop reflect this diversity, and become not just tools for the Care Inspectorate but tools which all care services can use to reflect on, and improve, their own provision.
Maureen Gunn,
Care Inspectorate Service Manager
