The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the overall quality of (a) primary health, (b) hospital and (c) community services for older people.
Alistair Burt
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of safety and quality of health and adult social care services.
The CQC published its State of Care 2014-15 report in October 2015. It reported that 85% of the general practitioner (GP) practices CQC have rated are good or outstanding. The CQC inspects GP practices against six population areas, which includes older people.
The latest results of the GP Patient Survey, published on 7 January 2016, indicate that patients over 75 have consistently higher rates of satisfaction with their GP services than other age groups.
Overall care quality of providers is assessed regularly by Monitor and the CQC. And there are large scale national audits reporting on specific areas that are likely to be more relevant to older people for example the National Hip Fracture Data Base and the National Audit of Intermediate Care.
The CQC’s State of Care 2014-15 report (October 2015) reported that 35% of acute hospitals were rated as good or outstanding.
NHS England published in 2014 “Safe, compassionate care for frail older people using an integrated care pathway: Practical guidance for commissioners, providers and nursing, medical and allied health professional leaders”. This document summarises the evidence of the effects of an integrated pathway of care for older people and suggests how a pathway can be commissioned effectively using levers and incentives across providers.
The CQC registers and inspects community providers and community trusts to ensure that they follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. 59% of adult social care providers were rated as good or outstanding in the CQC’s October report.
The trends in patient satisfaction for community services are tracked and reported monthly through the Friends and Family Test (FFT). FFT is an important feedback tool that gives patients the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience and helps the National Health Service to drive improvement in the services it provides.
The latest FFT results from September until November 2015 showed that 95% of respondents would recommend the services they have used in the community services settings.
