WIREDGOV

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today announces Acting Together, a new partnership scheme that enables CQC to call on people who use services to advise on and contribute to its work. Acting Together includes involving people as Experts by Experience on inspections of health and social care services and in visits to monitor the use of the Mental Health Act.

The first three partners for the scheme are Age UK, Challenging Behaviour Foundation and Choice Support.  Choice Support is leading a consortium of smaller and user-led organisations that includes Voiceability, Living Options Devon, Advocacy Alliance Bedford, Skills for People, Advocacy Experience, Inclusion North, and Hersov Associates. Agreements are being finalised with other user-led organisations to work with the CQC and further announcements will be made later in the summer.

Cynthia Bower, Chief Executive of the Care Quality Commission, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Age UK, Challenging Behaviour Foundation and the Choice Support consortium as partnership organisations, helping the CQC to engage with people who have experience of care services and include them in our work.

“We will be able to tap into people’s hands-on knowledge for example to help shape our methodologies and communications. We will also involve them in our inspections as Experts by Experience.”

“Experts by Experience are a vital part of the way that we work and regulate; I can not express how important it is to have a user voice on an inspection or in consultation or workshop."

Helena Herklots, Services Director at Age UK, said: “Acting Together is a great opportunity to bring older people into the very heart of the services they need and use. It is crucial their voices are listened to in ensuring health and social care services are properly regulated. We hope this will lead to continual improvement across the sector. The scheme will provide over 100 roles for older people and their carers as Experts by Experience.

Steven Rose, Chief Executive of Choice Support, said: “We are proud to be working with a number of Advocacy and User Led Organisations which form the Acting Together Consortium to provide the Care Quality Commission with Experts by Experience. Listening to and learning from people with experience of receiving a service is one important way of helping ensure that we get things right. I’m delighted that Choice Support’s approach and the approach of our consortium partners, of putting people who receive services at the forefront of monitoring quality has received national recognition from CQC. The contract will create jobs and valued roles for up to fifty disabled people.”

Vivien Cooper, Chair of Trustees of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation said: “Family carers of individuals with learning disabilities and high support needs have a wealth of experience in understanding the needs of their relatives and recognising good support and services. I am delighted that the Challenging Behaviour Foundation will be working with the CQC, supporting family carers of people with complex needs to influence and improve support and service provision.”

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 4502 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. Our aim is to make sure that better care is provided for everyone, whether it is in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes, or anywhere else that care is provided. We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act. We promote the rights and interests of people who use services and we have a wide range of enforcement powers to take action on their behalf if services are unacceptably poor.

Under a new regulatory system introduced by government, the NHS, independent healthcare and adult social care must meet a single set of essential standards of quality and safety for the first time. We register health and adult social care services if they meet essential standards, we monitor them to make sure that they continue to do so and we respond quickly if there are concerns that standards are not being maintained. We do this by closely monitoring a wide range of information about the quality and safety of services, including the views of people who use services, and through assessment and inspection The feedback from people who use services is a vital part of our dynamic system of regulation which places the views, experiences, health and wellbeing of people who use services at its centre.