CQC pilot will build picture of quality of care in local areas

People and their families who use a range of different health and social care services could in the future learn more about what the quality of care is like across a whole local area as part of a new pilot project being launched by the Care Quality Commission.

Called 'Quality of Care in a Place', CQC has selected Greater Manchester – including a more in-depth look at Salford and Tameside – and North Lincolnshire for a special pilot exercise that will test out how well coordinated health and care services are in local areas.

CQC's Chief Inspector of General Practice and Integrated Care, Professor Steve Field, said:

"One of the most important things we can do as a regulator is to be clear and transparent about the picture of health and social care.

"We already know what an valuable source of information our published reports with ratings are for members of the public. Our new 'Quality of Care in a Place' pilot is really about increasing that level of openness even further by building a picture of what the whole quality of care is like for people living in a particular area – including how well services are co-ordinated.

"As well as identifying any issues that need to be tackled across different organisations and finding out more about health inequalities, we will also use the pilot to highlight examples of good practice that other areas can learn from.

"I'm really pleased we are able to start testing out such an important piece of work that could also tell us more about what impact key issues such as quality of leadership and commissioning have on the quality of care across a local area."

See the CQC website for more information.